Sinew backed juniper bow

[pierce_schmeichel]

Hey guys here's my sinew backed juniper bow. It's 40" ntn and pulls 45lbs @20". I don't have anything to measure arrow speeds but it is fast haha!. There's 3 layers of sinew on the back. I applied it by putting a thin layer of hide glue on the wood and then chewed the sinew and applying it like normal. I found that it went much faster than just soaking the sinew in water and then having to soak in hide glue. It was less messy...I didn't have glue dripping everywhere haha. It all seemed to dry much more quickly too.

[pierce_schmeichel]

Haha forgot to post photo

[Kidder]

Awesome work. I want to see some more pictures and also hear more about “chewing the sinew” opposed to soaking it - is this the historically accurate way sinew was applied? And welcome.

[Bob Barnes]

awesome...I've only made one sinew backed juniper bow, but it was a match and works well for sure.  I made it for a friend and it really made a nice bow.  I live in eastern red cedar country and a lot of guys make bows using sinew on the ERC sapwood.   It seems to work well for them.  ERC is a juniper as well.  Looking forward to seeing how yours works for you.  Congrats.

[Del the cat]

Nice, Can we see an unbraced pic please?
Del

[Pappy]

 I never tried chewing it for backing but chew it all the time when I am using it from a wrapping, Love to see more also.
 Pappy

[Pat B]

Like Pappy I chew sinew for wrapping on arrows but not for bigger projects like backing a bow. When you chew sinew your saliva and the sinew makes it's own glue but I never thought about chewing sinew for backing a bow.

[pierce_schmeichel]

Nice, Can we see an unbraced pic please?
Del

Of course!

[pierce_schmeichel]

Here's a pic of it drawn back to 18".

Also I have sinew backed a bow before without glue at all. I've just chewed the sinew and layed it flat on the bow.that worked great and that bow hasn't had any issues so far. I figured why not because we chew it to bind fletchings and that works well. My guess is that could have been how it was done at one point in history just because of the simplicity of it. Early man chewed it for bindings so why wouldn't they have chewed it for sinew backing? I don't know it just makes sense in my mind.


Another thought....this bow stave warped when drying into a dflex. My solution was to make the belly of the bow the back haha. I figured it was going to be sinew backed and most of the load on the wood was going to be in compression so I was going to be able to get away with all of the violation. It's been working great so far!

[pierce_schmeichel]

Awesome work. I want to see some more pictures and also hear more about “chewing the sinew” opposed to soaking it - is this the historically accurate way sinew was applied? And welcome.

My guess is that it is or at least at one point has been a historically accurate way to apply it. My reasoning is that you wouldn't even need clay pots to make hide-glue. It just kind of jumps over that step. It also just goes on way more easily. You don't have a sticky mess, it dries quicker(probably because there isn't any hide glue forming an outer shell that prevents moisture from escaping easily) and the whole process only took me about an hour, start to finish...all 3 layers. Also if you want to take a break it's super easy you just stop chewing on sinew. You don't have to worry about heating up the hide glue all over again, you have the flexibility to add a little here and there.

[WhistlingBadger]

Nice looking bow, and an interesting approach to sinew!  I'm hoping to make a sinew/juniper bow someday, as juniper is about the only good bow wood here in Wyoming.  I'll have to give your method some thought.  It makes sense.

[superdav95]

Very nice bow there.  Bend looks good.  This has been on my list to do.  I’ve got a shorter piece of pacific yew for my build which should work too.  I’ve often thought about chewing vs soaking in water for backing prep.  I never considered it as it seemed like it would be a lot of chewing to me.  I guess it depends on the size of your bow build I guess.  I’ve only ever chewed sinew for my home made arrows and it hefting on knapped arrow heads.  It works great for that.  I’m wondering do you pound it and comb it first into bundles still prior to chewing?  Or do you just take a chunk and chew it into strands that way.  Just curious.  Sounds intriguing.  I’ve sinewed many bows but not this way.  Also are you using back strap sinew?   Thanks and congrats on the great bow. 

Dave

[pierce_schmeichel]

Very nice bow there.  Bend looks good.  This has been on my list to do.  I’ve got a shorter piece of pacific yew for my build which should work too.  I’ve often thought about chewing vs soaking in water for backing prep.  I never considered it as it seemed like it would be a lot of chewing to me.  I guess it depends on the size of your bow build I guess.  I’ve only ever chewed sinew for my home made arrows and it hefting on knapped arrow heads.  It works great for that.  I’m wondering do you pound it and comb it first into bundles still prior to chewing?  Or do you just take a chunk and chew it into strands that way.  Just curious.  Sounds intriguing.  I’ve sinewed many bows but not this way.  Also are you using back strap sinew?   Thanks and congrats on the great bow. 

Dave

I don't pound it at all. I use leg sinew and pretty much just split it like string cheese then put like 10 strands of sinew on one side of my mouth and 10 strands on the other. Then I pull the 10 strands out of one side of my mouth and put 10 new strands in. As I'm chewing the new strands I put the 10 i pulled out on the bow and just go back and forth until I'm done. It's kinda like chewing gum.


I would use just backstrap sinew but I just never get enough. So I use the backstrap sinew for sewing and bindings

[superdav95]

Interesting.  I’ll have to give that a try on a future project. 

[pierce_schmeichel]

Hey guys here Saxton Pope said that Ishi put down a layer of hide glue on the wood and chewed the sinew. That's exactly what I did on my bow haha. So I guess there's our historical evidence.