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sinew backed ash bow?

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jasper:
I have a ash bow that has been tillered and is 66" long (tiller not perfect but losing weight) .  It has given me some problems and would like to pike it to 62" and sinew back it to increase weight and strength.  Is this a good length or should I go shorter to get the full benefit from the sinew.  My other question is ash o.k. to sinew?  It is white ash and a pyramid design.  Thanks

Pappy:
It will work fine,you could cut a little shorter if you like,How much weight is it and how much do you want to gain.And also what is your draw length ? :)
   Pappy

a finnish native:
tell us your draw lenght first. a sinew backed bow should be twice as long as the dezired draw lenght for example for 27" draw the bow should be 54-56". in this case the sinew will not add unwanted mass to the limbs and thus eat up cast from the bow. sinew backed bows thoughout history have been made to be short and I truly think we should rely on that information from our ancestors.
Remember also that tillering a sinew backed bow is about 100% more accurate and precise than with a wooden bow, because a sinew backed bow will fin even a small weak spot and start bending from there in time. happened to my sinew backed bow also. A few days ago a weak spot accured on the lower limb after 9 months of hard shooting! here's the link http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,1946.0.html

I feel that sinew is not a way to compensate the flaws of the wood. If you want to make a sinew backed bow with excellent cast and so on you should search for only the best type of wood. and then put plenty of reflex into it. If a sinew baced bow gains string follow it loses all of the benefits of sinew exept for the max draw lenght. also the cast will dissapear to a level of a not so good selfbow if string follow accures. Here is an example of an excellent sinew backed bow that has held reflex for 10 years or so http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,3166.0.html   
note the amount of reflex on that bow. a bow with such desing holds it's reflex more than 10 times better than a simple D bow.

jasper:
My draw length is 26".  I want  it to end up somewhere in the upper 50's as far as weight.  Right now it is somewhere around mid 40#s at about 24".  I saw a place that just starting to hinge alittle and inorder to correct it remove more would and in turn lower the weight.  I thought I would try sinew on this one as practice since I got 40 some deer tendons last year and would love to do a short osage bow.

As far as cleaning and degreasing processed sinew, How do you do that?

Thanks for the info.

Pappy:
It is close to 46 at 26 now ,if you cut it off to 62 you will pick up 8/10 lbs. at least so
if the hinge isn't to bad you can still hit weight,if you just want practice I guess that is ok but I would do it on something I was pretty sure of,It is a lot of work and sinew ant that easy for me to come by.That's just me. :)
    Pappy

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