Custom Bow Riser Paint Job - w/ PICS

Just called up the Rustoleum hotline... The technician told me I should wait at least 72 hours before applying the clearcoat. Then give the clearcoat 7-10 days to fully cure before reassembling the bow. Fugg me... I don't have that kind of patience!... I want to see it put back together!!!

Had a scare with the matte clearcoat yesterday. I don't really know what happened... Maybe it was too hot in the garage, or too humid, I don't know... All I know is the "clear" coat didn't turn out fuckin clear at all! It left a milky sheen, with little white particles all over the surface... almost like dust, but larger. I fuggin wigged out! All that effort in masking and painting, then to have it dicked up by the clearcoat!

After several beers, some pouting, and a couple hours, the clearcoat had hardened enough so that I could handle it and give it a good look. I noticed that the white particles seemed to come off the surface relatively easily. So I took a risk and LIGHTLY sanded the clearcoat down with some steel wool. It took the riser back to a dull flat finish, and got rid of most of the milky sheen. So an hour or so later, once my garage cooled down for the evening, I took it back out there for another try. This time, I made sure to spray each coat very lightly, and slowly built it up. When finished, the riser turned out MUCH better than the first try.

It's looking good now, just sitting here and curing. It's damn near killing me not being able to reassemble everything right now. The matte clearcoat definitely gave it a matte finish... I think I liked the color better when it was just plain flat black, but the difference is worth the added protection of the clearcoat IMO.

Curran said:

Probably a combination of the heat, humidity, and too thick of a first coat. I've had the same thing happen in the past using aerosol clear coats to seal up decoys. Nothin' pissed you off quicker than putting in all that work and having an issue with the clear coat in the end!! Sounds like you got it fixed though, so that is a good thing.

Bow looks great by the way! Look forward to seeing the finished product.

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Thanks, Sean.

I think it turned out pretty well. Since the application of the clearcoat, I would call it more of a dark "smoke" color than I would black. It's definitely unique, and that's mainly what I was going for.

Milo said:

did yur butthole pucker?

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No... I've been in some pretty hairy situations, so my butthole-puckerization factor has built up quite a tolerance over the years. But, I did have an extremely intense frown going on, followed by a seemingly never-ending regurgitation of cuss words. It's a good thing there were no kids around...

This project was one hell of a learning experience, I'll just say that right now...

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So yesterday I decided to say fugg it and started to put this bow back together. Of course, with 8 or 9 extra coats of paint and clear over top of the factory finish, the limb pockets didn't wanna slide back. I expected this. What I didn't expect was for the clearcoat to come off in big flakes. Note to self.... Fuck Clearcoat. For one, I wasn't very happy with the look of it after I sprayed clearcoat... and for two, clearcoat flaking off was just plain unacceptable. Upstairs I went, bow in hand, and filled up the bathtub... I wet-sanded the entire bow, removing all of the clearcoat and smoothing out all of the rough spots.

Now my riser looked like shit again... smooth shit, but shit nonetheless. There was only one way to resolve this little hiccup. Mask it all off... again... and paint it... again. About two hours later, I had it all masked off. I had a little bit of the flat black enamel left, so I got to work. Well, I knew I'd be cutting it close on paint, but I thought for sure I'd have enough to finish. Nope. Wrong. I got 3/4 of the bow repainted and I ran out of juice. This did not make me happy one bit. Off to Home Depot I went to pick up another can.

I made it back home, finished with the final coat of flat black, removed all the masking, and let it hang to dry. It was after dark... I had paint all over myself... and I felt down, but not defeated. Finally, it looked good again.

Today I got it put back together... Greased the limb pockets and limb bolts, thread-locked the important stuff, the whole nine yards. I must say, even after all the headaches I went through during this project, I am really happy with how it turned out. If it wasn't for getting sidetracked by the clearcoat, it actually wouldn't have been bad at all... But hey, that's how you learn I guess.

He she is.... finally....

The black blanket was for contrast, you fucks.... :smiley_boos:






lmao