I finally have to get off my lurker behind and ask some questions.
1) is there any reason one shouldn't mix hide glue and PVA glue, like TB3? Maybe get the best of both worlds if the ratio was right?
2) any reason one can't soak their sinew in hide glue and lay it down on TB3? Build the layers of sinew the natural hide glue way from that point? I'm wondering if it would allow great adhesion but still let the sinew shrink.
I have searched for days but with the key words involved I get a tremendous amount of hits. I also for want to rehash some old arguments.
I've been reading on the merits of using PVA glued like Titebond as well as hide glue. Hide glue has been all I've used, specifically the Knox recipe.
Recently I had some sinew lift off of a bow back. Trying to think what to do, I made a small crack in the dried sinew and injected the area with TB3 with a syringe. As I watched the glue spread under the sinew it showed me that the affected area was much larger than I thought. I lightly clamped and let dry for quite sometime.
Fast forward I finished the project and that limb ended up breaking down near the fade. The whole sinew backing lifted off and i was able to peel it off of the rest of the limb all the eay down to the TB3 repair. That area took a huge amount of force to separate and pulled up a lot of wood in the process.
I decided to do a little experiment. I glued a single strand of sinew to popsicle sticks. Prepped them just as I would a bow back. One straight Knox glue, one mixed 25:75 TB3:Knox glue, and the third by putting down TB3 then laying on the sinew after it was soaked in Knox glue. Let all three completely dry.
Plain Knox glue just came off with a little picking withb my fingernails, the other two took some effort to remove and pulled out wood slivers.
Only has enough prepared sinew for one more experiment and I'm waiting for it to dry. I put down TB3 on a long thin slat of Douglas for left over from arrow building and covered it with Knox soaked sinew to see if it pulls reflex and we what the adhesion is like.
Let me know what you guys think if you have a moment.
