Sinew backing green staves

[High-Desert]

I just got my yew permit approved for this yew and have enough sinew stripped and wanted to try sinew backing a green stave. I've only read about natives doing this and was curious if anyone has done this, their results and their process. I'm guessing I should let it dry a bit, so it's not soaking wet,but I'm not sure. Any thoughts? Thanks

[BowEd]

 

[PEARL DRUMS]

I see no real advantages, only several disadvantages.

[bradsmith2010]

I sinew backed a green osage stave,, it turned out fine and killed some deer,
it did pick up more weight than a cured stave,,

[High-Desert]

I'm wondering if the stave and sinew curing together would prevent cracks forming in the belly. I read, I think in the TBB, that older, more cured wood has a greater tendency to split in the belly. I'm also wondering if maybe the more green wood will take on more reflex.

[DC]

Would you sinew it and then wait a year, or whatever?

[High-Desert]

If I had to, but it wouldn't take that long to dry with the bow nearly at dimension and the wood would be less than a 1/2" thick. Maybe let the roughed out stave dry a few weeks, then sinew back, so it's not so slopping wet.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I would expect a green bow to gain more weight as it cures, it only makes sense. I would be concerned with warping and trying to correct it. I would also be concerned with the sinew drying way faster than wood causing it to "cup" the belly. I just cant see an advantage to it. I'm trying.

[Bob W.]

Mike Yancey at Pine Hollow longbows does it all the time. I have roughed out 2 green Osage staves and heat bend them on a R/D caul for a couple weeks and then applied sinew and let them cure together for 6 months and finished them off. No problems.

[High-Desert]

I might as well give it a try, nothing to loose except some time of it doesn't work out. Thanks everyone.

[bradsmith2010]

I only did it once, ,, have read about others doing it,, I was in a real hurry when I did mine, and started shooting it after a few weeks,, so that is probably why it picked up so much weight,
but I had fun, and the bow did not fail,, probably not the best way to proceed,, shooting the bow with that short of a cure,, but back then I just wanted to shoot it so did,, 
put tape or finish on the belly and it wont crack as much

[Redhand]

I do it with juniper.
After cutting the juniper staves, I debarked them, sealed them up, I let them sit for a couple of weeks, then I rough them out, I get them floored tillered, add some reflex, then sinew back them.
I will let them cure for at least 3 months before I start working on them.  Juniper dries pretty fast in this dry western air.
I do put duct tape over the belly to help with the moisture not escaping to fast causing belly cracks.  I have had good success doing it this way.

[Springbuck]

"I'm wondering if the stave and sinew curing together would prevent cracks forming in the belly."

Now I'm not a sinew guy, and I've never done it, but I'm having trouble visualizing why this would help prevent cracks in the belly.   Because the green wood accept the increased reflex better ans the sinew dries?   Reduced wood dries pretty quickly, and wouldn't reducing alone eliminate this?

It seems to me that if green wood were reduced to near-finished dimensions, sinew-backed and held in a form or something, it would probably be fine.  But, I have also found that both drying wood and drying sinew do, or try to do, some unpredictable things like uneven drying, lateral warping or twist, reflexing more on one side, or one limb, more than the other, etc..

[PatM]

"I'm wondering if the stave and sinew curing together would prevent cracks forming in the belly."

Now I'm not a sinew guy, and I've never done it, but I'm having trouble visualizing why this would help prevent cracks in the belly.   Because the green wood accept the increased reflex better ans the sinew dries?   Reduced wood dries pretty quickly, and wouldn't reducing alone eliminate this?

It seems to me that if green wood were reduced to near-finished dimensions, sinew-backed and held in a form or something, it would probably be fine.  But, I have also found that both drying wood and drying sinew do, or try to do, some unpredictable things like uneven drying, lateral warping or twist, reflexing more on one side, or one limb, more than the other, etc..

  The wood cracks by  lateral shrinking of the back relative to the belly.   Not anything to do with accepting reflex.

[Springbuck]

Ah, ok.  Thanks, Pat.