# Can you dye a wood bow..... Pink?



## Shane Whitlock (Jul 15, 2011)

My wife has started shooting Traditional with me and informed me she would start attending more shooting events, but she perfered to have her own recurve. She said not like spray paint pink, but a visible wood grain and pink. I was thinking......If I got a low poundage recurve say 35 @28 and sanded down the finish and applied a pink water based dye/ food coloring agent to the wood and then reapplied some semi gloss, would that produce a pink bow?

 I showed her a picture of a purple heart bow and she said that's not pink so I am trying to fiqure a way to get a pink bow without having a custom job and spending lots of $....heck I don't even have a custom bow yet......any suggestions?


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## Al33 (Jul 16, 2011)

It would depend on the riser wood. I suspect if you could find a bow with a maple riser (light colored wood) and strip it down completely that it would work. Your biggest problem may be finding an unstained maple riser bow with the specs she will need.


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## longbowdave1 (Jul 16, 2011)

Shane I have dyed maple laminations using water based dye-stain. It does work well and you will still see the grain of the hardwoods. Dying a completed riser is tricky to say the least but i have done it.

Here is a few bow with dyed laminations...


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## dpoole (Jul 17, 2011)

YEP seen hatchetdan do it. get you some polk berries


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 18, 2011)

Fiebing's leather dye works great on wood and bamboo. I've dyed a few with Rit dye/rubbing alchohol, too. I don't like using anything water-based on a wooden bow myself. I try to keep as much moisture out of it as possible.


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## Shane Whitlock (Jul 18, 2011)

Thanks for the advise, as soon as I locate a cheap used bow that is in her range, i'll let you know how it turns out. thanks shane


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## Jake Allen (Jul 18, 2011)

When you say wood bow, are you meaning a self bow, or a 
more modern recurve?
If the latter, the wood laminations will likely be under clear 
fiberglass.


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## Shane Whitlock (Jul 19, 2011)

Sorry, she wants a modern recurve. I was really thinking about staining the riser and hadn't thought what I would do to the limbs. Didn't know if it would work. I thought if it was under black glass it would look fine. I know I could always find some laminates in the kitchen section of lowes and apply it to the limbs to give it a girlish look or something depending on what pattern i bought.


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