Hickory/sinew

[Stick Bender]

This build was a Mohegan inspired bow,limbs 1 5/16  42 lbs @ 29in,  62 1/2 ntn, 23 oz mass my goal was to make it with in a couple of months as winter is the only time I have for serious bow making , it was made with in 8 weeks off the stump , missed my weight by 5lbs learned real quickly sinew can fool you, this is only my 4th bow & 2nd sinew, Im leaving it in the white for a while but after shooting it I kinda like the lighter weight can shoot it all day with out getting burnt out plus Im now convienced a 42 lb bow would kill a dear with out much problem, also my first bendy & I realy was chasing the tiller on this one not great but another shooter !

[Hrothgar]

Tiller looks real good. Should be able to kill a deer at 42 lbs.

[oldrank]

Looks great. Im working on a 60" hickory right now.

[JW_Halverson]

Be absolutely unsatisfied with anything but perfect arrow flight, tune EVERY hunting arrow to the bow, even if it means they are all a little different in length.  An arrow wagging like a happy dog's tail wastes a large amount of energy and that can cause you untold problems with a poorly hit deer. 

Be unsatisfied with your arrow sharpening skills until the time comes when you wake from sleep in a panic that the arrowheads have escaped and are loose!  When an arrowhead is sharp enough to give you nightmares, it is almost ready!

With those two details in control, you will skip an arrow thru a deer's ribs like a lightsaber thru butter with that bow!  Whatcha got right there is a great bow, make no bones about it!

[bradsmith2010]

looks good, hope you get a deer,,

[paco664]

nice looking bow ya made there... congrats

[ajooter]

Damn JW your giving me nightmares with that vivid picture! 

[PEARL DRUMS]

You can cut at least a few inches off the bow and increase weight, if you choose.

[Stick Bender]

Thanks pearl Im thinking of running another layer of sinew right down the crown that should give me a couple of pounds with out efecting tiller much ,in hindsight I probably should have put on about 950 grains of sinew insted of 750 grains plus if this is like my other sinew bow it picked up another 6 lbs in weight after 2 months its fun but a huge learning curve with sinew .

[BowEd]

Nice job Ritch.It'll do the job for ya.

[joachimM]

Be absolutely unsatisfied with anything but perfect arrow flight, tune EVERY hunting arrow to the bow, even if it means they are all a little different in length.  An arrow wagging like a happy dog's tail wastes a large amount of energy and that can cause you untold problems with a poorly hit deer. 

Be unsatisfied with your arrow sharpening skills until the time comes when you wake from sleep in a panic that the arrowheads have escaped and are loose!  When an arrowhead is sharp enough to give you nightmares, it is almost ready!

With those two details in control, you will skip an arrow thru a deer's ribs like a lightsaber thru butter with that bow!  Whatcha got right there is a great bow, make no bones about it!

Pretty sound general advice! Especially the nightmare part 

Bow is looking good!

[bigcountry]

Very nice, how did you bend the tips?  I have trouble bending hickory.

What do you use to put the sinew on?  I wonder why we don't see more sinew hickory bows. 

[BowEd]

Most people think hickory is super tough which it is and does'nt need sinew,but a bamboo backing has been popular forever so why not sinew?I've heard doubts about it being troublesome for hide glue to bond [ring pourus wood] etc. but I think it's like anything else it's all in the preparation to get it right.Other than that I would'nt know why either.

[Pappy]

Nice stick you got , that should do the job. 
 Pappy

[Stick Bender]

Thanks guys for all the kind words Big C  the tips were left wide & some what thick ,I steamed them for 1 hr and I applied dry heat at the same time & slightly toasted them & coated with shellac after they cooled to prevent any cracking , there was zero spring back when I removed them from the caul I used denatured alchohal to remove shellac & degrees the back ,then washed every thing with soap & water & lightly sanded , when dry I just put on a generous sizing coat of liquid hide glue , I soaked my sinew in warm water squeegee it off  did the same in the glue & put it on in thin layers that was it nothing fancy.