Hey everyone, I'm still working on a linen backed red oak board bow and I have a small problem with the linen. On the edges of the bow, the linen is fraying. How do I make it so there's a clean edge? Also, how do I get the linen to kind of flow with the bow?
Thank you so much for the help,
Tommy
I'm using a cotton backing kind of like linen. work from the center out to the tips. Go slow and the try and stay centered. You said Your using a board so you should be centered already... You'll get a good clean edge when you sand down the bow before putting your finish on.. I am working on another bow and I just started to but the first coat of Tru-oil on now. I'm still at floor tiller, about to put on the long string Saturday or Sunday.
You can go ahead and put finish on the back, that's not going to be changed as tillering takes place on the belly. Finish will help with the fraying.
I have used cotton material as backing for kids bows and leave the backing slightly oversize, glue it on and the finish with tru-oil. get the tru-oil well past where you are going to trim. Trim it with a razor blade after drying.
What I do for linen backing is coat the whole back of the bow in a clear two part epoxy before I cut the linen to shape let it dry over night and trim it to the sides of the bow. Then you can take a file and trap the linen to the back, sand the back. It will turn all white and ugly. Then once you put a finish on it it looks beautiful. Its worth a shot.
ps I glue the linen down with a titebond two and water mix before I use the epoxy let the linen dry a day before you use my trick.