Any treatments to preserve sinew?

[Mesophilic]

My 12 year old little girl took her first cow elk a little over a week ago.  We had a 5 day hunt in Valles Caldera and it was one of the most amazing times I've ever had hunting.   Couldn't be more proud of her perfect shot placement after running hundreds of yards around a knoll at full sprint to get in front of the herd without being detected, with only minutes of legal hunting time left in the day.  Sorry, she's still too small at only 12 years old to pull a strong enough bow for hunting big game so this was done with modern hunting equipment.  But she was a trooper and even got right in with skinning and quartering as the temps dropped to 9°F.

But anyhow, I wanted to make her something special.  I of course saved all the sinews, and thought about twisting them in to cordage to make her a dream catcher and put one of the ivories in the center.

We do get those dang moths that eat anything from animals not preserved.  So I was wonder if there's something I can treat the sinew with so they (or other bugs) wont eat it?

[WhistlingBadger]

If I have something uncured that's going to be laying around for a while, I get it as clean as I can and sprinkle it generously with borax (20 Mule Team or similar) to keep the bugs and mice away.

[Pat B]

Drying and storing is a moisture proof container is the best way. It doesn't take long to dry, a few days in a dry area will do it. You can freeze it for a while but I'd try to get it dry as soon as you can. You can sprinkle the borax in the container of dry sinew.

[chamookman]

Old Friend Gary Davis, always had mothballs around the Snakeskins and dried sinew. The Sinew had been dried and bagged tho. Bob

[Mesophilic]

Thanks, guys.  I was more thinking about how to perserve the sinew after I've twisted in to cordage and made the dream catcher.

Could I brush it with a strong borax water solution?

[Pat B]

Wax the cordage with string wax or bees wax or once the dream catcher is made spray it with satin poly.

[WhistlingBadger]

Thanks, guys.  I was more thinking about how to perserve the sinew after I've twisted in to cordage and made the dream catcher.

Could I brush it with a strong borax water solution?

I've never used borax on sinew, but on skins I find that sprinkling it on the still-damp skin will get enough into it that it will continue to repel critters even after it's dried.  A borax solution would probably work as long as you don't soak the sinews enough to let them stretch them out.  Just get the surface damp with it.

[GlisGlis]

I wont put borax on something that will be handled by a teenager.
it's considered potentially harmful and from 2008 advised against use on humans from CEE