Fixing ugly sinewed spot

[Black Moshannon]

About three years ago I made a D bow from a small diameter black locust tree which had been drying in rafters for years. I made the bow half sapwood, half heartwood. It is 66" long, 11/8" wide at the widest and now pulls 58# at 27", although originally it was pulling 60. I shot the bow a lot and loved it. The heartwood sapwood contrast is very pretty. It has 11/4" of string follow and seemed very fast, although there was a lot of handshock. About a year ago, I was horrified to see there was now a lateral crack on the lower limb going across the sapwood. It was just surfacy but I didn't understand how this suddenly happened after two years of consistent shooting. I then read in one of the TBB that black locust sometimes does not take well to leaving on the sapwood. I also took it out in a lot of cold and snow at one point, so maybe that affected it.

I kept shooting with the crack for a few months. It didn't get any worse. I then took some small, messy pieces of deer leg sinew (it wasn't good sinew, but it was all I had at the time) and used that and hide glue to cover the crack. I wrapped the sinew all around to the belly. There are little messy pieces sticking out. This was the first time I ever messed with sinew on a bow. The sinew dried and I've been shooting it ever since. It looks terrible though. So my question is, can I file and sand this sinew to make it look nice, or will that make it chip or peel off. I don't want to ruin a shootable bow. Here are some pics.

[Black Moshannon]

Here's a close up of the belly side

[Pat B]

Add another ugly wrap on the other limb for symmetry.   

[mmattockx]

I don't want to ruin a shootable bow. Here are some pics.

Maybe I'm just weird, but I would leave it. I can understand wanting to clean it up, but it adds character and gives you a bit of a story for the bow along with your first time working with sinew.

Add another ugly wrap on the other limb for symmetry.   

Well played.


Mark

[Mafort]

Personally I like patched bows like this. I still have an old Yew wood bow I found forever ago. It’s missing the lower horn tip, wrapped with sinew on the upper limb, has the English upper limb horn tip, and she still shoots. I call her old faithful and she’s got a handle with snake skin wrapped around it and everything. Sure I like the fancy and pretty ones also but the old and patched ones have better stories.

[Black Moshannon]

Add another ugly wrap on the other limb for symmetry.   

I had thought of that...

Personally I like patched bows like this. I still have an old Yew wood bow I found forever ago. It’s missing the lower horn tip, wrapped with sinew on the upper limb, has the English upper limb horn tip, and she still shoots. I call her old faithful and she’s got a handle with snake skin wrapped around it and everything. Sure I like the fancy and pretty ones also but the old and patched ones have better stories.

Maybe I just need to look at it differently.

[bownarra]

Sanding a nd filing are both fine. Get it smooth, then add a little more if you have to remove too much. The trick is getting the sinew strands perfect before applying them
If the bow had handshock the tiller was off. I suspect that where it lifted this splinter it was bending too hard.

[Eric Krewson]

I have sanded the sinew on a backed bow to the point it was as slick as glass. If you want a smooth surface you can put saran wrap over the wet sinew and press it down to even out the bumps before you wrap it with an ACE bandage. I let this combination sit for a couple of days to firm up than take all the wraps off to let air get to the sinew for cutting. The resulting cured sinew is pretty smooth and can be sanded to not even look like sinew but part of the bow.

[Black Moshannon]

Thanks for the advice. I'll give the sanding a shot and check the tiller.

[sleek]

Look at pictures of Willie Nelson's guitar. Ugly, wore out,and used up, but still good. Tells a story. Im saying, leave it.

[sleek]

http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/repairing-willie-nelsons-trigger-a-good-look-at-how-a-luthier-gets-americas-most-iconic-guitar-on-the-road-again.html

Here, check this out.

http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/repairing-willie-nelsons-trigger-a-good-look-at-how-a-luthier-gets-americas-most-iconic-guitar-on-the-road-again.html

[Black Moshannon]

http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/repairing-willie-nelsons-trigger-a-good-look-at-how-a-luthier-gets-americas-most-iconic-guitar-on-the-road-again.html

Here, check this out.

http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/repairing-willie-nelsons-trigger-a-good-look-at-how-a-luthier-gets-americas-most-iconic-guitar-on-the-road-again.html

I see what you mean