Preparing Sinew

[chuckp]

I have some sinew in the freezer from this past season. How should I prepare it for backing?

[hillbilly61]

 I 'm stringing my up to dry first. (These are the leg tendons) I tried to steam, salt and peper them and even added a little hot sauce. But dang, they still turn out tuff and chewy

[chuckp]

So just string them and air dry them?
The basement O.K.?
How long?

[broketooth]

pat b says put your back strap sinew on wax paper to dry, it only takes a few days. the leg sinew i put on my hot water heater for about five days and then its ready to prep for backing a bow. just makes sure you put it where your pets cant get it. its definately a chewy treat they cant resist lol

[Holten101]

Hmm...am I the only one who puts it in the hot air owen (at low setting...50-60 degrees celsius) for a few hours?...It seems to work, but please warn me if unknowingly destroying sinew this way!

Cheers

[hillbilly61]

I've got mine strung up like popcorn and hanging out in the shed. I'm sure others do it diff. but after they are dry(a week for this batch) Put it on a cutting board and pound the heck out of it. It seperates the fibers.

[chuckp]

do you slit the sheath the fibers are in and remove the fibers?

[broketooth]

smash it with a hammer, that'll bust the sheath open

[broketooth]

forgot to tell ya , you dont have to hit it like you are drivin nails. put it on your bench vice and smack it like your bustin ice in a bag it will bust the sheath open pretty nice like.

[crooketarrow]

     I no longer build baked bows. But there was a time when I save dozzens andf dozzens of deer.As well as had a couple prosseres saveing them for me.Which it you have'nt thought of it is a great way of collecting leg sinnew.
  They won't save you the bach sinew but would give  hundards of legs.It's really simple I just let mine dry in bundles in the raffters.Yuo don't have to wait so long for them to dry.But after I got started I'd let them dry untill after the next season uselly that coming spring after deer season.
   I used a big cut stump (peice of fire wood)  Use a rubber mallit pound untill the steath comes off.Then into string fibbers. Store them in baggies according to size in a dry place untill your ready to use. Trade or what ever.I'd trade 100's

[Pat B]

Sinew will turn a tranluscent amber colored when it is dry. It only takes a few days to dry but your relative humidity can make a difference in the time. Be sure you store it where your pets or other critters can't get to it. It is like candy to them.

[chuckp]

I tried a few pieces of sinew. Seems like the sheath disintergrates into a brown powder and the string-like  tendons remain. I'm hitting the pieces lightly and square with a ball peen hammer and on an anvil.

[dragonman]

If you hit the sinews too hard it breaks the fibres, a wooden mallet is better than a steel hammer, you should realy take care and seperate them with as little hamering as pos. The longer the fibres the more they shrink,the more they shrink the more reflex they'll put in the bow, the more reflex the faster the bow

[wodpow]

I have dried lots in the oven!  I go to a processor also and use front leg and back leg tendons.   I split the sheath with my fish knife and have dried well over a hundred pieces of sinew at a time with just the heat from a the pilot light in my old oven three to four days is all I have had to wait with less I have dried it in say 40 hours.I use a plastic hammer and a section of railroad track. I did brake it down to fine fibers but the less you pound it the better I just get it loose and pull it apart with out a lot off pounding

[Sparrow]

I throw it up on top of my refrigerator and let it dry until I see it again, Weeks,months ?  Anywho,then I put it in a ziplock with the others and just pull some out when I need it. Just make sure you get all the meat off the back sinew and leg sinew seems to dry in the sheath just fine. I use a rubber mallet and a piece of dry tree trunk to pound the fibers out, I have used round,smooth river rocks and that seemed to work fine too.