I obtain a new to me recurve a few weeks ago. I was replacing a elderly man's kitchen faucet. I had noticed a lot of things around the house that had to do with hunting and the outdoors. So naturally as the job progressed we found ourselves sharing stories and our interest in the outdoors. He had primarily always been into running dogs and bird hunting. As the job was coming to a close I brought up archery and he said he hadn't shot bow in a few decades, but he did still have his old recurve. So after cleaning up my mess from the faucet we both where out in the garage looking for his old recureve. Finally found it over in the corner behind a whole pile of stuff. After looking at it for a four moments I asked if he was interested in selling it. He paused for a moment and said she really needs a lot of work. If you are willing to take her home and clean her up and get her back to shooting arrows you can have her, I'll never use it again.
The bow is a Streamler Turk. 60", 44# @ 28". The old man told me that when he purchased the bow he got it from Swallows and he bought it because this model was the first wood dominate combo produced. I haven't been able to verify that, but I have found a lot of history stating that Stremmler was the oldest archery manufacturer in the country for a long time. I think I remember ready they start back in the 1800s. So there could be some validation to his statements. So the bow is overall solid but in poor condition. The finish on the wood is gone, there was signs of mold on the fiberglass from moisture and I could hardly make out the markings on the fiberglass that told me the make and the model. I spent one whole night just googling about this bow before I really figured out what I had.
Today I started the restoration process. The first thing I want to say is I have never done this before. So I honestly have zero clue what I am doing and this isn't meant as a educational thread. (There is my little disclaimer so if someone screws up a bow restoration they can't blame me for it. LOL)
The first thing I figured I would do is get the fiberglass on the bow cleaned up. Here is what I used to try and freshen up the fiberglass.
I started out with 320 grit sandpaper. This seemed to do a good job of taking off the mold and any dirt that was on the fiberglass lamination. I then moved to a coarse steel wool, then 00 steel wool, then 0000 steel wool. This has really cleaned up and brought back a move smooth finish to the lamination. Here a few before and after pics.
Before
After
Next will be working on standing down the wood.
The bow is a Streamler Turk. 60", 44# @ 28". The old man told me that when he purchased the bow he got it from Swallows and he bought it because this model was the first wood dominate combo produced. I haven't been able to verify that, but I have found a lot of history stating that Stremmler was the oldest archery manufacturer in the country for a long time. I think I remember ready they start back in the 1800s. So there could be some validation to his statements. So the bow is overall solid but in poor condition. The finish on the wood is gone, there was signs of mold on the fiberglass from moisture and I could hardly make out the markings on the fiberglass that told me the make and the model. I spent one whole night just googling about this bow before I really figured out what I had.
Today I started the restoration process. The first thing I want to say is I have never done this before. So I honestly have zero clue what I am doing and this isn't meant as a educational thread. (There is my little disclaimer so if someone screws up a bow restoration they can't blame me for it. LOL)
The first thing I figured I would do is get the fiberglass on the bow cleaned up. Here is what I used to try and freshen up the fiberglass.
I started out with 320 grit sandpaper. This seemed to do a good job of taking off the mold and any dirt that was on the fiberglass lamination. I then moved to a coarse steel wool, then 00 steel wool, then 0000 steel wool. This has really cleaned up and brought back a move smooth finish to the lamination. Here a few before and after pics.
Before
After
Next will be working on standing down the wood.