Osage sinew question

[tetaxidermy]

I was sitting looking at my pile of fresh cut osage, and I had a brainstorm I think. I have two staves that are pretty short and was wanting to sinew back and make some short bendy handle horse bows, what if I work a ring, rough out a bow, and sinew back, then wait my year for the osage to cure.The sinew would be good also, the hide glue and sinew should be sufficient as a sealer, I think. What do you guys think? Kill two birds with one stone.

[sonny]

IF it's thin enough to back with sinew then it certainly won't take a year to dry.

The only issue that comes to mind is that the sinew might pull it into too much reflex
as it dries, making it a pain to string. But that could be overcome by strapping it down
to a form I suppose.
   

[gstoneberg]

I've never heard of anybody sinewing a stave instead of a bow.  You'd probably want to at least cut the bow to it's shape and leave it thick.  Otherwise you'll be cutting off sinew when you lay out the bow.  And, I agree that there's some danger of the stave twisting.  You'll have to take the bow into the heartwood before you sinew and in my experience you'd have trouble doing that without the back checking unless you sealed it as you go along.  Of course, sinew protects a bow with minor checking so maybe it isn't a big deal.

I think a far better approach is to chase the back to one or 2 rings above the bow, sealing it as you go.  Then work the belly down to almost floor tiller dimensions letting the bow dry out some between sessions.  At close to bow dimensions it will quickly dry in the low humidity of winter.  After a few weeks you can take the back to the final ring and seal it (or sinew back it).  I have one I cut in the summer to the floor tiller stage doing just that.  It just needs to be dry before you pull serious weight or do any dry heat bending, steam would be better.  Everything else can be done while it is green if you're careful to seal the back.

If you did that on 2 or 3 staves at once you'd always have a bow to work on and after a few months you'd start to finish them, long before your year is up.

George

[tetaxidermy]

Thanks  I didn't think about twisting, or checking as work progressed. Think I'll go he other way and work a couple and seal as I go, could work the whole pile over the course of winter, what a great idea working on future bows instead of watching staves dry. thanks guys, Eric.