For those who build laminated bows, can paint be applied under glass before assembly? Specifically thinking about camo paint jobs. On another note, can snakes skins be glued under glass?

No do not paint. I've done some camo using alcohol based stain. Like arrow shaft dye.JF

Bodymanbowyer , i am wondering how schafer camoed his bows under glass, was it stain like you said?

Silvertips have fabric camo not paint.

You could paint the glass then finish with your clear. Like a boat.

Still think there’s a way to camo under the glass for durability.

You can lay down camo fabric with epoxy and glass over that. I’ve seen pics of wooden canoes & kayaks done that way. So it’s basically another lamination…. At least on something like a boat which doesn’t flex all that much ;comparatively speaking). I don’t know how well that approach would hold up over many cycles of deep flexion such as limbs are subjected to, but if Schaefer was doing it on bows they were selling, then there must be a way to do it so that it’ll hold.

You just have to take into account that glass/epoxy are STRUCTURAL and paint is a cosmetic layer, also pronounced FINISH. I suspect that if you were to glass over paint, you would see a catastrophic delamination almost immediately.

But feel free to do your own research…..

Camo under glass is usually a cotton fabric. Cotton will soak up the glue(s) best from what I've been told and make a good glue joint. Synthetic fabrics dont soak up the glues as well and aren't recommended.

Glass to synthetic, paint,or snake skin is not going to make a strong joint. Most of the strength in a bow limb is the glass. Paint can peel. You don't want the glass peeling off. Decorations go on the outside. Maybe use a green brown or black glass with flat finish. >>>----> Ken

“Synthetic fabrics dont soak up the glues as well and aren't recommended.”

Unless the “synthetic fabric” is fiberglass, kevlar, or carbon fiber “cloth”…. ;)

I would think just build with colored glass and paint that, be cheaper, and better

Someone just posted a picture of a new Brian Wessel recurve with the woodland camo fabric underneath clear glass, it looks great too. There is a longbow on the classifieds that has ASAT camo limbs, looks like fabric under glass too.

This is on the classifieds.

Probably won’t be long now when the design will be IN the glass like on the 2 new bows from 3 Rivers.

Maybe im confused, but I am sure I saw a schafer bow with camo under glass, and it sure looked like it was camo paint, or maybe indeed it was camo fabric . I hope the person who posted the picture on LW will chime in.

It is fabric. They still do it.

Some of the white Bear Takedown limbs were painted white then finished

Possibly fiberglass resin over paint or cloth not glued on laminations. Makes a good hard finish on boats. Not sure it is good for flexing bow limbs. >>>----> Ken

Jimmyjumpup, indeed you’re right, silvertip does offer the camo under glass as option, see it on their website. Thanks

Epoxy over paint is only as strong as the bond between the paint and the material underneath.

Fabric soaked in Epoxy is very strong on the other hand.

Fabric soaked in epoxy is indeed strong, it’s called Micarta. They use paper, linen and canvas in Micarta. I believe the Bear Black Beauty bows were paper Micarta, Bear called it high compression material or Formica which is paper laminate.

This Brian Wessel bow has some nice camo under glass.

B.T. Now that’s what I’m talking about!!!!!!, love it!

Runner/ B.T. , I’m familiar with micarta , how did I overlook that? Duhh.

Several years ago i built a bow using clear glass. Unfortunately the glass was full of streaks and looked horrible. With nothing to lose I sanded the glass and painted the limbs followed by normal clear coat. They have stood up just fine. I only wished I would have used a paint other than brown. Should have used Herters mustard or Drake blue. No reason you couldn't do the same with camo.

Snow camo. I used DuPont base coat clear coat.

Bodymanbowyer, nice job painting the bow, but I want camo underneath the glass not on top of it.

I understand mechanic. JF

Camo cloth under clear glass works very well. It has become a very popular requested option.

B.T. Those are Sweet!!! What are they?

The last one had pictures that were too big, it was a Bivouac Outback. Cool bows.

There is certainly no shortage of cotton camo fabric available in all kinds of varied patterns. Were you going to try building this yourself?

It has to be water base stain and let dry, very dry. It's the same for any color.

I hope this size works?

Runner, yes I got some nice thin cotton camo fabric that I am planning on using under glass for a build. I guess it needs to be saturated with epoxy in the glue up process?

Definitely. It would happen anyway in the glue-up.

I wonder if a thinner epoxy like Huntsman would be a better choice for wetting it out and bonding.

Certainly even thicker epoxies soak in, albeit a bit slower.

A more clear formulation seems like it would give the best final appearance.

Whenever I work with epoxy and cotton I always have used the clearest epoxy possible to keep the colors more true.

Runner, I will be using huntsman epoxy for the build, it’s definitely a bit thinner than ea-40 because that’s what I have on hand. Thanks for the suggestion and more advice is welcome, thanks.

I bet if you called Dave at Schafer he would tell ya how to do it.

Schafer has been doing this for a long time, well over a decade and probably two.

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