Chewing Sinew for Fletching

[WolfPupTee]

Guys, when you chew sinew, you are rehydrating it with your spit? Are do you rehydrate it with water and then chew it? And when you're chewing it, how hard do you chew? And how do you know when you should stop chewing? Also while it's in your mouth should you maneuver is so that it doesn't get all balled up in there?   

[Pat B]

I chew dry sinew to soften and rehydrate it. You will know when it is ready to work. It gets quite soft and pliable. You are not trying to grind the sinew up like it is food. Basically you want to "work" it until it softens.
  Your saliva and the sinew makes its own glue. When I use it for fletching(only on the front and rear of the fletching) I don't use any glue. I wrap the sinew tight and when it dries seal the wrap but use no glue.

[Pappy]

I do like Pat,but I will say you ant likely to chew it up,it is tough,if I am doing arrows I put several strand in my mouth and chew on them while I am working,I pull the out as I need them. Much quicker and better in my opinion than just soaking in water. I know some will disagree but I have done it both ways and it is much much better for me. 
   Pappy

[bowtarist]

WPT, it softens up pretty quick if you have it in pretty thin pieces.  I don't really chew on it, but rather roll it around and press it between my front teeth and tounge w/ spit, not the molars.  Might make you gag a little getting started, but stick w/ it, you'll get used to it.  Make sure it is hammerd and in strands, not a whole piece of tendon.    good luck, dpgratz

[mikekeswick]

Chewing a whole tendon would be a good mouth work out

As said above it works really well and you'll know when it's ready. It's fun when you find a bit of a strand a week later....

[WolfPupTee]

A whole tendon would even be quite a job for my dog lol

[paulsemp]

my german shepherd can chew up and swallow a deer leg tendon in less than 2 minutes!!!! so do not leave them out or you may come back to nothing.

[WolfPupTee]

my joshy poshy is a dainty eater lol. But he did goggle up the remainder of my sinew glue one day when I wasn't looking, but he looked sooo innocent. 

[JW_Halverson]

All the sinew scrap from butchering deer used to go in a pot with a small amount of water.  I'd simmer it a few hours with a lid on nice and tight.  Then I'd pour it on a cookie sheet and let it gel nicely before slicing into small cubes.  Venison flavored Knox Blox for doggie treats.  My old Scully used to love them.  I think it helped her with her arthritis in the later years too since sinew and cartelidge is so good for them. 

I've had friends come home to find their favorite sinew backed bows gnawed to flinders by their beloved pups.  Careful how much sinew and hideglue you allow a dog, they can get a little vaporous later!

Don't ask me how I know that.

[beetlebailey1977]

When yall tie the sinew wrapping on feathers do you use the loop wrap over and tuck through the loop to pull back under method?

[bowtarist]

That is the way I was taught, not w/ sinew though.  Then I learned to serve a bow string and now I sometimes use that method.  serving method works w/ the full fletch wrap.  I wrapped a nock and hafted a point lastnight w/ sinew and used the way you mentioned.  Sometimes when I use the loop way one of the pcs. breaks cuz I wrapped too tight, that doesn't seem to happen to me as much w/ the serving way.  dpg

edit, the more i think about this, i sometimes just wrap and wrap and super glue. 

[bowtarist]

When I use it for fletching(only on the front and rear of the fletching) I don't use any glue. I wrap the sinew tight and when it dries seal the wrap but use no glue.

Pat, what do you seal it w/? I've got one all natural arrow finished tonight and it was every thing I had not to use super glue to seal it. dpg

[Pat B]

On my primitive arrows I use pitch varnish to seal the sinew wraps and the shafts sometime too.  The pitch varnish is just hard brittle pitch dissolved in denatured alcohol then strained and kept in an air tight jar.
 I don't tie off sinew wraps. I wrap the chewed sinew tight and when I get to the end I lay it down and smooth it into the other sinew. When it dries you can't find the end and it is tighter then when you wrapped it. 
 Give it a day or two in dry conditions and it is ready for the pitch varnish sealer.

[bowtarist]

I make something similar out of bee propolis.  I've got some made, I'll try that.  How long does it take the pitch to disolve?  It takes a few day for the propolis w/ lots of shaking each day.

[Pat B]

Depends on how big the chunks of pitch are. If you break the pitch down into small pieces only a few hours.