RedWing Hunter repair question

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Shadowhntr
Posts: 4614
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:47 pm

RedWing Hunter repair question

#1 Post by Shadowhntr »

This bow was my Mothers. Daddy had bought it for her back in the late 60's early 70's. He had a matching bow, except of longer length and 52 lb. Mom's bow is 45lb, and 52" length.

Is there any way of fixing this? Im very worried that moisture will take it's toll on the unprotected wood of the holes, eventually causing a crack in the riser. I don't hunt with it anymore either for the same reasons.....is there help? On top of being sentimental, it's a GREAT shooting bow....

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Carpdaddy
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Re: RedWing Hunter repair question

#2 Post by Carpdaddy »

A couple options come to mind; (1) Look at the before and after of Graps K-Mag on the "lets see your bows" thread. He paid to have this bow redone due to its sentimental value and it appears that someone did a good job. I have heard of a fellow called BowDoc that does this type of work but I would send Graps a PM to find out more info on his experience. He did a thread on it way back but I just can't remember enough. His had shallow holes before from sights or something.
(2) Attempt to fix it yourself. Don't expect perfection either way you go, it's hard to match the color and especially the grain of the existing wood. Some use a small dowel and plug the hole with it covered with glue of course. Then they use a marker or something to try and match the color. Some use just epoxy mixed with wood dust to try and get it close to a match. The glue and dowel will prevent moisture even if you can't match the color perfectly. Up to you as to how far you want to go.

Captainkirk
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Re: RedWing Hunter repair question

#3 Post by Captainkirk »

I believe graps used the Bow Hospital. Whoever, they did a gorgeous job on his dad's K-Mag.
If you decide to go the DIY route bear in mind that epoxy is pretty much permanent and you can do as much damage using it as anything. If you decide to do that use as much wood as possible first, then perfect you epoxy technique on a practice piece.
Aim small, miss small!

Longtrad
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Re: RedWing Hunter repair question

#4 Post by Longtrad »

you could seal the holes with some thin superglue until you decide what do. IDK the price of the bowdoc or bow hospital but I have seen some before and after pics that blew my mind.


Or and extra extra extra high profile strike plate 8-) :lol:

Longtrad
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Re: RedWing Hunter repair question

#5 Post by Longtrad »

Fixing it with brass rods or maybe some hardwood dowels would cool IMO

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Ole Dave
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Re: RedWing Hunter repair question

#6 Post by Ole Dave »

OK...I'm no bowyer for sure...

I bought a 45# Bear from a buddy...first trad bow I had. He found it at a yard sale... I gave him what he had in it.

It had some very small holes someone had screwed in a sight we think, then removed.

I got Brownell's Gel Glass Bedding compound kit...

I used to bed my own gun actions, then too...

Anyway, I filled those holes with glass bedding...that stuff is stronger then the surrounding wood...

those bigger holes, I'd clean out with a bit of alcohol etc to make sure there wasn't any gunk in, put painters tape on one side to block the hole, use the gel format of the Glass Bedding and fill the hole...let it dry, level it off again, with a 2nd coat if it shrunk in at all but that'd only happen if the wood was somewhat porous.

Remove the painters tape from the off side, sand down any bulge, then spray with Deft spray outdoor varnish

The brass inserts sounds sexy, but I'd still affix them in with glass bedding!

How strong is it? When gunsmiths have someone bring in a shot out BP antique gun, to be restored to shooting condition, they'd remove the BBL, drill it out, turn down another same caliber bbl to fit inside and use Brownell's Glass bedding to cement the turned down steel bbl inside the original outer bbl with original markings on it...it's that strong...
All we have and call our own, once belonged to someone else, and will again. Our purpose here is not to serve ourselves.

Bigfoot SAS LB (47# LB limbs 38# Semi Static RC limbs)

Couple of old Bear bows

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Dan
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Re: RedWing Hunter repair question

#7 Post by Dan »

My kmag had holes from screws and I installed brass inserts. It turned out pretty good. You have a couple more holes than I did though.
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Big Foot
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Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2016 8:26 am

Re: RedWing Hunter repair question

#8 Post by Big Foot »

There have already been a couple of suggestions for filling the holes and doing it yourself. Carpdaddy's suggestion of wood dowels and epoxy, or an epoxy / saw dust mixture is probably the easiest an best way to do it.... but like he mentioned above.... it's not going to disappear completely without a highly skilled artists touch and and a complete refinish of the bow by someone who knows what they are doing....

If you want a professional job of restoration its going to require filling and plugging the holes with no shrinkage issues first. Then a couple heavy wet coats of either epoxy or auto clear coating. This needs to cure out completely for a couple days before it can be be level sanded and prepped for a special kind of stain that will cover it. What i've used in the past is called "PolyShades" by Minwax... This is a mix of polyurethane and stain that is semi transparent. It's tricky stuff to work with because every coat you put on it darkens the color & its very difficult to apply evenly. But.... That is the beauty of the stuff.....You'll need to go with a slightly darker color and get a nice even coat over the riser. then use an artist brush with a steady hand to paint the grain lines slightly darker. Through the areas you've plugged, and try and make them disappear........ Even Still.... in direct sun light, and knowing it's there, you would be able to see an irregularity looking closely, but you would really have to be looking for it to see it if its done right.....

Another option would be to have a couple artistic overlays done. Like a relief carving of a bear out of sugar maple..... This is something i could do for you if you are interested. But... it could get expensive..... If you are interested, i can post some photos of some carvings i've done.

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