Thickness of sinew on Osage.

[Cloudfeather]

  I'm working on a sinew backed Osage. 58"ntn roughly, 6 inch static handle and roughly six in static tips on each limb. I've put down a somewhat thick course of sinew using homemade hide glue from tip to tip. It was a little under a quarter inch thick and, after curing a couple days has thinned to about an eight on an inch in thickness. I've done sinew on shorter bows and had it thicker.

  My question is, should I just fill in the small drying gaps and leave it as is? Or should I put another think course of sinew over it. Is there a certain thickness you need to get where it's not a waste? I've read that 1/4 the total limb thickness, but I don't think I need that on this Osage. My instinct says that this sinew will give it just the extra pep and strength I want from it. Any suggestions?

[steve b.]

Generally I would leave it and call it good.  Depends on what you mean by "gaps".  Can you see the wood through the gaps?

[BowEd]

Yes just fill in your gaps with sinew and I'm assuming hide glue.Let cure then sand smooth.It will shrink a bit more yet.Hope you post it when your done.Sounds like a nice bow.

[Pat B]

Fill in the gaps like Ed suggested. You can add another complete layer over the first layer if you want it stronger and this is something you can do later, if needed, if you haven't added a finish.
  You said you added the sinew tip to tip. It is unnecessary to add the sinew to the non working tips. It will not add performanve there and will reduce performance by adding unnecessary dead weight to the tips. Plus, keeping sinew on those curves will be tricky because as the sinew dryes and shrinks it can pull loose from the tips.  What I do is stop the sinew short of the non working tips and add a sinew wrap to secure the ends.

[Cloudfeather]

There's little valleys in the sinew which I will fill in today. I have antler tip overlays on the last 3 inches, I ran the sinew up to them and stopped. I may end up letting the tips have a slight bend to them. I put two thin wraps of sinew at each end as well. Thanks for the info, fellas.