Deer sinew

[Toddy]

Got a red deer coming on Wednesday, and a friend who served his trade as a butcher is going to show me how to cut it up and prep the joints/ roasts properly.

How is best to prepare the sinews ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[bikething]

How is best to prepare the sinews ?

Depends on how you're going to cook them

 

[bikething]

For making cordage, from what I've read, you need to let them dry out (keep them in as long lengths as you can)
The backstrap sinews will dry out to form thin ribbons - the leg tendons will form hard round 'dog-chews'. The way they are processed from there is slightly different..

for the backstrap sinews, use your finger nail to divide the sinew across the width. Splitting it down further and further until you have the thickness you want.

The leg tendons will need to be seperated out into fibers. This is achieved by pounding using a smooth log on a flat stone or piece of wood to make the fibres seperate - then pull them apart to the thickness you want. Make sure that what you are pounding with / on is smooth as any sharp edges / roughness will tend to nick the sinews - making them prone to breakage.

I've only had limited experience of making cordage from sinew, so will be watching this thread for more info

 

[dogwood]

For making cordage, from what I've read, you need to let them dry out (keep them in as long lengths as you can)
The backstrap sinews will dry out to form thin ribbons - the leg tendons will form hard round 'dog-chews'. The way they are processed from there is slightly different..

for the backstrap sinews, use your finger nail to divide the sinew across the width. Splitting it down further and further until you have the thickness you want.

The leg tendons will need to be seperated out into fibers. This is achieved by pounding using a smooth log on a flat stone or piece of wood to make the fibres seperate - then pull them apart to the thickness you want. Make sure that what you are pounding with / on is smooth as any sharp edges / roughness will tend to nick the sinews - making them prone to breakage.

I've only had limited experience of making cordage from sinew, so will be watching this thread for more info

Bikethings advice above is very good info, however, sometimes (often) I've found that backstrap will have to be pounded as well.

I'm going to be processing some dried sinew in a couple of weeks to make thread for a project and I'll take some pictures if people like and post them.

For pounding, if you have a polished poll on a small axe it words well (some people actually use a polished poll on an anvil for pounding). If you're pounding with a rock make sure its smooth and hard. As Bikething notes, if you've got a rough surface you can cut your sinew by accident.

Make sure to flex it from time to time when pounding it -- this helps move the process along faster.

You can take sinew down to very fine fibers, thread like.

 

[Toddy]

Thank you folks

I think I could have better worded my first post
I have worked with sinew before, but I was kind of wondering about the best way to deal with it just as it comes off the beast. Washed, dried and laid aside to dry, as I usually do, or washed, dried, oiled ? or, any other suggestions ?

Dogwood if you would take and post photos that would be great and much appreciated by many

atb,
M

 

[stuart f]

Hi Mary,the leg sinew i just leave them to dry out,i,ve never washed or oiled them before,i,m curious now,have you read or seen any info about this process,or is it just off the top of your head?.

Cheers Stuart.

 

[Toadflax]

For the backstrap, I'd give it a good scraping while it is still damp to get the flesh off, and then let it dry. A kitchen knife would be fine - lay the sinew on a flat surface and scrape with the blade of the knife more or less perpendicular to the sinew. That worked well for me with some Muntjac sinew earlier this year.

Following that you just need to split it down with your fingernails when you come to use it.


HTH


Geoff

 

[Toddy]

Well, I was kind of wondering. I know that Inuit women keep their sewing sinew in bird skin bags. Those bags are made with the feathers inwards and I was told that the oil from the feathers lubricates the sinew and helps keep it supple.
So, it occurred to me that maybe our drying out and keeping it like a bit of jerky might not be the best way

Any ideas ?

cheers,
Mary

 

[dogwood]

Well, I was kind of wondering. I know that Inuit women keep their sewing sinew in bird skin bags. Those bags are made with the feathers inwards and I was told that the oil from the feathers lubricates the sinew and helps keep it supple.

I've never encountered this -- extremely interesting.

Nor have I ever had to oil processed sinew to make it useable, although it would not harm processed sinew.

I can see one immediately practical use for this inuit approach.

In the cold and damp environment the inuit face where the sinew is exposed to regular cycles of being wet and dry all while bundled in a bag.

If you wet a mass of processed sinew and then it dries, the individual strands tend to dry in clumps (and stuck-together tangles) and would a bit of effort to sort out again. Oiling the sinew to be placed in the bag would prevent this and keep the fibers distinct -- and immediately useful to the inuit.

Now to your question: if the sinew comes to you with bits of meat still attached, simply scrape that off with a dull knife (a butter knife is fine) lay it in flat strips and let it dry. I don't "pre-separate" backstrap too much, although others do. Personal preference.

(If you want to use the sinew to wrap a joint or something, you can do it when wet and it dries and shrinks to make a super tight binding.)

Once dry it's ready to process by wetting it back a bit and pounding away. If you find any meat that you've missed at this point, you can scrape it off too.