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Thoughts on sinew on black locust

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bentstick54:
I have a friend working in a piece of thin ringed black locust. It’s 63” TtT, 1-1/4” at widest point of fades. He said it’s 39# @ 27” and has taken a fair amount of set. He’s thinking about heat treating the belly, taking the set out and adding 3 layers of sinew and then rawhide, to raise draw weight.

I’ve never worked with sinew or black locust, but I’m wondering if the sinew will over power the belly, since black locust is prone to fretting anyway?

Pat B:
First off, IMO 1 1/4" is way too narrow for black locust. Heat treating will help take out the set but that probably should have been done before the tillering went too far along. Adding sinew at this point may also help a little but again IMO it's too little too late and adding rawhide to the mix will just add excess physical weight to an already strained bow. Black locust should be a good candidate for sinew backing but it probably should be part of the original design and not an after thought to try to fix an over already strained bow.
 Unlike hard backings sinew is elastic so it shouldn't necessarily overpower the belly. Usually it's the nut behind the wheel that causes frets in sinew and I know that as a personal fact.  ::)  I have terrible luck with black locust and fretting.
 

bentstick54:
Thanks Pat. I’ll pass the I info on.

bradsmith2010:
   I have only made one,, but it turned out nice and did not fret,,
I usually agree with Pat,, but i think the sinew would add some weight,, even though its a bit narrow,, Im just thinking out loud here,, i would be really gentle with the heating to take out the set and not get carried away,,
  depending on the draw he wants, the bow could go shorter with the sinew,,making it more likely to gain weight,, and making the ratio of width to length better,,
   Pat may be right on ,, I am only guessing,, If I wasnt happy with the bow,, nothing to loose,, I would try it,, if the bow does turn out,, you can decide about the rawhide or not,,,sometimes I paint the back,, which does add protection,,,
   

PEARL DRUMS:
I learned the most playing around with bows I didn't like and wouldn't have used otherwise.

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