Preparing horse sinew for drying

[jameswoodmot]

Thought I’d put this one here as it might get more views

After my recent foray into sinewing I realised I want more sinew, but am not a hunter and do t know any.

But I am a farrier, so I phoned the knacker man (what animal euthanasia man is called in England) and asked for some legs. We used to get them from him for dissections as apprentices and for competition practice.

I’ve seen reference to horse sinew being used but can’t find anything online.

They’ve got a lot of membrane attached, I’ve “fleshed” as much as I can but the damn things are slippery as hell and the membrane is patchy and won’t come off in a nice sheet. How much of this needs to come off before drying and will be be a problem either for storage or for later processing?

Anyone dealt with horse tendons before or used them on bows?

I’ll put pics in comments below

[jameswoodmot]

Longest are 16” or so

You can see how much membrane is on them. Maybe I’m better off freezing them then drying as I need them?

[superdav95]

Ya my moose tendons looked similar.  I would not go crazy cause you will just pound them anyway when dry.  The casing will come off fine.  Mine were not bad with the moose leg tendon.  Get as much off as you can and then dry them.  You will pound them them wash and degrease them anyway.   Get as much of the fat off now as you can.   Good score. 

[stuckinthemud]

If you can get it from your man, the most prized sinew was the paddywhack tendon - the neck/spine tendon

[Hamish]

Yep, just let them dry then pound them, comb them, all the crap will come off. Never used horse, don't see why that wouldn't be good. I think Chinese bowyers used horse, so it should be good.

[Marc St Louis]

I used cow leg tendons before but found that they were fatty and needed to be washed and de-greased.

I also harvested the neck tendon from cows and found they were not usable, they are a different type of tendon and don't have any fibers.

[jameswoodmot]

Yeah I’ve heard about beef sinew being oily. I tried some I bought as dog chews but they were rancid, apparently the dogs prefer them that way!

I got these legs under the guise of using them for dissections, which in fairness I did do, but I don’t know the guy well enough to want to explain what I want them for. I definitely don’t know him well enough to ask if I can basically butcher someone’s dead pet to get to the back strap or neck sinew!

Interesting what you say there Mark. Looking online the paddywack is a ligament, not tendon, which might explain the difference. In horses they have what’s called the suspension ligament, which is a long tendon like ligament that allows the horse to stand without muscular effort (so they can sleep standing up). In some foals there are muscle fibre present in it, it seems to be a muscle that has disappeared and been replaced by just collagen fibres but it’s not got the same structure as either tendon or ligament. I’ve saved them and will see what they’re like.

In the photo from left to right are the two flexor tendons (back of leg) the two extensions tendons that are fused (front of leg) and the suspensory ligament on the right.

There is also another long ligament which i saved from one leg that is a bone to bone ligament and still nearly the size of a roe deer tendon

[jameswoodmot]

Thanks for the help guys, got them in the kiln drying at 30c at the moment. Looking forward to pounding one up!

[superdav95]

You’ll be surprised how much sinew you get out of those.  Good length too.   Here in great white north the longer ones are moose or elk.  I prefer the legs as the backstrap tendon on moose is not as fine of fibers as the leg.  Just my observations anyway.  I’ve used them once on a bow and it functioned good but the finish was more course looking.  More an aesthetic's things for me.  They were however nice and long though.  I did need to pound them like the legs as they were pretty thick for back tendon.   

[JW_Halverson]

As you get to pounding them out, be sure to save every little scrap of sheath or short fiber that gets combed out. Get yourself a baggie and just keep sweeping up these bits and bobs, adding to the bag as you go. When you get about a quart/liter baggie packed full then you are ready to start cooking.

Wash them in barely warm water with a drop or two of Dawn dishwashing liquid, rinse, repeat. This helps get rid of residual fats and greases. Simmer these scraps in distilled water below boiling for a couple hours, adding more distilled water if it gets low. Strain out whatever solids remain. The liquid should be a very firm gelatin at room temp. You can cook it down more to firm it up, or add warm water to thin it down. I like to cook mine down so that it gels into a pretty tough gelatin at room temp, then I run it though a cheese grater, spread out on cookie sheets, then set it where there is good air movement to dry the hide glue down into pellets. I store mine in the freezer no matter how dry it gets because 1) any moisture at all and it MOLDS, 2) I got clever dogs in the house and this stuff is irresistible.

[jameswoodmot]

JW, when simmering, is it ok if the sinew pieces shrivel? I put the bits I had in my slow cooker and set it to low, forgot about it and the scraps had shrivelled up from the heat. Hadn’t been like it for long and I could put my fingers in the water. I wasn’t able to measure the temperature. I assumed this would mean the glue was damaged but you suggest simmering which is hotter than this was.


Roughly pounded a tendon today. I set it in the kiln to dry and i didn’t run it for long enough, there was a little bit of mould on them when I got back but got it going for another few days and they seem fine.
Coarser than deer leg sinew but not as coarse as the deer back strap I would say.

Just one tendon and getting 15” strands, others were longer tendons.

The suspensory ligament looks quite different but breaks into slightly coarser fibres. I’ll save these and use just these ligaments on a bow and see what they’re like. Oilier than the tendons
The ligament is an energy store in the living horse and acts like a spring as it’s loaded so hopefully those properties will be transferred to the bow.

[Pappy]

That's looking very good.
Pappy

[bjrogg]

That sure looks like it should work.

Bjrogg

[superdav95]

Agreed.  Looks like good stuff.  As for the glue.  If you can still put your hands into it you are more then safe.  I cook mine around 60-65 degrees.  It Will sometimes get a little hotter when covered but that’s fine. Just don’t want it to boil or simmer.  Just a slow and low cook.  This releases the glue.  The scrap tendons will shrivel up and that just means they are breaking down.  The larger end cuts of tendons will even get fatter as they break down.  It will take a few days btw.