My elm lost weight??

[Cacatch]

Gents, I have a 50" sinew-backed white elm bow that I made about 5 months ago or so. There's not but about 2 thin layers of deer leg sinew on it, but it's a stout little bugger, and after it had fully cured for about a month and a half I strung it and it pulled about 55lbs at 25". Then I set it back in the closet for a couple weeks and took it out, greased it with a mixture of pine pitch, beezwax, and lard, strung it and it had increased poundage to about 70lbs at 25"!  Now here's the part that I don't understand - Sunday I got it out and wanted to grease it up, and look it over, since I plan to use it to hunt turkey this weekend. This time, I thought I would use a different mixture since my pine/wax/lard misture will eventually let water through and let the grain raise. So this time, I mixed a small amount of beezwax with lindseed oil. It seemed like a good deal so I rubbed my bow down with it and let it sit back in the closet. Yesterday I took it out and strung it, and it had dropped back down to about 55lbs at 25" again!  Did the lindseed oil and wax mixture do this? It's been in the closet so there should not have been any change in moisture or temperature. Anybody have an idea what could have made it drop weight?

Thanks for any thoughts 

[makenzie71]

What did you use to secure the sinew?

[Cacatch]

Knox gelatin to secure the sinew. And I think I used a little too much because the first few times I pulled it back/shot it, it would crack. After a while it quit cracking and I was pretty pleased with it. That was all before I ever applied the lindseed oil.

[makenzie71]

I love the cracking, creaking, moaning of a sinew bow lol.

I've never used Knox products, though, so I don't know if they're susceptible to linseed.  Some glues and resins will deteriorate with linseed, and it can also soften the sinew if it's not properly sealed.  Oiling a bow is to keep the water out, not to get oil in...linseed penetrates pretty good so I try to avoid it except with the densest woods, but I also use solvent-proof epoxies to glue everything together.

Someone else may have a better explanation...

[Cacatch]

Well, your explanation makes sense. And it seems like the only possible one, too. But that lindseed would have to be some wicked stuff to have penetrated and affected my sinew job the way it did, if indeed that's what happened. For starters, I only used a residual ammount, actually only what was left on my hand from doing the same thing with my unbacked black locust. And I used the watered down version from WalMart, with a small ammount of beezwax melted into it and stirred around. I wonder if anyone else has ever had this happen before, or lindseed-oiled a sinewed bow withOUT it taking pundage away from the bow.

Thanks for chiming in Makenzie.

[zenmonkeyman]

Maybe some clothes got thrown in the closet that weren't quite dry?  That could up the humidity quite a bit.