Cowboy,
Thanks for your interest in this project. I did paint the sinew after I sanded all of the grooves and irregularities out of the surface. I just mixed up a kind of sand color in acrylic to put down for a base for the colors. I think the Indians used a white clay mixture on the sinew to achieve the same effect. Now to the wood itself. The rancher and I looked almost a half a day to try to find a branch or trunk somewhat straight enough for a bow. I brought three good sized branches home to Georgia. Each was about five inches in diameter. I then sliced these up and took about 3/4" slats out the middle. I then steamed, straightened and shellacked each piece until I found one that would cooperate enough to make a bow. The shellac is important after each steaming or scraping in order to keep checking from occuring. Several of the blanks did twist and crack so badly, I could not use them. But this one seemed to hand in there. I took it down to 1/2" at the ends and began to tiller it. When I got it tillered, I continued to work on straightening it, using both wet and dry heat. Shellac after EVERY TREATMENT. Then I sinewed about three layers of elk sinew on the back and then sanded and re-tillered. Boy, those Comanches around the Red and White River valleys had to work really hard to make weapons!
Dan
