Hunter friends, deer legs, and sinew question

[Matt Heppe]

I'm not a hunter, but I have friends who are. I told them I want to make sinew backed bows, and they offered me all the deer legs they got a hold of. Here's the first delivery.



I have no experience in taking sinew from a deer. I definitely need a better knife. Here is what I ended up with:



Each leg provided three lengths of sinew. Can I dry all if it and pound it for sinew baking, or did I take stuff that is not usable? I washed it and pulled some of the slick filmy stuff from the outside. was taking the film off even necessary?

And how many of these segments are needed to put one sinew layer down on a bow?

Thanks for your help!

[Oglala Bowyer]

Yup, thats the stuff.  Dry it all, pound it and make a killer bow    I sinew back most of my bows.

[osage outlaw]

When it is dry and you pound it, the outer sheath will seperate.  On the rear legs, follow the sinew through the knee joint and you can gain several more inches in length.  Save any scraps for making glue.  And show them how to save the back sinew for you.  Might as well get all that you can.

[BowEd]

You bet that's great stuff for bows.That's cleaned up plenty good enough.It's got pros and cons,but one thing for sure it does improve performance on your bow if done right.Each to his own but you've got enough there depending on their length to do 2 bows moderately or one bow heavy duty.Just dry it and it'll keep for years till you want to use it.Plenty of books on the subject to reference from.I like to put about 3 ounces dry weight prepared sinew on.That's about three courses on a 60 to 64 inch bow,but that stuff is most probably useful getting unbelievable bends or draw lengths on shorter bows from 3 to 4 feet long.

[aaron]

also, you may be able to get longer pieces by following that main snew all the way to the toes- where it splits in two.

[Patches]

If there are any butcher shops in your area the process deer, you can probably get more sinew from the legs they throw away.  I got about 50-60 legs last year and got he sinew off them for free.  Once I got permission from the butcher, it was just a matter of getting them out of the dumpster.  I talked to the guys that actually did the cutting and they a couple buckets of legs back for me.  You might want to give that a try if you want some more sinew. 

[Poggins]

I start at the knee and go all the way down between the toes . When they are fresh you can separate one down to smaller pieces and they will dry faster.