Sinewed bow

[DC]

It's leveled off at a little better than 1/16" thick. Is that going to be enough or should I put another layer on.

[bradsmith2010]

keeping a record of how much sinew you applied, the weight,, will help you make adjustments on like design bows in the future,,
if you tell me how much you applied ,, grains ,,, I can give you an idea how its gonna respond,,
I would go with what you have on this one, ,and make adjustments as needed on the next bow,,
 

[DC]

keeping a record of how much sinew you applied, the weight,, will help you make adjustments on like design bows in the future,,
if you tell me how much you applied ,, grains ,,, I can give you an idea how its gonna respond,,
I would go with what you have on this one, ,and make adjustments as needed on the next bow,,
 

Thanks Brad that gives me a direction. I don't know how much sinew I put on. Next time, if there is a next time.

[PatM]

No man has ever done a successful sinew job and said that's it.

[Marc St Louis]

It's been a long time since I did a sinewed bow but I always reverse braced adding nearly all the reflex I wanted before applying the sinew.  The reason being is that I believe that the reflex you get from the sinew drying mostly pulls out during tillering and then the sinew actually starts to work.

[DC]

No man has ever done a successful sinew job and said that's it.

We'll see . I started this because when I started making bows I collected all the stuff I might need. So for two years this sinew has been sitting on a shelf. Also I was getting way to many bows and thought that if it took longer to make each bow I could keep busy and not run out of wall space. That said, pounding and stripping sinew is not my favourite thing to do. Arthritis doesn't help. Someone said they strip it out while watching TV. That may help. Anyway, my quest is speed and if this bow doesn't get into the 170 range I may just trade off my glue and sinew.

[DC]

keeping a record of how much sinew you applied, the weight,, will help you make adjustments on like design bows in the future,,
if you tell me how much you applied ,, grains ,,, I can give you an idea how its gonna respond,,
I would go with what you have on this one, ,and make adjustments as needed on the next bow,,
 

When you say keep track of how much I applied I'm assuming you mean just sinew, not glue and sinew. Do you just weigh your stash of sinew before and after? I tried doing that but the bag of sinew was so big I couldn't see the scale underneath and I didn't know how much the bag weighed so I gave it up as a lost cause. I'll have to put more thought into it.

[DC]

I noticed when I was pre soaking the sinew that the bundles straightened out nicely and stayed that way when they started to dry. It occurred to me that might be a good way to store them. Nice even straight pieces that you could stack like kindling. Easier to weigh. Soak them overnight before use. Is there a downside here?

[Pat B]

I prefer to hydrate sinew before applying it. I think it helps the glue saturate the sinew. I'll lift a bundle from the warm water, squeegee off the excess water, dip in the glue and squeegee off the excess glue and lay it down. I start soaking it in the warm water while I'm getting everything together.

[Danzn Bar]

Well..............I have a little different opinion.  Not to be causing trouble just different thoughts...
I like soaking my sinew in warm glue. then squezzing out the excess glue before laying it down.  I think it dilutes the glue if you use water to soften the sinew. 
DBar

[DC]

Well..............I have a little different opinion.  Not to be causing trouble just different thoughts...
I like soaking my sinew in warm glue. then squezzing out the excess glue before laying it down.  I think it dilutes the glue if you use water to soften the sinew. 
DBar

I thought about this and I wonder if the glue(from your warm glue) actually goes into the sinew. It occurred to me that the sinew might actually filter out the glue so that only the water gets into the sinew. Kind of an osmosis thing. Soaking it in glue seems like it would be better but it may be such a small amount as to make it unnecessary.

PS And once the sinew has cured and all the water is gone, if any glue did soak in would it do anything. After all apparently sinew and glue are molecularly identical. Actually I'm not sure they are

[BowEd]

I've always done the same as Pat B but can see DBars' point.I think the main point here is that the sinew is'nt hard and not able to soak up glue or moisture.If you've ever done that applying hard sinew just dipped into hide glue the results are'nt good.
I presoak my sinew in warm water.I even went so far as using distilled water.Does'nt seem to make a difference.The only way to tell the difference of proof is to put the sinew on an extremely stressful profile.

[PatM]

Your glue is constantly evaporating so  DAMP sinew isn't going to dilute your glue to any significant degree. Remember you are usually double dipping and stripping out excess glue so it's definitely going to be saturated with glue rather than just water.

 Glue and sinew are the same thing but not structurally the same thing. Otherwise we would just paint multiple coats of hide glue on.

[bradsmith2010]

I think if you take that into consideration on the thickness of the glue,, soaking in water will work, I do see your point,, I dry my sinew on paper towel before dipping in glue as well,, most the time it stays on,,

[PatM]

I also take the sinew out of the water and lay it on paper towels so it is not sopping wet but rather about like you would want rawhide before gluing it on.