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Questions about sinew backing

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willie:
Nice instructions and tips, Dave !

@all
what is the easiest way to strip dried tendons into fibers? do you soak them much first?

superdav95:

--- Quote from: willie on May 10, 2023, 02:58:24 pm ---Nice instructions and tips, Dave !

@all
what is the easiest way to strip dried tendons into fibers? do you soak them much first?

--- End quote ---

Willie.  I use a wood on wood and pound it.  I use a section of muscle wood sapling to hammer with on a stump.  I twist the tendon as I pound it to get it broken up good.  I get less breaks in the fibers this way.  Leg tendons are little more work but yield more sinew fibers.  Back sinew is the easiest to process but not as much yield.  They do give more longer sections though depending on the animal.  Once I pound it well when dried I use my hand to separate the fibers into as many long strands as k can.  It will have some casing on it after pounding it but this can be resolved with a steel dog brush or wire brush.  Once you get it fairly fine hair like strands I use wire stiff brush again and then weight it all and separated into length bundles.  If doing a bow like Aaron’s the last layers should be the longest ones.  On a stiff handle bow you can measure out your bundles and then divide in half for each limb.  Just prior to laying down I wash with dawn soap really well and use a clean surface to comb it out again as pre measured bundles.  This is done with little wire brushes I use stainless steel brushes. This gets more of the unwanted little bits out and makes for a very clean sinew job in the end.  This method gives a fairly accurate measured way to get the same amount of sinew on each limb.  When I actually lay the sinew down I use the dunk in the glue method.  I keep the sinew in it water and wring it out of excess water with fingers then dunk into the glue and wring it out and down on the bow.  I also brush on a layer of glue on the back of bow just prior to the sinew.   Hope this helps.  Best of luck.  Dave

Aaron1726:
Really appreciate all the advise yall, thanks! 

I found someone selling leg sinew on etsy. $32 for 1/2 lb, not sure if that's a good deal or not, but seemed cheaper than anything else I had seen so I got it.  Just arrived today and looks pretty good, and several fairly long pieces.  So now I guess it's time to get to pounding it all out and see what I end up with.  I'll start a new thread for the bow and let yall know how it goes.  Thanks again!

Eric Garza:

--- Quote from: Aaron1726 on May 15, 2023, 08:01:43 pm ---I found someone selling leg sinew on etsy. $32 for 1/2 lb...

--- End quote ---

That is a heck of a deal. Leg sinew is so much work though...

superdav95:
That’s a good deal.  Keep us posted. 

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