If you are interested in the finished bow, go here:
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,55786.0.htmlWell, I always wanted a flat sinewed short osage with static tips. Finally found a suitable nice clean stave with no knots or other complications. The statics are steamed in and the whole stick got an gentle increasing reflex with the heat gun. Everything went without any problems, even string alignment was o. k.
Now for the sinew
the bow is prepared with oven cleaner spray, looks funny like something to eat:
I let the cleaner work for about one hour, then rinse with fresh water. A lot of oily yellow stuff came out and the surface looks cool – somewhat like a giraffe
Next step is applying thinned glue in sevarl layers
I let it dry out over night and prepared my sinew for the first layer. The bundles are soaked in water, thickness is like a pencil. The tissue spread the water over the bundles so nothing can dry out. I leave that thing also over night.
Here is already the next day:
Here are the tools I use, silikon gloves, comb, plastic envelope opener, polished stone and the glue
No pics of the process of applying because of sticky gloves, but here is the result
Ah, forgot one tool. This is an old marker with a steel wire instead of the
(word)
with this instrument it's easy to press out excess glue.
From time to time I control the surface, just when the upper surface is not more sticky the bow can be wrapped. I like to use rubber textile for this. After some hours the whole thing is unwrapped and the wrapped again but in opposing direction. This prevents excessiv marks of the textile rubber.
Above is a pic showing the first unwrapping process. I repeat this about four or five times, leaving the wrapp on for some hours.
Here is a pic from the whole bow wrapped and braced backwards. The backward string is also tightened every now and then
Well, now for the hard time waiting two weeks for the second layer.