Sinew backing a bow that took set already?? Should it be done?

[DuBois]

I have a 52" ERC bow that I backed with silk. It was my first bow that lived and I realize now that I was compressing the limbs by going to full draw without breaking them in much at all and probably messed up my first few bows that way Of course they took set more than I wanted.
I have since read several books and been picking bits off here too.

So, can I remove the silk and do sinew or is it just better to leave it as is?

I've never sinewed a bow but it sounds like ERC is a real good match for it.

[Dazv]

Do you like the way it shoots? If you do why change it?

[Weylin]

Enjoy that bow for what it is and if you want something different/better then make a new bow. Sinew is valuable and time consuming. It should be put on a good bow that was designed to take advantage of it not used as a fix for a bow that is suffering. That is my opinion anyway.

[DuBois]

Hey, good points from you both and thanks. I will leave it alone and just enjoy it.
Should probably not be messing with the first successful bow anyway, it is pretty special I guess.

[PEARL DRUMS]

My very first bow was a 68" hickory bow. It had at least 4" of set, maybe 35# and was a total dog. I left it on the rack for a while just happy with my first bow. Then after a few more bows I realized even if it was my first, it wasnt any good as is. I cut 2-3" off each end and did my first sinew job on it. Two things happened: I started to learn sinewing and that junker bow turned into a full fledged hunting machine. It still shoots great today. Im not a "hang it on the rack and try again" kinda guy. Unless a bow is hopeless, which few are, I will try to make them useful.

[DuBois]

Hey PD, so sinewing a bow thats been overdrawn and taken set will make an ok bow a better bow by far? Cool  
I only been at this almost a year and I am beginning to realize how stupid I was on my first few bows, still stupid but just not as.
This bow is 52", light and pretty and doesn't bend in handle, so I should not have been drawing it to 40# @ 28" right?

How much of a pain would it be removing TB2 and silk without messing up the back too much?

I will get a few pics on here later today when I am not at work .

[Cloudfeather]

Set is kind of a funny thing to me. I know it's a bad thing technically, but I've got a sinew backed osage with a sort of molly design. It's about 52 inches ntn and has about 2" of set to it overall. It still shoots amazingly well though. I guess it just depends on the wood, type of bow, etc.

[steve b.]

I sinewed an osage bow that hinged about 10" from the tip.  The sinew added quite a bit of poundage so I had to retiller.  Today you would never know it had a problem.  I think the set that takes place with the tension-strong woods is coming from the belly side.  So if you sinew and retiller by scraping that bad belly wood off you are restoring it to good health.

[DuBois]

Ok, here are the pics of the ERC.
This was standng and mostly dead across the road from me. I've got another piece that is 58" and has some beutiful natural r/d and I am itchng to try it.  Want to try makng arrows but I just seem to keep starting new bows instead; I think I have a problem. Is there a 12 step group for bowyers?
To sinew or not to sinew? 

[ionicmuffin]

I want to see more! those are truly gorgeous!

[DuBois]

Thanks Ionic

Dazv and Weylin; I am a little worried this bow will blow on me and I was thinking I might sinew it and get some better perfomance from it while feeling like I can trust it more too. I'd hate to see it die