# "Painting" Recurve Limbs



## MacIndust (Feb 7, 2012)

Good afternoon,

I have a Sage and I am looking to stealth it up (or tart:wink and wondered if anyone still "camo-fy" their limbs with spray paint and ferns/leaves/limbs anymore? If so does anyone have a recommended product they use or just a generic wood spray paint from your local hardware store. I remember my Dad doing it to his old compound when I was kid and thought it would help come hunting season.

Thanks for all your help,
Derek


----------



## Whitey375 (Mar 26, 2009)

I'd use the flat camo paint from Krylon. If you have any doubts about adhesion buy some Bulldog adhesion promoter, usually at most automotive paint suppliers.


----------



## Night Wing (Feb 4, 2009)

Most bowhunters today don't camo paint their bows. The natural wood grain is enough and acts like camo. Also, paint adds weight to a limb thereby slowing the arrow down. If the limbs don't have a good enough wood grain, then one can get a thin veneer of stained red elm like in the photo below. BTW, underneath the red elm veneer is bright yellow bamboo which is what the limbs are comprised of.


----------



## Destroyer (Sep 11, 2009)

Night Wing said:


> then one can get a thin veneer of stained red elm like in the photo below.


Veneers glued to the limbs? Or aren't I understanding this correctly?


----------



## GPW (May 12, 2012)

Under the glass... !!!


----------



## Destroyer (Sep 11, 2009)

GPW said:


> Under the glass... !!!


I think paint or dipping is a better choice then lol!


----------



## GPW (May 12, 2012)

Hunters around here just spray their bows with whatever flat paint they have around (usually Green for some reason  )... If they don’t like it, they can spray it again with something else next year ... Simple ... 
Spray paint is easy and if you use some leaves as a mask you can get some great camo things going ...


----------



## MacIndust (Feb 7, 2012)

Thanks GPW, that was kind of what I was thinking along of. 

Night Wing...the Sage comes with just that flat/shiny black finish on it so I wanted to "hunterize" it for the fall. I also have been working on rounding the edges and recently replaced the screw in knobs with bevels to class it up a bit. haha. If anyone has any other good ideas let me know. I am a little leary of the limb sock.

Thanks again,
Derek


----------



## GPW (May 12, 2012)

Mac , I found some nice camo fleece at the Wal Mart that was Light and stretchy in one direction .... possibly could be a Good limb sock material sewn up correctly so as to tightly stretch to fit the limbs , and I do believe it sheds water too .... I dunno ? But I’ve been making some great Chester Stevenson archery caps out of it ... Works Great for that ...


----------



## GVDocHoliday (Jan 20, 2003)

I like using a tan and sage flat paint for my limbs. Use the tan as a base then leaves/sticks as a stencil misting over with the sage.


----------



## richbatt (Mar 25, 2012)

For the limbs Black is already really good enough but try "Limbsations" Think that's their name.You can get just about any pattern you want to dress the limbs up.I got 2 sets of the Diamondback Rattler for a couple of bows i had and they dressed them up real nice,they are decals that really hold up good and will come right off if you ever decide to.Another thing i did was after i put them on i took some Tru-oil and went over them to give them some extra protection.Get yourself some antler burr limb bolts to dress them up abit.Rich


----------



## grantmac (May 31, 2007)

just hit it with some OOO steel wool. If thats not enough then some Krylon Fusion camo, whatever color floats your boat.
Veneers do slightly slow a bow down, but they are pretty. Paint doesn't have any measureable effect on speed.

-Grant


----------



## Easykeeper (Jan 2, 2003)

If you want camo I would explore having them dipped. I never liked the spray bomb, I think a nice dipped camo would look nicer.


----------



## MacIndust (Feb 7, 2012)

Grant,

Do you just rough up the finish to dull it out then? Or do you mean to create a better bond once you spray/dip the limbs?

Thanks,
Derek


----------



## grantmac (May 31, 2007)

MacIndust said:


> Grant,
> 
> Do you just rough up the finish to dull it out then? Or do you mean to create a better bond once you spray/dip the limbs?
> 
> ...


Just start by scuffing and see how that looks, sometimes just taking off the shine is enough. The bonus is that it does make an excellent surface for the paint to stick to, make sure you wipe it with denatured alcohal before any painting.

-Grant


----------



## OakKing (Apr 14, 2012)

If you haven't already, check out the Limbsation section at Onestringer's website. I just ran across this.


----------

