Rawhide Along

[bluegill68]

There have been a few questions on how to apply a rawhide backing over the years so I thought a how to may be of some help. This is how I do it, though I know there are other ways. So your mileage may vary.

First I think it is important to realize what a rawhide backing can and cannot do. The backing can prevent a splinter from rising from a thin ringed back, a violated back, pin knots and to some degree grain runout on the bows back. Although the rawhide does shrink a bit while curing it does not add appreciable poundage to the draw weight or change tiller.  Bottom line it is not a cure for shortcomings in tiller or asking too much out of a piece of wood.

Rawhide application should take place after all heat bending/straightening has occurred; I like to get the bow to low brace height prior to backing. This allows verification of string placement in the handle.  Also if the bow has a splinter on the side of the limb or back of the bow it should be fixed prior to backing. In this case I am backing a sapwood Osage bow that has 25-20 rings /inch.

Commercial vs. homemade, both work equally well but thought should be placed on the final product before application. In the pic below the commercial rawhide shows how transparent it is, any pencil marks on the bows back need to be addressed before this type of rawhide is used. The homemade stuff is more opaque and suitable to artwork, though both will take stains readily.

[bluegill68]

First we need to dry fit the rawhide to the bow. The easiest way I have found is clamp the rawhide at the tip and handle and place on a pillow (back side down) for tracing. The pillow is especially handy on character or reflexed staves. I identify the backing as upper or lower limb with a pencil mark and cut out with shears. Ideally the backing will have an 1/8 of an inch overhang on each side, this will be trimmed later and produce a very nice finished edge.   






I soak the rawhide in warm water until it is pliable then I add a little Dawn soap to the water to degrease the backing. A quick rinse with clean water and I set the backing on a towel to remove excess moisture.




I prep the bow as follows, first I sand the back lightly with 60 grit sandpaper and degrease with Acetone, (Fels-Naptha also works well).  I then tape off the entire bow except the back. This step will save you countless frustrating hours of sanding required to correct the mistake of applying a stain over a glue spot on the bow. A thin sizing coat of the glue to be used is spread on the back; I prefer Titebond III as it has a longer tack time and is waterproof after dry. I have used TBII and hide glue with good results.

[bluegill68]

Glue is then spread on the flesh side of the backing and placed on the bow. I start at the handle and work my way to the tips, wrapping with twine (6-8 wraps/inch) or ace bandage will also work. There is a little trial and error in this step if you wrap the rawhide too tightly you can imprint the rawhide and possibly starve the marriage of glue.






I go slowly being sure not to trap an air bubble and to keep the backing centered on the limb. If an air bubble is trapped and you cannot work it out a syringe can be used to shoot glue into the bubble and forcing out the air at the same time. In extreme cases due to a knot or surface dip an x-acto knife can be used to cut a slit in the air bubble, then using your fingers you can force the backing to the bow. 

[bluegill68]

Then I leave it wrapped a day and take it off and trim the edge. I do this with a fine file, followed by a block with 100 grit sandpaper. I work along the edge very lightly, working my way down the limb. Then I give it about a week to cure out fully, if it is humid I may even place the bow in a hot box.






Once cured the rawhide can worked and finished as wood.

[osage outlaw]

Wow!  Great post.  Thanks. 

I'm supprised by how similar it is to gluing snake skins down.

[richardzane]

thanks for sharing your backing method
seems there are many different techniques, and each has its advantages

[Loneviking]

Thanks for sharing, but I sure couldn't get my rawhide to lay flat for nothing!   If it's wet/damp, and you press down on it it would flatten out, so the amount you need would be off due to the spread.  If it started to get dry it would curl and develop hard spots in it.   I think the problem with mine is that I was using a dog chewy soaked in water.  Good rawhide and cheap, but the more expensive flat stuff from a place like Tandy Leather would be a better choice next time.

[RBLusthaus]

I use the dog chewy rawhide often, as I am too cheap to purchase the "good stuff", although, IMHO, the good stuff is the same as dog chewy stuff, but the dog chewy must first be worked and thinned down to an acceptable thickness.  I usually soak it, open the knots, and then tack it down to a piece of ply using finish nails, let dry, scrap and sand, wet again, tack down again, scrap and sand again, and usually by this time, it is good for use on one of my bows.  When thinned like I describe, I think you will not have such trouble with it laying flat. 

I pretty much do the backing job similar to bluegill, but, once dry, I will actually scrape the hide thinner being careful not to scrap thru (which happens sometimes, but, shhh, don't tell, the stain hides all flaws).

Russ

[Loneviking]

I use the dog chewy rawhide often, as I am too cheap to purchase the "good stuff", although, IMHO, the good stuff is the same as dog chewy stuff, but the dog chewy must first be worked and thinned down to an acceptable thickness.  I usually soak it, open the knots, and then tack it down to a piece of ply using finish nails, let dry, scrap and sand, wet again, tack down again, scrap and sand again, and usually by this time, it is good for use on one of my bows.  When thinned like I describe, I think you will not have such trouble with it laying flat. 

I pretty much do the backing job similar to bluegill, but, once dry, I will actually scrape the hide thinner being careful not to scrap thru (which happens sometimes, but, shhh, don't tell, the stain hides all flaws).

Russ

Thank you!  This is the kind of info I've been needing.  I noticed that the dog chewy looked pretty thick compared to the commercial stuff.   What are you scraping it with?

[RBLusthaus]

after tacking it down and letting it dry (24 hours at least), I use a paint scraper and my random orbit sander to thin it down.  I try to get it to a uniform thickness (thin and translucent is best, but I never get there).  Then, I do it all over again, till I get it where I want it.  Then, soak and degrease with dawn in water, rinse the dawn off good, patt dry, and glue to the bow.   BTW - - I use TBIII, and slather it all over the place, so it is a good idea to tape the belly of the bow so clean up is a little easier.  Used to use ace bandages, but twine like Bluegill shows is what I use now.  Go easy with it or else you get cross lines imprinted in the hide.  They mostly scrape out, but it is better if they are not there at all, IMHO.   

Russ

[TRACY]

Nice post bluegill!

Tracy

[bluegill68]

Loneviking - I think you are on the right track in that your rawhide needs to be thinned keep with it you will get there.

Thanks Tracy.

I want to mention that if you end up with lines or dents in your rawhide a warm damp sponge can be applied to the  rawhide. This will cause the hide to swell and expand but not lose contact/glue bond with the bows back. Then all you need to do is lightly sand or scrape the imperfections out, it will dry smooth.

Also, I think that there maybe some application in which the texturing of the rawhide can add to the appearance of a bow, the next bow I back with rawhide I am going to purposely texture and incorporate it into the final finish.

BG   

[Carson (CMB)]

Nice work.  I have been thinking of doing a similar build-along in response to all of the rawhide questions coming up.  I rawhide back much the way you do, but one tip i would suggest is using an ace bandage for the wrapping part.  The stretch allows you to wrap it tightly, the width allows you to cover the limb in much fewer wrappings, and the open weave allows you to overlap and still have breath-ability of drying. 

[Carson (CMB)]

I can't imagine using the dog-chew toys as rawhide.  I am sure it can work, but it sounds like a lot of work. Since price seems to be the thing keeping people away from the "good stuff" I thought it might be a good idea to have a sale on rawhide backing strips to encourage the chew toy backers to give the deer hide a try.  I am offering deer rawhide backing strips for $15/pair.  (regular price is $23.50).  The rawhide sale is on the homepage of my website EchoArchery.com     I wont put a direct link as I only periodically run advertisements in Primitive Archer Magazine, and I do not have an active add right now.  I think this is within the rules, but if I am mistaken, feel free to delete this post admins. 

If you have questions about my rawhide please do not clutter up blue-gills how-to with replies of that nature.  Feel free to PM me. 

I hope this post is not too off-putting.  I just want to encourage folks to give deer rawhide a try over the chew toy hide.   

[JW_Halverson]

Imagine wanting to put an oak veneer on a tabletop.  So you go out and buy a sheet of 3/4 inch oak veneer plywood and glue it onto the table, oak side down.  Now all you gotta do is to scrape off the 3/4 plywood!   

THAT describes the process of putting dog chewies on a bow, to me.