Main Discussion Area > Bows

Sinew backing: to chase or not to chase?

<< < (3/5) > >>

Marin:
Yes I was using pretty good wood already, but the design I was trying to make called  for an even and slightly flattened back with required me to cut through some contours in order to make the back far more uniform and violate the grain more so in some places than others

Pat B:
If the bow you plan on building requires a flat back, decrown the stave properly, with the ring edges running parallel with the bow. I believe it's the ring edges that run across or diagonally across that lift the splinters resulting in a BANG!   

Marin:
Yes I understand proper decrowning but I should say this wasn’t exactly a proper decrowning. As its juniper, it often snakes or has uneven crown through its length, so I couldn’t really section it like say a straight piece of elm or hickory.
Since I’m backing it with three layers of sinew though, sounds like that shouldn’t matter.

Pat B:
Sinewing is a lot of time and work involved. When I sinew back a bow I want the best piece of wood I can get and prep it to the best of my ability. If you want to make a sinew backed bow don't use a marginal stave to start with. I think even snaky staves can be decrowned if you follow the lines of the bow with the decrowning.

Marin:
This wasn’t a marginal stave or bad. It was a tight grained piece of Utah juniper. In working with juniper, I’ve only found that juniper has these little features, contours and bumps just because of the way it grows, even the best pieces will have wierd crown or grain deviations.
I get what you are saying, but it just seems like it is still possible to make a great sinew backed bow even with a piece of wood that breaks some of these rules. As I mentioned before, Ishi and other west coast tribes completely cut through rings and ignored grain violations (though they did select straight grained and mostly knotless pieces of woodJ and they made pretty durable backed bows with it. And I’ve yet to see a super snaky west coast juniper bow or one where the back clearly followed the original crown of the wood or was der owned properly, it seems like regardless some rules have to be broken just to make these bows.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page