#1 sinew wood combo...

[Fox]

Thanks JW...  that’s a very kind offer. I have a pretty good pile of hickory at the moment though, here in va it’s everywhere

[JW_Halverson]

Thanks JW...  that’s a very kind offer. I have a pretty good pile of hickory at the moment though, here in va it’s everywhere

Around here it is in the hardware store. In axe handles!

[gutpile]

I backed a heartwood cedar bow backed with maple one time.. perry reflexed it..had it tilled to 20" and went to brace.  the bow exploded violently... ended up being a slight pin knot on backing and that is where she blew in tension..was my first maple backing and I am not a fan now..haha..I'd rather back with boo over maple on cedar.. when cedar goes it goes usually with no warning and violent.. I still have half of that bow.. one day I may have a match for it so I kept it...as far as backing heartwood I see no reason it shouldn't work fine..even better if you can get it to one ring but I've never attempted to chase cedar ,the bow that blew was all heartwood board clean of knots...and it was beautiful... was holding almost all the reflex I put in... I got an ipe bboo backed that when I ws first building bow did a perry reflex on and the tips were just a slight bit out of adjustment.. Ipe doesn't dry heat bend to well at all and my DA attempted to heat it while strung to shift the limb a lil towards what I needed to get the string to bisect the handle.. at one point I started watching the bow start to slowly collapse on me but it was too late... delam and pow gone... I have the other half of that bow too.. but ipe is way stronger than cedar so they won't go together too well...or I would of tried to splice them .. I'll wait.. I got another ipe board and boo backing just waiting to be pushed to the limit again...haha... wished I had another cedar board... I would love to boo back it... gut

[Fox]

Haha good story’s of some bow failures there gut.... my only problem for me is that the erc stave I might be able to get isn’t mine it’s my friends, Her stave is about 4” wide so hopefully I can convince her to split it with me 
 Not going to split it though I’m thinking sawing would be safer for the stave... she would not be happy if I wrecked her half too

[gutpile]

I was gonna say the same thing.. too risky to split..but it shows how the grain runs when you do... if both sides of stave look fairly straight and you can see how the grain is running I'd saw it.. gut

[Fox]

If I recall correctly, the stave is pipe straight...

[WhistlingBadger]

One of my dreams is to build a juniper/sinew recurve.  So I always read these stories with interest. 

T

[gutpile]

you guys got my blood boiling again on my ERC stave...  its wide too.. about 8 inches or better.. has one knot on bottom.. on the side of stave.. its tall too probably 80"..dang..I might have to peel some bark off tonight... gut

[Fox]

that sounds like a sweet stave... maybe ill wait to see what you do 

[Allyn T]

I will say the stave I sent Brad and the one I just split myself were both dead straight but when they were split smaller they had some wave to them. I have an erc stave I'm gonna try to use the 1/4 split side as back and 3 others still whole staves that are about 80" long

[Fox]

One more question gut..... how many layers of sinew did you use ?

Edit: just reread one of your answers and saw you said 2 coats... I’m thinking I may do 3 and flip the tips,, still to nervous to do a full recurve after the last one.

[gutpile]

yes I do two and fill in any spots with a 3rd to try to get a smooth back..when I process my sinew I will end up with a variety of lengths.. I put all matching lengths together so while I'm laying it down I can grab the certain size I need..   gut

[Deerhunter21]

you guys got my blood boiling again on my ERC stave...  its wide too.. about 8 inches or better.. has one knot on bottom.. on the side of stave.. its tall too probably 80"..dang..I might have to peel some bark off tonight... gut

you gonna keep us updated? 

[gutpile]

haha... I am finishing a osage shorty bow first.. however I might go ahead and reduce one down and recurve it and let it start drying... putting the osage on hold.. I'll keep you guys posted .. as far as pics.. having a hard tme posting them here.. so do some won't.. its weird.. I need to check my sinew stash also.. I know I got plenty of backstraps but I like leg tendon for bow backing.. gut

[Fox]

Yes I’ll post picks Russell.... I have got some fairly short sinew, like 5” pieces that I can’t do much with... can I use some of that for backing?