Well here is an update....
Laid that sinew 9 days ago, and it was dry. I'm reluctant to get into how I laid it down for fear of thread hijack.....so I will say it is whitetail back sinew and granulated hide glue.
I decided to use the short bow (ironwood) to go through the process I want to use on Dons scalloped bow, as well as the method of skinning the sinew on Jons 2 bows.
I started with a side strip from a big Timber that gutshot give me, I laid down a thin coat of TB-II and laid the damp skin, pressed it down with thumb pressure then wrapped with cotton bandage for 2 hrs. then unwrapped and razor trimmed.....the scallops require a lot of careful cutting for sure. Once the TB was set up I cleaned up the thin edges, cut the grooves between the scallops, then strung it and checked the tiller. It looks OK but will wait till it's fully shot in and tweek if necessary after I'm sure the sinew is all settled in. There are 3 sets of pics....will get a fulldraw up tomorrow. I got it back to 17" and estimate the weight as about 60#.
The Bow is ironwood (dead standing), 32", 3 backstraps for sinew, timber rattler, and a paint scheme from a Potawatomii bow....belly just plain wood.....the last picture is the bow in a quiver to show just how small it really is. Because of this little experiment I can now proceed with the bows for Don and Jon so enjoy the pics fellas.
rich