Okay on this sinew job I'm going to try the commercial hide glue. But I do highly recommend Knox gelatin. 1/4cup warm water/packet. Consistency matching a lite syrup.
Tools and materials.
The ladies brownie pan... Sshhhhh
hide glue, acetone
A knife, sinew shredding comb, a hair comb, sinew and of course a bow stave roughly tillered or even fully tillered.
I take my knife, rasp or hack saw blade. To LIGHTLY make longitudinal scuff marks the full length of the bow.
Then remove all dirt and oil left behind by my fingers.
Okay let's shred some sinew. This is back strap sinew it's a little easier to shed then leg sinew.
I grab the 3 pieces that are all similar in length and spin it in my hand to loosen up the fibers.
Then take it over to the sinew shredding comb and rip the fibers apart, and spin in the hand the fray up the ends and eventually pull apart by hand and sort into piles according to size. Always shred more than you need.
Next I like to soak my sinew in LUKE warm water, better to be colder then too warm. For 10-15 mins.
this relaxes the sinew and makes it easier to stretch out before applying.
Next I take some warm water and lightly dampen the back. This helps raise the fibers in the wood.
Then size the bow with the his glue I mixed with warm water the a light syrup consistency.
The steam keeps the glue nice and warm a small crock pot works just as good
I did mix up more just didn't document the process bc I forgot lol.
Sizing a light layer of glue.
It's really cold in my shop so the glue is gelling too fast but still too much glue is not a good thing, push all the excess off.
Then I pull out 10-15 strands at a time to make up a bundle. Pull and stretched the sinew out then dipped and squeezed in the hide glue removing all the excess glue.
Then comb it out and apply.
The first course is the most important. And I'm a bit anal about over lapping fibers anyways.
Then I smoothed it out with a wooden dowel.
I do straight down the center slightly overlapping each bundle.
And stagger the side courses like laying down bricks.
Once done I take a piece of parchment paper (NOT wax paper)
Place them over the recurved ends and wrap, so while the fibers shrink they don't left up.
Now I place the stave in a room set to 70ish deg. The next morning I took individual fibers and filled any gaps.
Okay I put the bow away and I'll pull it out in a week to get 2 1/5 more courses
-Pinecone
