I have always used gasket lacquer for finishing arrows and have had really good long lasting finishes on the wood. It is just too much waste for the amount of arrows I build. So here is what I have planned. Stain with water based analyne dye. Seal with 3-4 coats minwax poly eurathane rub on. Rattle can the crown. Testers paint for the crest. then go over the whole arrow or maybe the just the crested crown with clear poly acrylic. Does this sound ok? I have always been under the impression that oil based finishes are a little tougher than water based is why I might do the first few seals with the ethane. Maybe the new acrylics are tougher than I remember? open to suggestions. thanks for having me. Also, I just purchased a new to me Wes Wallace mentor from a good guy on the classifieds here. Such a sweet bow.

Let us know how well it works. That is a combination that I haven't tried.

I am beginning to dive into building wood arrows.

I am curious about the different methods.

I also plan to spray my crown

I was thinking I’d stain, spray crown , crest then spray or wipe on poly

Not sure if this will work.

It will work if you pay attention to your components compatibility. That is the tough part, and is often learned by experience.

1st avoid bohning materials unless you are using bohning for everything.

The basic painters rule of enamel over lacquer, but not lacquer over enamel applies.

You have to make each layer equal, or less, volatile than the next, so that it doesn't "eat" the previous layer. There is no hard and fast rule I know of, but the sniff test seems to help. Less smell (VOC's) over more smell.

I finish clear with a water base and glue with Duco. That seems to be the most compatible final steps.

On self bows I use acrylic paint with shellac over top that works good.

I use waterbased Varathane Polycrillic over Rustolem 2X spray paint, over Bohning cresting laq , Testors enamel paints, and RC car paints. No issues so far after about 5 years. It was a lesion I learned the hard way. I bought a small bottle of “clear” Bohning for going over my cresting. When I read the bottle I found out it was waterbased . Of course what I paid for that little bottle I bought a quart. I use a foam brush to apply very thin coats, only downside is isn’t as durable as regular poly at the front end of the arrow where it goes into the bales. But it’s real easy to “freshen” up that area when need be. I don’t usually stain my shafts anymore. For awhile I used pure Tung oil in the non painted portion of the shaft. Remember, no matter what finish, how much applied the arrows will acquire some moisture. How much or how little will depend on where you live.

Should work fine, just rough it up 1st to give it 'tooth'.

[[["...I finish clear with a water base and glue with Duco. That seems to be the most compatible final steps."]]]

Thanks Dan. I've been watching this thread for a few days hoping to find what glue to use for the fletching. I'm planning to use spray paint on a few cabon shafts, crest some rings with Testors and coat with a water based polycrylic. Looks like Duco is the glue to hold, huh?

I did the same and used some NPV and it didn't hold as well as I'd hoped.

I Cap with Rustoleum enamel, dip once in water based poly, crest with Testors model paint and then dip 2 more times with water based poly floor finish and have no issues with durability. The only issue is foam targets will occasionally burn the finish.let poly dry one day between dips.

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