sinew-backed osage shorty question

[Pat B]

DC, I tiller out to the preferred draw weight or at least estimated draw weight before adding the sinew. After the sinew is cured I check the tiller and and adjust as necessary. If the tiller looks good I just evenly scrape the belly to the desired weight. If adjustments are necessary I have plenty of excess weight to make the corrections. It doesn't take too many scrapes to reduce the weight of an almost finished bow.

[uwe]

Oh, what I forgot to write, I tiller it it up to half the drawlength. So there will be no stringfollow and I have enough material to bring the bow down to the desired draw weight. With the osage/ sinew combination you will have at least a draw of half the bowlength without trouble, when the bow is carefully tillered.
Regards
Uwe

[Oglala Bowyer]

Perhaps it was my rebellious nature but I've never took what I read in any "bow making" book as the absolute word and have always veered off and developed my own methods. Practical application is my motto. That being said I do what goat does and tiller until brace height or a little more than add sinew.

[bradsmith2010]

Wizard,, I think pulling it tighter as it cures,, will actully help with tip alignment,, I had some cure better than they started,,

[DC]

We've all heard the dangers of stringing a bow backwards and yet that exactly what we're supposed to do when sinewing. How do we get away with that?

[Stick Bender]

I dont know DC but it doesent seem to hurt any thing I think Brad recomends heating the bow warm before doing it seemes to work for me this one im working on now I think I will wrap it in the electric blanket and let it warm to 140 deg. Over night before I reverse string it , didnt know about it helping tip alignment but thats good to know.

[DC]

, didnt know about it helping tip alignment but thats good to know.

Yeah, that's one of those valuable tidbits that sneak in here every once in a while

[PatM]

We've all heard the dangers of stringing a bow backwards and yet that exactly what we're supposed to do when sinewing. How do we get away with that?

 By not giving the belly any compression  damage first.

[bradsmith2010]

this is how I do it,,I heat the belly of the bow, hot to touch
I gently pull the bow with a long string and tiller tree,,backwards,,just a little tension,,
then I heat the belly,, while there is tension on it,, as you heat the bow you will see the tension get less and you can pull the bow further,,
I continure to about  6 inches of reflex,,, and let it cool,,in this reflexed postion,
it will hold some of this reflex,, when it has cooled overnight,,
then I will brace it backwards very low,, put the sinew on,, and as it dries,, I twist the string up to pull it to more reflex,, as the sinew cures,,

[Pat B]

I think you can bend a bow backwards slowly and easily for a short distance without any destructive affects and that's all you want to help induce reflex while sinew backing a bow. I can see where using heat would lessen the adverse effects of doing this although I never tried it or thought of it. Thanks Brad.
  I think some of these "old adages" are for the general public and new wood bow builders. Most folks that have built wood bows for a few years have done things that were "against the rules" just to see and came up with their own conclusions. Knowing and understanding wood and the effects of manipulating it and the method used to manipulate it comes with experience. I've been building wood bows for 30 years, bent and straightened lots of bow staves and never thought to heat the wood of a bow to pull it into reflex while adding a sinew backing until I read Brads recent post. It would have beed one of those light bulb moments...if it had been an original thought.   

[PatM]

The bending backwards rule was  about finished bows and it's still a good rule for that. You can practically full draw a bow backwards  otherwise as evidenced by the erroneously made backwards holmegaards.

  Also the application of sinew  dampens a bow so that it becomes "green"  enough to induce  reflex without worry, even if you don't heat it.
   You can  reverse brace enough to give yourself room to sinew and the stave will lose a lot of bend resistance with the moisture and allow easier bending for more reflex.