About sinew. Pic heavy

[Gordon]

I really like this post. What is the purpose of the horse leg wrap?

[superdav95]

Thanks guys!  My pleasure to post it.  As for the horse leg wrap… I like to use something that keeps sinew down on the more extreme reflex designs.  I find that on milder reflex profiles it’s not absolutely necessary but still can do.  Sometimes when sinew dries the top layer fibers dry faster then middle layers and can pull off the limb on some of the extreme profiles.  I find also that the wraps give a nice finished look and crowned look to it that means less removal with sanding for that desired finish.  I want a very smooth finish on this one so went with wraps.  The difference with horse leg wraps and other bandages is that it’s a milder elastic and thinner material.  Still breaths great and doesn’t leave the bandage marks nearly as bad.  I could hardly see any marks on this one.  The keys is not to put wraps on too soon after laying sinew.  Usually couple hours is good.    As far as my sinew I really wash it well with dawn soap and brush it really well with wire brush prior to that and use my thumb nail to scrape off the unwanted bits.  I weight it out with good scale dry for each limb.  This saves lots of headaches later.   

[bradsmith2010]

looking great,,,

[bentstick54]

Thanks for posting. I really learn a lot from these build alongs. Gives me a starting point to try things I would never consider doing without seeing before hand.

[superdav95]

Bentstick, my pleasure.  I’m the same way.  Seeing it done is often all I need to get started then the learning curve really begins.  Visuals are great though when we can get them.  A picture is worth a thousand words with this kind of stuff!   

[superdav95]

I posted a reply on BJ post on this also but figured I’d attempt to keep it all here too for guys for ease of reference if using this post as a how to or somewhat instructional. 

I’ve personally tried the process while wet and I found it does work but is sorta messy sticky stuff when wet and harder to handle I found.  I did notice little less waist but not enough for me to have the benefit of working the stuff dry.  To me I find the dry working this stuff better.  It separates good so long as you got good quality tendons or back sinew.  Some of the back sinew I use from moose and elk or Buffalo is quite thick similar to leg tendons.  I pound it all with a 16” piece of muscle wood sapling about 2” diameter.  I use a small maple stump to pound onto to break up.  I used to use a metal hammer but found I waisted more material.  Also resist the urge to speed up the drying but putting it in the oven or dehydrator. It doesn’t end well.  Let it air dry.  I waisted a lot of good sinew trying to rush it.  Here’s a couple pics of the dog brushes I use to get the separating fibers done initially.  I then use a standard wire brush from there all while dry.  The other big benefit of working this sinew dry is measuring it with a good scale.  Also measuring for length.  It hard to fully know your weights of sinew while wet.  It’s important to get as equal weights on each limb.  Obviously this makes for better balance in limbs.  I’ve seen guys just place it on randomly in groups of strand bundles and maybe this works out for them but I personally like the methodical approach with careful measurements dry getting consistent lengths of the strands.  It just work out good for me this way.  I use dawn dish soap as it’s mild but good for cutting oils out well.  You’ll know it’s good when it’s almost squeaky when you get it good and wet pull it through your fingers. I had some elk sinew that was quite good but had a pronounced red look to it after being dried.  I pounded it well and separated it all up well and had a pink tinge to it.  After washing it all up with dawn it was white as flour.  Don’t wash it with hot water either.  Use Luke warm water.   The finer you can get the strands now the better finish you’ll end up with in the end and less air voids in the dried sinew.  More of an esthetic thing I guess but still want your sinew nice and tight fitting of the strands together.  The wrap help with this a bit too.