I made two sinew backed bows this winter. My firsts.
This floor tillered bow was sitting in the warm box almost 3 years. Finally I could motivate myself for a sinew backing.Also the recurves was some kind of first with boiling them with form in a big pot! Worked out (ok - not exactly symmetrical, but good enough) although didn't do this again as there are easier ways to do it.
Also heat treated, and tapered cross section before sinewing. Very nice piece, no knots and very straight. Thought to make a bow for thump shooting with a draw of 30" at least, but the heat treated wood became so thin, I decided to go for a shorter draw.
The sinew covers only the back and not the tapered sides, which transforms to rectangular outwards.
The total flat belly turned convex as the sinew dried, so I guess the back is flat now and only the sinew creates the crown. So, this resulted in a very even thickness of wood. It also gained about 2" reflex - lost in tillering...The bow looks pretty much the same now like before sinewing.
So now she has 2" of backset which returns to 2 3/8" when resting.
It is bending just a tiny bit in the grip, which is Ishi inspired.
The levers are inspiried by Korean hornbows. I think they can be made in a very light construction but string alignment is not 100% so I didn't risk. And its fast enough anyway - don't have fps but its for sure one of my faster bows
String bridges are made of buffalo horn - also the nocks.
The snake skin is a blue tree python. the white scales reminded me to the Milky Way - so she got her name. It was a hard job to dress her up as the skin had a pronounced ridge where the snakes spine was.
Handle is just wrapped with a soft buck skin leather.
Ok, enjoy the pics, at least I did - it was a hard pic.
As always, critics are also welcome - that's my first sinew bow and there is always something which could have been done better.
