Speaking of artificial...

[KenH]

.. I mean NeoPrimitive...       The posting on artificial snakeskin got me to thinking about other artificial things.

We talk about and use "artificial sinew" for wrappings of various kinds on bows and arrows.    Has anyone ever used it to back a bow in the same way the real sinew is used - combed out lengths set in a glue matrix?     Would it work?  Sure would beat the heck out of pounding and soaking and generally messing about with dead animal parts...  What about other fiberous materials like jute? 

[Pat B]

Artificial sinew is waxed so it would be difficult to make glue stick well to it. Also it is very stretchy and would not have the same effect as the real stuff.
  Raw flax fibers will make a backing. A few bows were built at the 2009 TN. Classic using raw flax.

[George Tsoukalas]

Burlap, silk and linen will make backings. More on my site. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[half eye]

Ken,
      I made a backed Modoc bow that used hemp twine set in TB II and it worked very well, I haven't had any trouble with artificaial sinew either ( it's the same thing as dental floss (that comes unwaxed) but for the AS I just clean the wax off with acetone and you can glue the stuff out of it. Upholsterers twine would also work.
Rich

[KenH]

Thanks guys.   Another tidbit of knowledge to tuck into my kit.  The re4ason i asked is that several folks asked why I hadn't sinewed that Asian Composite bow I just finished.  I'm just not in a place and time where I can muck about with real animal bits (it's a long story...).  But I wondered if we had discovered other things that would have the same effect as sinew backing - increase the draw weight.

I knew silk, burlap, etc. doesn't do that.

I knew if it could be done the wax on artificial sinew would have to come off.  Might be kinda fun to go into a mega-pharmacy and buy lots of dental floss - "Can I help you sir?"  "Yes please.  I need 50 packets of dental floss to make my bow nice and stiff."

Hemp twine might be a more cost effective alternative.

[Easternarcher]

As I underrstand it.....Art.Sinew has no shrinkage, being nylon, it may stretch, but will not impart any real additional strength to the back of a bow. Real sinew shrinks as it cures, that's why the reflex increases as it dries. It's shrinking, pulling the limbs into additional reflex, increasing the poundage.

A.S. won't do that. Correct me if I'm wrong....

[Hillbilly]

As Easternarcher said, the artificial sinew (nylon string) would probably offer some protection for the back of the bow and help prevent breakage, but you wouldn't get the rest of the benefits of the real sinew. As halfeye said, any kind of string will do the same thing.The magic of sinew lies in the fact not only that it is very strong and elastic, but also in the fact that it shrinks as it dries. Real sinew can't be duplicated by anything else that I know of.

[Badger]

   I agree with Hillbilly, no substitute for real sinew. Anything else might just "look" like it. Silk and flax will both make decent backings but will not behave like sinew at all. Steve

[KenH]

Okay.  That's what I was thinking, but wanted confirmation -  Other fibrous materials, unless they shrink when drying, will not increase the strength of a bow, they simply prevent splinter rise like any other soft backing.