I've just finished making my 3rd bow( the first two blew up in my face) and im wondering Esther I should back this bow, what are the advantages to doing it?I have some sinew that's from a cow, is cow sinew good stuff or should I use sinew from another animal?As I understand it all I need to do is lay strips of sinew on the bow then glue it on? If so what's the method for making hide glue? I have a bag of hide scrapings in the freezer that came from rabbit, grey squirrel and a fox, will this do?I'm being overly cautious with this bow as I don't want it blowing up on me.Cheers guys
Backing a bow
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You can buy commercially made rabbit skin glue but can make your own quite easily. Dehair a couple of skins by soaking in urine for 24 hours and scrape the fur off, then boil until the hide has dissolved. Dry the residue on a baking tray then reheat gently with a drop of water until you have a smooth warm paste and apply. It is very strong glue and is also used for sizing canvas prior to oil painting.
How long is the bow? Sinew is best used on highly stressed short bows of say below 50 inches and is a very involved process that is best explained by buying a book like the traditional bowyers bibles or bows of the native americans. Just preparing enough sinew for 1 bow can drive you mad and can involve up to 8 leg tendons(from a deer)!
Hide glue on the other hand is simple to make. Just heat some hide or sinew scraps in water. Try not to boil as it will reduce the finished glue strength. This can take several hours of simmering during which you skim off the scum that forms. When you have a syrup like liquid I pour into flat trays about an inch deep. When set like stiff jelly I cut up into cubes and put it in front of a fan for a day or two cutting up further as necessary. When fully dry they turn into rock hard shards of glue that will keep forever if stored right.
Glue making is included in both books I mentioned above.
Steve.
Hide glue on the other hand is simple to make. Just heat some hide or sinew scraps in water. Try not to boil as it will reduce the finished glue strength. This can take several hours of simmering during which you skim off the scum that forms. When you have a syrup like liquid I pour into flat trays about an inch deep. When set like stiff jelly I cut up into cubes and put it in front of a fan for a day or two cutting up further as necessary. When fully dry they turn into rock hard shards of glue that will keep forever if stored right.
Glue making is included in both books I mentioned above.
Steve.
Backing a bow with sinew might stop a splinter from lifting or help you make a very short bow with a long draw length.
Sinew can also be used on questionable wood or de-crowned wood.
Other backings such as raw-hide and silk will help keep the bow together if it breaks and can sometimes stop a splinter lifting on the back. More to stop splinters flying and saving you rather than saving the bow its self. I use silk to back some of the bows that I sell. I have no doubt they would stand up without it but its added insurance just incase it does let go.
No backing will save a bow that has design problems or tiller problems and the best backing for a wooden bow is a clean growth ring and plain old "air"
The bowyers bibles are great books and well worth the money.
Sinew can also be used on questionable wood or de-crowned wood.
Other backings such as raw-hide and silk will help keep the bow together if it breaks and can sometimes stop a splinter lifting on the back. More to stop splinters flying and saving you rather than saving the bow its self. I use silk to back some of the bows that I sell. I have no doubt they would stand up without it but its added insurance just incase it does let go.
No backing will save a bow that has design problems or tiller problems and the best backing for a wooden bow is a clean growth ring and plain old "air"
The bowyers bibles are great books and well worth the money.
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I followed the guide in jon mcphersons book and it doesn't explain exactly what backing it was for so thanks.
My bow is 6.5 inches, before I put sinew on at full draw it had 46 pound draw, after adding sinew its up to 54 pounds, it said in the book this would happen.
As I understand it a bow of 50 pounds is good enough to kill a deer? Obviously im not going to use it for hunting but the ability to make a tool to take town such an animal is important to me.
I've never used a bow in my life but I fired 30 arrows today and I can hit a hay bail at a decent distance so im happy, though after 30 arrows I've lost 2 lbs of draw weight. Is this normal?
My bow is 6.5 inches, before I put sinew on at full draw it had 46 pound draw, after adding sinew its up to 54 pounds, it said in the book this would happen.
As I understand it a bow of 50 pounds is good enough to kill a deer? Obviously im not going to use it for hunting but the ability to make a tool to take town such an animal is important to me.
I've never used a bow in my life but I fired 30 arrows today and I can hit a hay bail at a decent distance so im happy, though after 30 arrows I've lost 2 lbs of draw weight. Is this normal?
Don't forget that cordage bows are a quick way, and a reversible way, of strengthening a bow.
http://www.primitiveways.com/cordage_backed_bow.html
http://www.primitiveways.com/cordage_backed_bow.html
Sorry bud just had 3 days in bed due to the lovely NOVO Virus and still resembling something from the walking dead series.
Let me start by saying any bow that can launch a hunting weight arrow about 140+yards would do the job. Probably less to be honest. The reason you cannot say that a given lb of draw weight can kill or not is its all down to performance per lb. I have 40lb bows that I have made recently that out-perform some of my 50lb bows from way back so its all about cast. I would think that your bow if even roughly designed well would be more than enough to drop a deer, given a good range and sharp heads. Whilst i have never hunted my self (UK) the numbers make sense.
Going forward for performance sake there are a few factors. 77 inches is way too long for a sinew backed bow. The reason for this is sinew is heavy compared to wood. So more mass = less cast. Wood alone still performs better than sinew lb for lb is one way to think about it.
Sinewing a bow will add draw weight as its dries and this can carry on for a month or two.
If you are loosing a bit of weight it could be that the sinew is either not dry or you have a design problem in there some where.
One clear indicator of a design problem is studying the braced and unbraced profile of the bow just after un-stringing. If the profile is changing evenly along the whole length of the bow then its probably ok and providing it doesn't carry on changing its probably just a little set. If one part of the limb is changing only then you have a design problem and a possible hinge developing. It can actually be possible to raise draw weight and performance by "piking" the bow (cutting a few inches of each end) and re-tillering providing you have enough width.
Get some pictures up of the bow unbraced, braced, and at full draw. Also a picture of the back of the bow would help.
This is why we all tend to post these pictures to show our bow making buddies across the world, not because it looks cool shs, but because it tells us everything we need to communicate the feel of the bow across the web
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