Two thoughts come to mind Halfbow.
when experimenting, consider that the amount of shrinkage of most things that dry is directly related to how much water is evaporated,
and plant fibers typically have very little stretch compared to sinew/glue. there are exceptions and yarns (twisted fiber) have more stretch than straight fiber
Yep, I mean, Titebond shrinks a lot in volume when it dries too. A dry glob of it is much smaller than it was when it was wet. It just doesn't shrink in a forceful way that pulls things anywhere, so it doesn't really matter in this context.
And yes I agree about plant fibers. They're a totally different beast from sinew. I wasn't suggesting plant fibers are a straightforward replacement for sinew, or trying to get to a sinew vs plant fiber debate. I certainly wasn't saying plant fibers are a better backing than sinew.
But a lot of people do use plant fibers/cloth/etc as backing, and many use pva glues to saturate them. My point here is merely to suggest that these people might get eek out a little more performance if they switch to hide glue. My test showed me pretty clearly how much more springy hide glue + plant fiber is.
Gotcha. So much of this is by feel for me. Almost all of it really. I appreciate the the testing that others have done and rely on it, if it matches up with what I have experienced. My rule is that if a test or pole or data tends to defy common sense, I cast it aside. The hide glue vs PVA glue...common sense leads me to accept that hide glue is preferable with sinew. I am open to another possibility.
I don't think anyone in this thread has stated a preference for pva, so no worries about other possibilities here. :p My personal feeling is that hide glue might be even more useful in more situations than is usually thought.
