Author Topic: sinew backing  (Read 3831 times)

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Offline NattyBumppo

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sinew backing
« on: November 04, 2013, 10:39:50 pm »
Hi All,
I just started bow out of a nice white oak stave only to find that a borer under the bark cut perpendicular to the grain and through most if not all of the first growth ring.  The rings are pretty tight on this stave so I thought I would take the opportunity to put on sinew backing rather than taking it down a layer.  I plan to use titebond II or III as the glue as I live in the Pacific Northwest and the hunt is always damp or wet.  All that I have read and watched on youtube looks like most of the tillering is done on the bow before backing.  I am concerned that if I tiller it first I will risk breaking it.   If I back it first the way I have read it requires me to run the sinew off each end of the bow and bring it down the belly for a ways and then tie it off with sinew running the other way.  It seems to me that this will get in the way of tillering.  ANY feeback would be greatly appreciated.  I have only built three other bows and have limited experience.

Natty 

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2013, 10:50:52 pm »
Any of the PVA glues like Titebond waste much of the positive effect sinew can have on a bow.  They do not allow the sinew to shrink and pre-stress the back. 

Now if you simply need to back the bow because of ring violation (blankety-blank bugs, anyway) don't go thru the work of laying down sinew bundle by bundle when simple antelope or other thin rawhide will do the exact same job with far less work.  Unless you have done a couple dozen sinew jobs, it's likely to turn out looking pretty much like burn scar tissue, too.*  A rawhide back allows for nice place to work in some tribal style art or other fanciments. 

And if you use Titebond III to glue down the rawhide, it will create a nice little vapor barrier for the wood.  TB III can also go over the rawhide, too.  Double your vapor barrier! 

*I know eleventeen people are going to post that their sinew work is pretty. You are the exceptions that prove the rule.   
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline PatM

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2013, 10:56:40 pm »
I  have posted several times on a technique that can make anyone do a pretty sinew job but people do love the burn scar tissue look.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2013, 11:01:44 pm by PatM »

Offline Eric Garza

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2013, 11:07:04 pm »
I searched your recent posts Pat to see if I could find your method, but came up empty within the first couple pages. Can you post a link to the thread(s) where you talk about it, or offer a search term that can help find it amongst the hundreds of threads where sinew backing is mentioned?

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2013, 11:07:09 pm »
I  have posted several times on a technique that can make anyone do a pretty sinew job but people do love the burn scar tissue look.


Why is that, PatM?  Your sinew jobs are as good as I have seen online. 
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline PatM

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2013, 11:32:40 pm »
You can't find it with a search because I gave up trying to teach it in 2001. :) I did  post a bit of a synopsis of the technique on Paleoplanet  fairly recently and I have since revised it to make it even more beginner friendly.
  It is a bit tiresome posting a helpful tip and getting nothing but criticism as to why it is unnecessary (if you happen to have slow drying nongelling sturgeon glue and the hands of a brain surgeon) or some unproven misguided theory as to why it isn't a sound idea.

Offline Pat B

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2013, 12:04:05 am »
If you want a sinew backed bow, build a sinew backed bow. If you screwed up your last bow, start another. Wood is cheap!
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline NattyBumppo

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2013, 12:13:51 am »
Pat B..
THis is a good piece of wood with a little worm bore...not worth wasting. I will probably try the rawhide backing.  Thanks for the input all.
N

Offline adb

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2013, 06:49:21 am »
Why don't you just chase down to a clean growth ring?

Offline J05H

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2013, 07:09:15 am »
Why don't you just chase down to a clean growth ring?

+1

Seems much safer to me. If I understand you correctly, you would still have the borer hole under the backing. Seems to me that would still be a weak spot.
If you never have time to do it right, you'll always have time to do it over.

blackhawk

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2013, 07:43:38 am »
Where will the spot be in a laid out bow? Can you place it at a tip or in a static handle area? If not remove a ring...i wouldnt even want that under rawhide...it'll still feel a little tension underneath it...pics?

Offline PatM

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2013, 11:03:18 am »
I will be sinewing a bow within the next couple of days and will post some pics of the process of achieving an easy smooth finish.

Offline adb

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #12 on: November 05, 2013, 11:14:43 am »
I will be sinewing a bow within the next couple of days and will post some pics of the process of achieving an easy smooth finish.

I look forward to that.

Offline Gsulfridge

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2013, 01:33:24 pm »
I will be sinewing a bow within the next couple of days and will post some pics of the process of achieving an easy smooth finish.

I look forward to that.
Me too. My first one looked like hammered sht. :o
Greg Sulfridge, Lafollette, TN

Offline NattyBumppo

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Re: sinew backing
« Reply #14 on: November 05, 2013, 07:41:40 pm »
After giving it some more thought, I think I will chase down the next growth ring. It will be good practice.  Thanks for everybody's input.  I appreciate it.
Nat