Broken Sinew Bowstring

[DanaM]

Isn't artificial sinew just sinew colored B50?

Nope artifiacal sinew is nylon and super stretchy, B-50 is Dacron and medium stretchy

[Jude]

On that subject, I just use brown B-50 and brown serving string.

I was wondering though, do you all dry twist your sinew strings.  I wet twisted the one I made, and it didn't look nearly as white and fluffy as the one in the pictures when it was dry.  It was about a quarter inch thick when it was wet, and dried to 1/8.  I dried it with the loop over a dowel, and a weight clamped to the other end.  When dry, it was hard and yellow, then I sanded the rough fuzz off of it.

[JackCrafty]

Jude, I "dry twist" my strings but I dip my fingertips in water while I twist.  I can't seem to make a good string if the sinew is soaking wet.  I wet the string after it is twisted, remove the excess water, and then hang it up to dry.

I have a thread call "Sinew Bowstring Technique" that shows how I do it:  http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,5126.0.html

(Sorry about the low quality of the pictures. They are a little blurry...I need to take clearer pictures and re-post the thread...someday)

[loefflerchuck]

I'm with jude. Dry twisting sinew is a modern method. Wet twisting activates the natural sinew glue and makes a stringer string