Sinew that was frozen - OK to use for backing?

[Sidmand]

I have a fella that has some frozen deer legs and he said I could have the sinew - I have been trying to get my hands on some to try a sinew backed bow.  Is it OK to use sinew that was frozen 'on the leg', if the leg is thawed and the sinew removed and dried?  I was wondering if the freezing would cause damage to the tendon, like frostbite or something?

[wizardgoat]

I had moths get into my sinew stash and I kept them in the freezer for a while. I didn't notice anything wrong with it, but that sinew is curing on 2 bows, so I haven't seen the long term effects yet

[Pat B]

I don't think freezing will hurt the sinew especially with it still attached to the legs.

[bowandarrow473]

I would see no difference from a frozen tendon to an unfrozen one. They freeze tendons for grafts if you tear your ACL so I would imagine frozen tendons would be fine, never froze tendons though so wouldn't know for sure.

[PatM]

The tendons used for a graft would be frozen with liquid nitrogen I would think to avoid crystals damaging the structure.
 Logically freezing must be harmful to some degree.
 You'd have to do a test but many have used frozen tendon successfully so it probably doesn't lose that much.

[bowandarrow473]

They add a chemical that deters the formation of large ice crystals and decrease the temperature very slowly to insure no large crystals can form and destroy the cell, that said, sinew is different, it is not  full of active cells and doesnt need oxygen or nutrients unless damaged, or so I think.

 This paper explains findings related to human tendon being frozen and thawed multiple times without any adverse effects.

https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789/404105/1/The+influence+of+freezing+on+the+tensile+strength+of+tendon+grafts_a+biomechanical+study.pdf

[Sidmand]

thanks all, I'll try it!

[crooketarrow]

 I've cut 100's out of legs saved by a prossure for me. Froze them so I could get them as I had the time.