Quick drying a sinew backing

[osage outlaw]

I am trying to speed up the drying process on my sinew backed hickory bow.  It has been sunny, 50's, and breezy so I have been putting it outside during the day.  Tonight at work, I walked by one of our 3000 hp electric motors and had an idea.  There is a constant large volume of 80-90 degree air that comes off of the motor.  I was thinking about bringing the bow in and putting it in the air flow.  I could leave it there for 10 hours at a time on the days I work.  Would that speed up the drying time?  Or could that damage the bow?  The hickory tree was cut in early fall last year, so it could use a little extra help drying out.

[ricktrojanowski]

Shoud be fine, I do the same thing after a couple of days at room temp and humidity.  I 'll put a sinewed bow in my hotbox at 80-85 degrees and 35-40%RH. in order to spped it up.

[Pat B]

Sinew dries from the outside inward. You will only be able to speed it up a certain amount. Also the hickory has soaked up moisture from the sinew/glue so you have to deal with that also. Even with quick drying the sinew/glue will cure for a year or more and you will notice an increase of draw weight as time passes.
  Being that both the sinew/glue combo in addition with the hygroscopic hickory is a slow process, patience is in order. The m/c will also change as your local R/H changes.

[crooketarrow]

   PAT's right but be carefull you'll take all moisture out of the hickory at first and if you draw it like this it might be brittle and break.  I once helped a cosin build a elm that he left in behind a water heater. He left it there for a month or so. A lot longer that your going to I know but it will do the same thing. HIS BROKE ON THE FIRST PULL.  Better safe than sorry. I'd just let it cure on it's own. Hurrying has made a lot of fire wood. But it's your bow just becarefull.
   

[osage outlaw]

But I want it dry now     I know, patience.  Some things I have great patience with, others like bow making, not so much.  I have a few other bows in progress that will keep me occupied.  I have a split limbed osage stave that I want to rough out this week.  Thanks for the advice.

[Pat B]

Go put your sinewed bow somewhere out of sight and get on your other projects. Before you know it it will be well cured! 

[james parker]

also putting  sinew on in 2 to 3 seperate layers  with thorough drying times between will  will dry faster,,, pull the bow into more reflex after each layer to retain more reflex after first stringing,,,  makes for better cast and will hold the reflex induced more............. oh yeah..wait for it to  season out- no matter what ... the  composites i sinewed last april im just now starting to string and tiller.

[osage outlaw]

Go put your sinewed bow somewhere out of sight and get on your other projects. Before you know it it will be well cured! 

I would love to Pat, but I lost my bow drying spot.  We had a big entertainment center in the living room that I would put my bows on top of to dry.  The wife wanted to get rid of it and the 27" tube TV from the 80's that was in it.  Now I don't have anywhere I can stash a few bows without her fussing about it.  I can't complain too much though.  She used all of her birthday money and bought a new LCD TV.    Maybe I could put some hooks inside the closet above the door.  She probably would never notice.

[Pat B]

That would be a good place or lay it flat under your bed.

[IndianGuy]

I am going to chime in here, I have sinew backed over 100 bows including hickory. If you did not put more than 2 layers of sinew on the bow it will be ready to shoot in 10 days (considering you did your sinew work well), if it has set in a normal tempeture room.
Every bow I have sinew backed unless more than two layers were used I start shooting them at day 10. Many people will argue this but with well over 100 sinew backed bows under my belt I would say experience matters.
Now... yes the sinew will continue to cure for up to 6 months and will inclrease poundage and maybe some reflex. But after 10 days unless its freezing in your house it should be ready to go.
Attached is a Mt. Sheep horn and sinew only bow I did last year. It had 6 layers of sinew backing and I started shooting it after 3 weeks of dry time with no ill effect on the bow.

Eric

[IndianGuy]

I also did my elk horn and sinew backed bow the same way. It too had six layers of sinew backing...here is a picture of the above bow after 1 week of drying. you can notice the massive amount of reflex gained after 2 more weeks as shown in the first picture above. Also I would suggest the granulated hide glue over the liquid form, the liquid form has a retardant in it that makes it dry much slower than the kind you mix yourself.

[osage outlaw]

Wow, nice bow.  I only used 2 layers of sinew.  I used the knox gellatin powder for glue.  The sinew felt completely dry after 2 or 3 days.  I guess the wood needs to dry out now.    Thanks for the advice.  I would love to see more of your bows. 

[Pat B]

Very cool horn/sinew bows IndianGuy. Will you start a new thread showing us your horn/sinew bows. I know I'd love to see and hear about them and I'm sure others would also.