Clay and sinew

[PEARL DRUMS]

I would suggest not back filling it. Just let it cure and seal it or cover it with skins. All that extra glue and sawdust does nothing but hamper the bow. I liken it to adding drywall tape to a bows limb, silly.

[JW_Halverson]

A lakota bowyer (Richard Giago) all credit to him, has told me that the clay was rubbed in over the sinew so I am really interested to figure this one out.  I have little sinew backing experience but am interested in learning how first nation peoples made their bows and this gentleman makes some lovely bows using traditional techniques.   I am just curious at what stage the clay was added.  If it was before the hide glue has dried or if it was put on top and wondered if anyone had completed this process.

Let's ask his brother. I sent him a P.M. regarding the thread.

[OTDEAN]

Thanks JW.

[PatM]

I made a nice build along with pics that shows you how to get smooth sinew without  doing bodywork after. 

[Oglala Bowyer]

I’ve been asked to chime in on this by my friend JW. In fact, he has a bow that I’ve clayed. For me I’ve had mixed results until I found a recipe with the right amount of hide glue and clay that resulted in very little cracking. I did not find the limbs to have too much weight added. Like I said this was several trial and errors. Simply putting “clay” on the limbs after sinewing will result in cracking.

[DC]

Was it just for a filler or did it "waterproof" somehow?

[Oglala Bowyer]

No sinew backed bow is ever completely “waterproof”, granted it takes me a few hours to peel off sinew on a backed bow that has been damaged. But it does aid in keeping things dry. My belief is that they were clayed because of a bowyers spiritual prowess, hence the different paintings

[Parnell]

Why not rawhide over the sinew?

[PatM]

As a waterproofer rawhide is just more of the same really.  It does provide a reasonable base for waterproofing agents.

[loefflerchuck]

"No sinew backed bow is ever completely “waterproof”, granted it takes me a few hours to peel off sinew on a backed bow that has been damaged. But it does aid in keeping things dry. My belief is that they were clayed because of a bowyers spiritual prowess, hence the different paintings"

That is my thought too. George Grinnell wrote about the Cheyenne using gypsum over the sinew backing to whiten the bow. There is one of these bows on display in New York museum of natural history. A better water proofer I have used that I've also seed on an old Cheyenne bow and another Lakota bow in the same museum as well as some from the great basin is pitch. It also leaves a smooth surface and a nice black/amber color. If you mixed pitch with white mineral  like the Northern California Indians did for a base that was painted over it would do a better job of keeping moisture out.