Main Discussion Area > Primitive Skills
How do I sinew?
Eric Krewson:
Pound your sinew dry. I have pounded it on a concrete floor, a piece of railroad track, and a big rock. I have pounded it with a hammer, round river rock and a hickory mallet. I start pulling the bundles apart with a pair of pliers, as the pieces get smaller I pull it apart with my hands, very labor intensive.
loon:
Pounded one leg sinew dry with somewhat porous but somewhat smooth/round-ish stones that were reddish and brittle, broke the largest stone. Got it dry into fibers. Seems a bit too easy to break the thinner sinew strands with my bare fingers. why. maybe the fibers aren't as continuous as i wish..
BowEd:
I pound leg sinew with a regular carpenters hammer on a flat 1 thick steel door weight.Pound it till you can pull it apart with a pliers and your fingers.Keep pulling it apart into halves.You'll get there.About 1/16" thick strands work the best.There's going to be waste with all sinew.Keep it though for making your own hide glue.
BowEd:
Stripping sinew is more time consuming than anything.Once you get the hang of it you can strip 2 ounces in 8 hours fairly easy.
loon:
that titebond hide glue is toxic, has some kinda additives which would make it unhealthy to reuse sinew and chew it again... oh well. gonna use it anyway, until I make my own hide/sinew glue. thanks.
I have enough sinew fibers now after I smashed more dry, and hard with the large rocks on a stump. Used only my hands to separate but had to pull hard. I fear that pliers could cut some of the fibers. They're rather short, about 9" or something, I bet much shorter than what I'd get with backstrap sinew, but good enough..
the strands are... pretty thin. maybe like dental floss
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