how do you finish your wood arrows?

[clinton miller]

i'm going to be making some primitive arrows and in keeping with that theme how do you finish them?
would linseed oil or mutton fat work?

[tracker]

I put a few coats of beeswax furniture polish on my arrows.. gives a nice hard shiny finish.. smells good too.

Mick.

[TomMcDonald]

Try fat or oil. You could try tree sap as well.

[matt_d]

Shellac?

[ichiban]

if you want primitive then i would surgest tree sap and metho but for a super cool glass smooth finish try 5 coats of feast watsons "danish oil", no need to sand between coats and its a wipe on plus its got an oil base so you can rub it and the resin leaves a build up finish 2

[jaselpool]

Depends on what type of finish you're after. Over the years I have pretty much tried and tested everything available. If you want a hardwearing coating then I use a sanding sealer and then 3 thin coats of Rustins Plastic Coating. Gives a brilliant finish to the grain - nice and deep, flexes with the wood and takes a good battering. I'm a target archer though so depends on what type of archery you're into as well

Jase

[clinton miller]

if use oil or fat do you do it before or after fletching it? will oiling them before fletching them stop the pine pitch from sticking?

[GrahameA]

Morning Clinton

Only my opinion, but if you are going to make primitve arrows than a primitive finish seems appropriate.

I put a few coats of beeswax furniture polish on my arrows.. gives a nice hard shiny finish.. smells good too.
Mick.

That is an excellent recommendation.

Animal fats may start to smell.

I make my own Beeswax and Linseed Oil Wax wood polish and use that. (There are many recipes for such and you could probably subsitute other oils for Linseed. Mine just has Beeswax and Linseed Oil in it.) I also use the same polish on any bits of wood that I want to protect - but not want to paint or apply a modern finish to.

I have used commercially prepared products and they work to varying levels of satisfaction but generally tend to be a bit thin. If you want to try a commercial product go for a Beeswax Floor Wax as they seem to be a lttle better.

Consider also Lanoline if you can get it easily. It may be a suitable alternative - check out the floors of shearing sheds.

Fletch before finishing. If not the combination of wax and the oil will make it very difficult for you to stick anything to the shaft.

[otis.drum]

but grahame,

Consider also Lanoline if you can get it

then they will smell like sheep

[GrahameA]

Morning Clinton (again),

Some recipes for making Beeswax based polish:
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets ... polish.pdf

Note: Turpentine and Mineral Turpentine are not the same thing,


I will ignore the comments from the escaped Victorian.

[otis.drum]

and escaped i have... haven't seen a winters day in over 2 years and counting. a miserable place this time of year.

grahame (or anyone else for that matter), how durable is the bees wax finish and how long does it last. does it need to be re applied every now and then or is it a permanent seal? how does this compare to other off the shelf floor coverings and seals?

[ichiban]

i personaly finish befor fletching regardless of the finish used although i havent used fats but once the finish is how i want it i just rough the aria to be fletched with 000 steel wool or watever and fletch away i have never had a fletching come off as long as the aria is roughed first (i use C23 glue) then go over the arrow with a very soft boot wax to get an even finish

[GrahameA]

Afternoon

and escaped i have... haven't seen a winters day in over 2 years and counting. a miserable place this time of year.

grahame (or anyone else for that matter), how durable is the bees wax finish and how long does it last. does it need to be re applied every now and then or is it a permanent seal? how does this compare to other off the shelf floor coverings and seals?

May you be sentenced to two weeks at Andoom Heavy Equipment Workshops.

The Linssed oil will oxidise/catalyse or whatever it does and provide a very good seal. Remember Linseed was the basis of some paints/varnishes of old. Irrespective, I would still gives the arrows another wipe every six months. It is one of those things whereby the more you use them the more you need to give them a wipe over - just like a wax polished table or floor.

Wax finishes is old technolgy - modern materials are much better. But wax finishes look and smell the part for your traditional gear.

[alaninoz]

I use wax, and the finish lasts about as long as my arrows do - not very! One day I'll get around to trying wax over oil. I fletch before waxing to get better adhesion, but if you're going to tie the fletch on it may not matter.

[Brumbies Country]

[quote="alaninoz"]I use wax, and the finish lasts about as long as my arrows do - not very! quote]

Alan

Keep hitting those 3D targets like you did last Sunday afternoon and they are going to last forever !

I've been using Cabot's because it adds little to the weight of the arrow, but am thinking of moving to linseed oil and beeswax.

Simon

[clinton miller]

i've read on other sites of people soaking their arrows in oil to increase weight as well.

[alaninoz]

Simon:

You're too kind - I still managed to break one arrow though.

I was surprised how well the wax finish stood up to the mud and the wet butts. There's still a good coat of wax on them. Not like at Mildura where the dust stripped the wax right off and I had to re-wax all those that were still in one piece.

[ichiban]

its my opinion that you shouldnt choose between a penetrating or surface finish, i go with both

[waynerob]

Morning Clinton

Only my opinion, but if you are going to make primitve arrows than a primitive finish seems appropriate.

...
Animal fats may start to smell.

I agree with Grahame, I've rendered animal fats before and found they last for a long time at room temperature without going off. Throw the fat in with water and boil it for about an hour, skimming off the skum. Let it cool, the rendered tallow settles to the bottom with a thin layer of BCBs*. You can repeat a few times if you want a really hard white tallow that works for years. There's no smell, both pig and beef fat work well. I haven't tried mutton fat.

*BCB - Burnt Crunchy Bits

The other option is milk as a varnish.