how do i do this?

[recurve shooter]

first, not sure if this goes here or in around the campfire, plz move it if its in the wrong place. anyway, i have a chunk of hickory and a piece of rawhide. uh, how do i put the two togeather? lol



islandpiper gave me the basics. he suggested useing knox gelatin (i think thats right) as glue, i know you have to wet it to put it on, and im going to use two strips meeting in the middle, but thats about all i know. can you guys please give me some pointers?

[okiecountryboy]

If a newbie might jump in...I was given the instructions from some of the vets on this sight.
First you need to size the bow with a layer of glue.(titebond II or III). Let it dry, soak your rawhide so that it is plyable.
Pull the rawhide between your thumb and fingers to get all of the excess water off. glue on with tite bond. clamp both ends, and using a screwdriver handle or other round implement, push out any bubbles and excess glue. sizing will safeguard from the dampness of the wet rawhide.

You can get more detailed info from Jawges web site.

Chime in folks and correct me if I stated this wrongly


RON

[bubby]

Okie's right, tb11 or knox wll both work, I cut the rawhide close to size before glueup, when ya got it where ya want it all smoothed out wrap it with an ace bandage to keep it in place and let it set over night, good luck, Bub

[bigcountry]

One thing I will add is when you use the ace bandage, unwrap it after 2 hours or so and use your thumbs to push out air,  do this a few times wrapping it back up tight.


I use a large round socket and roll it up and down too.

[Del the cat]

I did one using hide glue, don't worry if it gels up a bit as it cools down during application, I bound it down with thick hemp string (gaps between each turn of string about the same width as the stringf) while it was drying out for a day, then took the twine off and let it finish drying for a week, it left the marks from the twine in the rawhide, but it looked pretty nice.
The rawhide was soaked before application and was a tad slippy, but I feel that hide glue on hide is somehow sorta right. (Knox is the same type of stuff as hide glue, just a bit more refined...animal protein).
It dried out real hard and worked og with a fine rasp/file.
Del

[Pat B]

Good advise so far!  I have never used hide glue(or Knox) but they are very compatible as Del mentioned.
  I size the bows back with TBIII and let it cure completely. This will give you a barrier that prevents the moisture from the additional glue and rawhide combo. By adding the rawhide you basically slow the evaporation rate allowing more moisture to be sucked up by the wood. I have had to wait almost 2 weeks for the wood to equalize after skinning a bow when the initial barrier wasn't used.
 After the first TBIII has cured(a few hours to a day) cut out the rawhide to fit the bow's limbs, soak them in warn water and prepare the back by adding glue. Do only one limb at a time!!!  Once the rawhide is down work from the handle out the limb removing excess glue and any air bubbles. Once you are sure everything is OK Wrap the limb(I use 2" strips of old bed sheets but Ace bandage works too) to hold the rawhide down. As you wrap pay attention that the rawhide stays centered on the limb. It will pull to the side you are wrapping to. After a few hours remover the wrap and inspect the glue job. Sometimes you will find an air bubble or two and you can still deal with them at this point because the glue under the rawhide still isn't cured. If you find air(or excess glue) and can't work it out to the edge, make a small slit with a sharp blade or even a pin hole to remove the bubble(or glue). When you remove the wrap the rawhide is still soft enough to trim the edges somewhat of excess material. At this point I do not re-wrap unless there in a problem. A sharp razor blade works best for this. Don't get too radical with this as the rawhide will shrink as it dries. After it is all cured out(after 2 or 3 days for me) use a rasp or file to dress up the edges then you can sand it as you sand the bow before adding a finish. If the rawhide doesn't reach the tips, I like to add a wrap of silk thread(any thin thread will work) and set that in glue(I usually use superglue after wrapping for this).
  Hope this helps.

[Gordon]

Rawhide for backing only needs to be paper thin. The piece you have there looks much thicker than that.

[Bullitt]

Well, I'm going to ask, why back the hickory in the first place?It's pretty tough all by itself!

Or is it a patch for the area, you have marked with an "X" on the lower limp in the pic?

All good info, for sure. If you have a spare piece of wood and rawhide i would do a trial, or mock up to see how the rawhide an selected glue works and how long in your enviroment it takes to try. Have fun and keep us informed.

Steve

[recurve shooter]

wow. lots of info here. thanks guys. its a board bow, and i just want to try to back it mostly just to learn how to do it. and yeah this stuff is pretty thick, its cow instead of deer, but i want to see how it goes. 

[Barrage]

Recurve, if the rawhide is really thick you can sand in down before you put it on, if you wanted.

[El Destructo]

Or if the Back of the Bow is Flat....you can sand it down once it has been glued down...either way...that is way too thick...and the weight alone will kill the Bow....it will make it sluggish as all get out... so either wet it down...and flatten it out...so you can sand it thinner...or glue it down and then sand it...but please sand it...about as thin as a layer of Silk...I like to sand mine down to about 1/18...then Glue it down...and by the time I have finish sanded the whole Bow...it's about 1/16" thick when done...JMO

[islandpiper]

Right, his rawhide is THICK.   Probably make body armour out of it.  But, i like the idea of glueing it on then then sanding it to thickness.  It was from a chunk another bowyer gave me so the price was right.   

If Recurve could have connected with a deer last fall he'd have some thinner rawhide......

Is there a way to prep this stuff so that it is FLAT before use?  If so, we can run it through my abrasive thicknesser. 

piper

[recurve shooter]

looks like i should have waited a little longer for more info and advice. i glued it up last night. when i get home i'll see how bad it ended up. 

Mr. Kieth, apparently im a better scavenger than hunter, cuz i did pillage a little eightpoint's skin, just havnt done anything with it. 

[El Destructo]

It'll be alright....just put it on a belt sanders....and thin it out....after it dries all the way.....

[LEGIONNAIRE]

You may use knox but it takes quite sometime to dry as oppose to titebond or elmers wood glue, it may also be a little mesier. For rawhide I always use elmers and for sinew I use knox. Id recomend tiebond or elmers. hope it turns pout for you