How do I maintain my longbow?

[Nemo of Calh]

When I bought my longbow, I received a business card with it that had a list of ingredients for what the manufacturers wanted me to use to oil the bow once a month or so. Unfortunately, I have no idea where that card is. Apparently I could have found everything at a normal hardware store, but the only thing I vaguely remember from the list was peanut oil, and I really doubt that was actually on there.

So since most of the people on here I'm sure have plenty of experience maintaining wooden bows, what do you use to maintain it? I've seen tung oil and linseed oil mentioned a lot when I searched online, but it seemed like it was 50/50 whether people loved or hated either. There was also Danish oil mentioned.

I'd prefer not to change the color of the wood at all, but I'd live if it was darkened in a natural way. I don't want it to look like it has furniture stain on it or anything.

As a side note, I'm tired of the really obviously synthetic, black and purple string that was the only thing they had in stock when I bought it. For a 72# bow, would it be a bad idea for me to attempt to make my own out of hemp or whatever? If so, where would be a good place to buy a natural string?

[Ursus]

I use the same 50/50 mix of linseed oil and mineral spirits that I make oilcloth with. I also wax my bow staves with beeswax on occasion. Hope this helps!

[Manveruon]

What Ursus recommends would work just fine. Also, I've found that plain "Old English Lemon Oil" - the kind you can get at basically every store, everywhere - works just fine. I don't recall anyone saying it had any artificial drying agents in it, which are the main things you want to look out for. Many linseed oil and tung oil brands contain drying agents of some kind, which can actually harm the bow over time, so if you're going to use one of those, make absolutely sure that it's 100% PURE. Also, linseed oil has a tendency to spontaneously combust if left on a rag for long periods of time, so, y'know, there's that. But seriously, I've had no problems with the Old English stuff.

As for the string, while it's not a period material by any means, dacron really is probably your best choice for that. If you get a dacron string in a neutral color it shouldn't look glaringly modern either. However, you can technically make a bowstring out of just about any fibrous material. Cotton, linen, hemp, etc. all work. I've never made one like that myself, but I bet if you search around the net for some primitive archery forums you'll find a wealth of information on it.

[Nemo of Calh]

Thanks guys. I'll check around for linseed oil and Old English Lemon oil, see what the stores around here have. Mineral spirits should be easy enough to find, and I have plenty of beeswax laying around.

[ineffableone]

I use the same 50/50 mix of linseed oil and mineral spirits that I make oilcloth with. I also wax my bow staves with beeswax on occasion. Hope this helps!

Yep boiled linseed oil and mineral spirit mix and a good bees waxing should keep your bow nice and alive. I was going to offer up the same advice if it hadn't already been suggested. You can use varying degrees of linseed oil and mineral spirits. The mineral spirits are to thin down the linseed oil. You might find you prefer an 80/20 mix or a 60/40 or even a 40/60, generally though you will want more linseed or equal parts.

BTW the same treatment works great for pretty much any wood weapon/tool. Axes, spears, etc all can be treated similarly.