Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: superdav95 on January 28, 2026, 11:25:56 pm
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Hey guys i wasnt going to post this one but figured it may be of some use to someone. Its is not my typical bow build but i had a belly split that was a little too thin at the one end to do much else with it so i figured why not make a bendy bow with it. It will be 48-50lbs at 25-26". I may shorten up the recurve tips a bit. just over an inch wide and 48" ntn. I dont have my tiller tree set up yet in the new shop so im doing this one old school over my knee.lol. Anyway the bend is not looking to bad at brace. Ill get it pulling to about 24" and see where im at. Ill post some updates as i make more progress.
(https://i.imgur.com/VpaEByI.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/6MoQ3Oy.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/geb2Tk1.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/QfQlK8c.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/WGM1ef5.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/HugHpI8.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/gGMd8rH.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/XtnK8n3.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UEJB3ck.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/B6i5Qso.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/RvHnBjV.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cksk6sx.jpg)
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Very nice! - looking foreward for more of this!!
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Yep that is looking good so far, don't take much Osage to make a workable bow. :)
Pappy
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I really like the looks of this. Can’t wait to see more.
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That's looking great so far, I really like the bendy handled static bows and would love to build one. They look like the cupid bows hah. Looking forward to seeing the progress!
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Thank fellas. It’s a cute little bow. I’m actually surprised at how little this bow has and still close to 50lbs. I did a belly split off of a stave I traded with MuskyMan a couple years ago. I had made two of them and one exploded on me prior to the move. This little guy seems pretty good so far.
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I got this little bow to full brace the other day. It’s a snappy little bow. Only drawing to to about 25-26”. It’s around 46-48lbs. Did a few shots in my garage and feels surprisingly fast. Little to no handshock. I think I may put a cork handle on it to built it up a little. My gorilla hands are struggling to get good purchase on it. Here’s a few pics. Also think of maybe sinew backing this little thing.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0bf4olFOFT1mlOznsx2OTY78w
(https://i.imgur.com/yJVXWaa.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/kOwABso.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/srHoEFT.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/HGJQu69.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/gPOAUf0.jpg)
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A basic NA design with a flip (because you can with osage)
Nice bend
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A basic NA design with a flip (because you can with osage)
Nice bend
Thanks Willie!
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It is really amazing how little wood it takes to make a 48” bow with static recurves. They are surprisingly fast to.
I do think sinew would help with longevity though. With so little mass they tend to be highly stressed and take more set especially if overdrawn
Glad you tried one out Dave.
Bjrogg
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It is really amazing how little wood it takes to make a 48” bow with static recurves. They are surprisingly fast to.
I do think sinew would help with longevity though. With so little mass they tend to be highly stressed and take more set especially if overdrawn
Glad you tried one out Dave.
Bjrogg
Thanks Bjorgg! I’ve been meaning to try out a short bendy for a while and glad I did. They are not just kids bows. If may look like one but it’s no joke. I can imagine showing up to hunt camp with this little guy and the fellers poking fun at it. That will be till they shoot it. It’s a snappy little thing. It’s at 48lbs at 26”. I don’t dare go any further with it although I’m tempted! I’ll wait and put some sinew on it and will take it to 28”. The recurves are semi working recurves too so that helps. I kept the mid section of handle area little thicker to keep it hunting weight. It seems to shoot great now and reflex holds around 4-5”. I can imagine only better with a little sinew. Pretty pleased with this little guy actually.
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:BB
So far so good.
But where is the full draw??
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What a cool little bow, Dave!
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:BB
So far so good.
But where is the full draw??
Haha. Ya I knew that was coming! lol. My camera lady wasn’t around so I’ll get one posted here hopefully today.
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What a cool little bow, Dave!
Thanks WB
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Another cool bow Dave. About 20 years ago I made a 50" 50#@27" sinew backed osage bow that even had a non-bending grip, but I hunted with it for a couple of successful years. It was one of my favorite bows. It always amazed me that so little wood and sinew could make such a great shooting and tiny bow. Good luck!
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Sweet looking bow there Bob. Ya it doesn’t take much wood to get a hunting bow.
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Ok so i added approx 50 grams of sinew to this little bow. Its been about 4 days drying so far and looks good. prior to sinew it was 48lbs at 26". Im hoping to get 55lbs at 28". we shall see. reflex will likly be around 7-8" after removing back string. hard to tell as its still not dry yet. I will burnish the surface tomorow and then let it dry for another week or two before bending at all.
Link for pictures
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0bdk8iU_vD0X6iAbuaDLHLyAA
(https://i.imgur.com/tf5Yf4J.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/dQWGVuw.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/wpRUU2e.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/W35neJp.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/DRBxX48.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/WSRbUTd.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/LdclC4d.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/T4dPIY8.jpg)
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Great little bow, Dave. I love those static recurves!
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Thanks will!
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It looks killer Dave. You'll hit your 55# I'll bet. I have never been a bendy handle guy, mostly because I like a more center shot bow, but your narrower grip would work, especially with the added cork. :OK
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It looks killer Dave. You'll hit your 55# I'll bet. I have never been a bendy handle guy, mostly because I like a more center shot bow, but your narrower grip would work, especially with the added cork. :OK
Thanks Bob! Ya I’m thinking it will hit 55lbs. The sinew will allow some added draw length too which is great.
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Hey gang. Just a quick update on this little bow. I am posting a short video link here for those interested in burnishing sinew covering. Depending on how fast it dries in your area and climate will determine this. Here in Alberta mine was sufficiently dry for me to burnish mi e smooth. In the video you can see me showing a smooth piece of steel rod to do this. I’ve done this with a coffee mug. Anything smooth will work. I also use thinned glue. Some use warm water for this but I like the gap filling aspect of the thinned glue worked in. It creates a very smooth and compressed top layer finish. Sanding it down works too to give a smooth finish but this adds the benefit of compressing the fibers down.
https://youtube.com/shorts/lcJ7Qkjc_P8?si=6A9rkPWMso1oL1UJ
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Your videos automatically come up in my Toob feed. The sinew looks amazing after burnishing.
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lol. Those algorithms will get ya! I can’t remember who to give credit to for this idea but I love the result. It was either jiri, stylian or andi. One of those guys I think. I e done this on several of mine now and it work quite well.
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Superdav, thank you for sharing, I never liked some of the sinew finishes I’ve done because of how rough it turned out, this is very helpful.
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Superdav, thank you for sharing, I never liked some of the sinew finishes I’ve done because of how rough it turned out, this is very helpful.
Thanks walski
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Turning out great. Bow is looking great. Really like the smooth sinew job.
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Turning out great. Bow is looking great. Really like the smooth sinew job.
Thanks man.
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Hey gang. Just a quick update on this little bow. I am posting a short video link here for those interested in burnishing sinew covering. Depending on how fast it dries in your area and climate will determine this. Here in Alberta mine was sufficiently dry for me to burnish mi e smooth. In the video you can see me showing a smooth piece of steel rod to do this. I’ve done this with a coffee mug. Anything smooth will work. I also use thinned glue. Some use warm water for this but I like the gap filling aspect of the thinned glue worked in. It creates a very smooth and compressed top layer finish. Sanding it down works too to give a smooth finish but this adds the benefit of compressing the fibers down.
Did you see the method posted by a fellow Ontarian? It seemed to come out rather smooth at the outset? http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,43246.0.html
Just curious, How long do they make you wait before you can claim to be Albertan?
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Hi Dave, just wondering why your photos can't be viewed in my region (the UK)?
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Hey gang. Just a quick update on this little bow. I am posting a short video link here for those interested in burnishing sinew covering. Depending on how fast it dries in your area and climate will determine this. Here in Alberta mine was sufficiently dry for me to burnish mi e smooth. In the video you can see me showing a smooth piece of steel rod to do this. I’ve done this with a coffee mug. Anything smooth will work. I also use thinned glue. Some use warm water for this but I like the gap filling aspect of the thinned glue worked in. It creates a very smooth and compressed top layer finish. Sanding it down works too to give a smooth finish but this adds the benefit of compressing the fibers down.
yes! I just re read the entire thread its great. I remember reading this years ago and and pats method here is really where I got the idea to use wraps in the first place. I did try it btw and found it gave similar results as pat and others did. I heated mine much the same way and ended up doing some experimenting with it after it was all said and done to get to what I do now with wrapped sinew. Why did i make changes to this process??? 1. I found the diagonal wrap lines were hard to get rid of once dried. it was somewhat doable with some work but not easy. the grooves were deeper in spots using the sheets. 2. it leaves a heavy crown. If this is what you want then great but if it is not what your after then its hard to control the crown finish when dried. The few ive done with this method i was somewhat able to control crown by heating and massaging with my fingers the sinew to be more flat but found it was a little inconsistent. 3. the wraps did stick a bit on me.
The great thing about Pats method is that its great for using up shorter sinew strands and controlling excess glue.
What I changed in Pats method. I use horse leg wraps that are a little elastic and very thin to minimise diagonal lines in the sinew. I found the bed sheet strips would stick to the sinew on me sometimes and needed repairs. not a huge deal I guess but would rather not have to repair and rework. the horse leg wraps have never stuck on me yet. not sure why that is entirely but it may have something to do with slight tacky coating on the wrap. Im also able to work things a bit with my fingers still too while wrapped. like the bed sheet strips it is also breathable. In the beginning I would apply a little heat with my heat gun on low only and watch the excess glue ooze out a little if i think i may have used a little too much glue. however these days though I don't heat it when wrapped as the last number of times nothing came out at all as far as excess glue. I personally think there are some misnomers on the amount of hide needed. in fact some sinew backed bows used zero hide glue other then maybe a few size coats on the back prior to sinew. On these examples a few posted on here the sinew was chewed and softened in the mouth slightly to get soft prior to laying it down. no glue. There is some thinking that the saliva generates a glue type matrix with the sinew to form a similar matrix as if glue were used. this is a debatable topic for sure as ive only tried it once myself but i know others here on pa have made nice bows using the chew method. My point here is that sinew needs far less glue then we sometimes think. The addition of equal parts (mass in glue/sinew) is the rule of thumb for good ratio. I have come to realize that this is not the case in my personal opinion. in fact i have found that about a 1/3rd mass of glue to sinew is still very safe. so how do i measure this??? Its hard to be sure but I do do my best to take notes and keep notes as to mass and weights start to finish. generally speaking most of my finished bows with sinew backing have the original weight of the dry weight sinew plus approx 1/3rd for dry glue weight. surprisingly sometimes less. When fully dried Ive had no issues with sinew holding up. Its strong stuff. for a mental visual consider this, I was making my strips to prepare for a bow and had laid out all my bundles like normal to prepare to be dunked in my glue and then laid down as normal. I had finished backing the bow and had a bundle left over that i didnt use that was intended as a possible handle overlap. My left over bundle had been sitting there all combed and shaped and left overnight and dried. in the morning i found the dried bundle had shrunk a bit and was very solid. again i repeat no glue! I could not pull it apart. i could not bend and break it up either. it was very firm and solid bundle. I had posted about it here I think at the time and was surprised at how strong it was without glue. Again to my point It may be argued that less glue is better if not at least a benefit to contributing less mass where its not needed. Im sure there will be those that may disagree with this but I invite you to try and dry a clean bundle and see for yourself. I ended up soaking the bundle and reuse on another project. Im realizing this is a long answer/reply to your comment Willie! anyway my point is that Pats method is an adapted version of what i do now. when i clean and comb my sinew and dunk it into my glue i wring out most of the glue. I also have used a small paint brush and put a light coat of glue as i comb the bundle and it also works. similar results. I let the bundle gel a bit before pulling off my shaping board to lay it down. I use warm water only with a heat lamp sometimes to assist in shaping and blending. Like pat I also lay the bundle and work in down with my fingers to rid the little crackling of air pockets that may exits. once its barley gelled I add and thin layer of brushed on glue. when wrapping with the horse wrap i again work it a little with my fingers. this does not interfere with the wrap or it sticking to the sinew. Ill leave this till the next day and unwrap. The burnishing is the finish touch to get it compressed and very smooth. anyway Pats method may give similar results in the end and maybe with more practice i would get better at it perhaps but i found the finished dried weight of the bow minus my sinew added was more then 1/3 glue mass added if that makes sense. It was more like 50/50. sorry for the long winded response and thanks for linking Pats thread. He was the inspiration for what I do now. There are more ways then one to reach the goal in the end. cheers
ps, Our alberta move involved us buying a home here and so residency was pretty quick. our health coverage overlap from Ontario took a few months but that was to be expected.
Did you see the method posted by a fellow Ontarian? It seemed to come out rather smooth at the outset? http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,43246.0.html
Just curious, How long do they make you wait before you can claim to be Albertan?
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Hi Dave, just wondering why your photos can't be viewed in my region (the UK)?
if you click the link i posted just below the description you will see pictures for you blokes in the uk. lol
the program i use for hosting my resized pics imgr is not allowed in the uk i guess
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Pretty sweet, Dave!
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in the morning i found the dried bundle had shrunk a bit and was very solid. again i repeat no glue! I could not pull it apart. i could not bend and break it up either.
this link points to the middle of a long conversation touching on multiple topics at the same time
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,63182.msg888073.html#msg888073,
there is some historical evidence for twisted bundles used without hide glue and discussion of such in following pages in that thread
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in the morning i found the dried bundle had shrunk a bit and was very solid. again i repeat no glue! I could not pull it apart. i could not bend and break it up either.
this link points to the middle of a long conversation touching on multiple topics at the same time
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,63182.msg888073.html#msg888073,
there is some historical evidence for twisted bundles used without hide glue and discussion of such in following pages in that thread
Very interesting Willie. I read through some of that’s stuff on sinew and chew vs hide glue. The twisted sinew cable bow is also very cool.
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Thankyou for the link, it's a lovely bow.
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I read through some of that’s stuff on sinew and chew vs hide glue. The twisted sinew cable bow is also very cool.
knowing you are an experimental and questioning kind of guy, I would ask....
do you have any ideas about how much sinew should stretch in order to add the most benifit?
or asked another way, how high or far away from the belly is optimal?
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I read through some of that’s stuff on sinew and chew vs hide glue. The twisted sinew cable bow is also very cool.
knowing you are an experimental and questioning kind of guy, I would ask....
do you have any ideas about how much sinew should stretch in order to add the most benifit?
or asked another way, how high or far away from the belly is optimal?
Great question. Preamble… I make these statements and claims purely based on my own experiences. FWIW.
BowEd and myself have discussed this topic together quite a bit. How much sinew??? A general rule a thumb has been and continues to be 1/3 overall thickness in the case of a tri lam of sorts for the lack of a better term. 1/3 sinew thickness: 1/3 wood core: 1/3 horn for example. This ratio works really well for a belly laminated bow with horn having wood as the core. In other examples that are just 2 laminated sections like wood core only with sinew then this would depend on how heavy you want your bow to be I suppose. Like any sturdy backing added to an existing bow it moves the neutral plane further towards the belly. The neutral plane is generally in the middle of the bow limb but this can be manipulated with laminate backings or sinew or linen even on the back. The same can be true with adding a belly laminate that acts as an increase in compression to move this neutral plane more towards the back. Tension side failures are easy to spot and are often hard to miss with a lift or a violent break. Compression is where the set is less obvious in the same way that tension failures are. They can sneak up on us and show up as stress marks and crushed wood fibers. Sinew added to a bow with no belly laminate I generally aim for 1/8” thickness. This obviously varies a bit depending on the width of the limbs and where along the limb I’m measuring. For example I will taper the thickness of sinew out towards the tips to keep mass light in those areas of the bow for better cast. I’ll thicken it up on bending portions. For reference the little Osage 48” bendy bow recurve I just sinewed last week I only added 50grams. This may seem like very little sinew and may seem like it will make no difference perhaps. My draw weight prior to sinew was 48lbs at 26”. My goal and likely outcome with strategically placing sinew with the least amount of glue as safely as I can hopefully get 55-60lbs at 28” safely. So the little added mass added with the sinew I estimate will get me there. If this was a bow with a violated back or decrowned for example then 50grams would not be enough imo. In the case of an already well tilled and shooting bow that the builder has maintained good build principles and not violated the outer ring then less is more to a point. If the builder is merely looking for extra draw length with a margin of extra safety then it’s a good option. I’ve built self bows in the past and backed with heavy layers of sinew and glue only to find it was slower then before. Stability is another issue that gets overlooked. I built a bow for a member here with out mentioning him by name where the bow had more sinew then the core would could control. This particular bow build was a white wood bow and the target draw weight was too high or over estimated so I proceeded to scrape the belly to reduce weight. In so doing the wood was about half the overall thickness of the bow with the sinew and the wood could not control it and became unstable. Constantly needed correction and tweaking for balancing the limbs. I then decided to add a thin belly lam of horn and it turned out great and moved that neutral plane where it was more stable. So my advise to anyone wishing to add sinew to an already well behaved shooting bow that they just want a little more out of as far as weight and length of draw aim for approx 1/3 of overall thickness for a standard 1-1/2-1-3/4” wide limb out the fades. On some wide limbed paddle bows or the like really the same sort of principle applies but it’s gets tricky to determine on some of those as far as thickness is concerned as there often more tapers and narrowing sections where no sinew may be needed at all. For these measured bundles of wide strips of sinew bundles I find work well on the working part of the limbs. As a rule of thumb on a hunting bow for example say 45-50lbs of standard flat bow or pyramid style 1/8” thickness of dried sinew layer is a good baseline. The great thing about sinew is that if you screw it up you can always redo it sand it scrape it or add another layer to get it right. You can’t really do this with any other backing. So to sum up, an all sinew bow doesn’t work for a reason because it’s not stable so putting the neutral plain somewhere within the wood portion of the limb is best for stability and balance. The sinew will enhance the wood adding to it. These are my opinions from my own experiences and experiments (so called)and from the input of many others along the way. I learned from Ed and others like Arvin here the importance of taking measurements and keeping notes to assist with the best build. I hope this somewhat answers your question Willie!
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Like any sturdy backing added to an existing bow it moves the neutral plane further towards the belly. The neutral plane is generally in the middle of the bow limb but this can be manipulated with laminate backings or sinew or linen even on the back.
Thanks for replying. There is indeed quite a bit to consider when working with materiels of different stiffnesses.
I like to think that a laminate of two materiels of different stiffnesses, when bent, the neutral plane will move towards the stiffer side. It shouldnt matter whether the stiffer materiel is on the "back" or the "belly" or rather, which way the laminate is bent.
I’ve built self bows in the past and backed with heavy layers of sinew and glue only to find it was slower then before
Did this a bow have a long working length bend and have sinew applied thruout?
Sinew is wonderfull stuff that can stretch much more than other bow building materiels, but because it is not all that stiff, it needs to be stretched alot further to store the same energy as wood. Which is to say the most energy storing part of the sinew is furtherest away from the middle of the laminate. If only there was a way to place the sinew even further away from the center of the bow limb.
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Like any sturdy backing added to an existing bow it moves the neutral plane further towards the belly. The neutral plane is generally in the middle of the bow limb but this can be manipulated with laminate backings or sinew or linen even on the back.
Thanks for replying. There is indeed quite a bit to consider when working with materiels of different stiffnesses.
I like to think that a laminate of two materiels of different stiffnesses, when bent, the neutral plane will move towards the stiffer side. It shouldnt matter whether the stiffer materiel is on the "back" or the "belly" or rather, which way the laminate is bent.
I may be thinking of neutral plane little different perhaps… in my mind the neutral plane would move the other way. Towards the weaker side. As an example take a bamboo backed hickory bow. The boo strip will most definitely overpower the hickory if not made very this and appropriate tapers. On early boo backed bow builds it took some experimenting to get this right. I even had to trap the boo backing to even this issue out. In my mind the neutral plane had moved too far towards the belly (weaker side) causing stress compressing fractures. The sinew is great in that it is much less harsh to mitigate this issue. It’s a more gradual softer transition than a hard backing like bamboo for example. I hope this illustrates my point on this.
I’ve built self bows in the past and backed with heavy layers of sinew and glue only to find it was slower then before
Did this a bow have a long working length bend and have sinew applied thruout? Yes it was and it was in my early days of sinew backing and still learning. Placing the sinew in the right spots like bending portions of limbs makes a difference in the cast of the bow. I learned with each bow that I sinew. And still learning.
Sinew is wonderfull stuff that can stretch much more than other bow building materiels, but because it is not all that stiff, it needs to be stretched alot further to store the same energy as wood. Which is to say the most energy storing part of the sinew is furtherest away from the middle of the laminate. If only there was a way to place the sinew even further away from the center of the bow limb. Agreed! It is great stuff and it turns a regular bow into something alive feel to it. Almost magical.
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Like any sturdy backing added to an existing bow it moves the neutral plane further towards the belly. The neutral plane is generally in the middle of the bow limb but this can be manipulated with laminate backings or sinew or linen even on the back.
Thanks for replying. There is indeed quite a bit to consider when working with materiels of different stiffnesses.
I like to think that a laminate of two materiels of different stiffnesses, when bent, the neutral plane will move towards the stiffer side. It shouldnt matter whether the stiffer materiel is on the "back" or the "belly" or rather, which way the laminate is bent.
I may be thinking of neutral plane little different perhaps… in my mind the neutral plane would move the other way. Towards the weaker side. As an example take a bamboo backed hickory bow. The boo strip will most definitely overpower the hickory if not made very this and appropriate tapers. On early boo backed bow builds it took some experimenting to get this right. I even had to trap the boo backing to even this issue out. In my mind the neutral plane had moved too far towards the belly (weaker side) causing stress compressing fractures. The sinew is great in that it is much less harsh to mitigate this issue. It’s a more gradual softer transition than a hard backing like bamboo for example. I hope this illustrates my point on this.
I’ve built self bows in the past and backed with heavy layers of sinew and glue only to find it was slower then before
Did this a bow have a long working length bend and have sinew applied thruout? Yes it was and it was in my early days of sinew backing and still learning. Placing the sinew in the right spots like bending portions of limbs makes a difference in the cast of the bow. I learned with each bow that I sinew. And still learning.
Sinew is wonderfull stuff that can stretch much more than other bow building materiels, but because it is not all that stiff, it needs to be stretched alot further to store the same energy as wood. Which is to say the most energy storing part of the sinew is furtherest away from the middle of the laminate. If only there was a way to place the sinew even further away from the center of the bow limb. Agreed! It is great stuff and it turns a regular bow into something alive feel to it. Almost magical.
as you mention, a layer of sinew 1/3 the total thickness might work out well with a wood bow without a horn belly. (I have no reason to doubt the experience of those who have built with sinew more than I have)
that said, limiting the use of sinew to the short working limbs of a lever bow might be a better placement for the magical stuff.
Have you looked at any crossections of turkish bows?
here are some pics of a chinese bow
https://atarn.org/chinese/visible_bow/visible.htm
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I got the coral snake skins laid down on this bow. i used tb3 glue to lay this skin on. worked well and just worked it down with my fingers and workedand air bubbles out the sides. Its 2 different snakes actually the one was quite small so i spliced a section at each end.
Link for pics
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b5GOus3oKnU3v0KSEmfb8N9g
Heres a video link
https://youtube.com/shorts/gIzxKAHtbg8?si=nBV86Rb_llqL4e0W
(https://i.imgur.com/KiCoiIo.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/RDbQ0vY.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/zW0VmpJ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/bihNeGX.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/KFPL68D.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/tn1MmCv.jpg)
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Got to love that, beautiful work. :)
Pappy
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That looks beautiful Dave! Can't believe you scored not one, but multiple coral snake skins. It's a very special looking bow!
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All I can say is WOW. That’s looking great.
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Thanks guys. Very kind. Here’s a better video clip in some better light. I cleaned up the edges too to allow for wrap around d effect to make the live snake look. I’m happy with the transition too of the 2 different snake skins. It’s seems fairly seamless and not really noticeable until close up.
https://youtube.com/shorts/vA-Qq-T5gtw?si=BS6U8VZh8pBe-Qjj
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Thays a phenomenal looking little bow! And I love the snake skins. You gonna bring that to the salt flats?
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Thays a phenomenal looking little bow! And I love the snake skins. You gonna bring that to the salt flats?
Thanks sleek! Oh ya. Maybe not to compete per se but for folks to look at and shoot it if they like. It’s a snappy little bow but not sure how it would compete. Sometimes little things can surprise us!
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this little bow has dried up and added the cork handle. reflex at this point is about 8" the weight of this bow prior to adding snake skins was 412grams. After the skins approx 420grams. the bow weight prior to adding 50grams of sinew was 347grams. about 15grams of glue approx 1/3 weight of the sinew. Ill add some tung oil to it in a couple days.
https://youtube.com/shorts/zw3-fPCXvUc?si=RCKquF2zFHMICpSR
(https://i.imgur.com/jhgBRqb.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/WUm3RRj.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/lrksdem.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/1R53rcs.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/EXNXHRf.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/PiEZ5mr.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Tegj0Qq.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GEgapGt.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/6Z2TwCj.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/LfiP6ed.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Z3E520A.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UIKzg4L.jpg)
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I really like that design. Looking back I really regret not going with more bend in the handle bows. It really does reduce the set .
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I'm not sure on the cork grip, but those snake skins are spectacular. Beautiful bow, Dave.
Mark
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I really like that design. Looking back I really regret not going with more bend in the handle bows. It really does reduce the set .
Thanks badger! Much appreciated. I haven’t done many of these myself either but I may have to do more after this little guy. I expect that this bow will settle in around 5-6” reflex. That would be an increase of about an inch or so from before sinew.
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I'm not sure on the cork grip, but those snake skins are spectacular. Beautiful bow, Dave.
Mark
Haha. Ya I was on the fence too on the handle. I went with cork for now as I do some shooting with it. I may yet switch it up to a stacked leather build up instead. It would still allow it to bend with the bendy bow.
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hey guys. I got this little bow braced today and shooting. brace sits around 5.25-5.5". I reshaped the cork handle a little bit and feels little more suiting to the bow. its absolutely dead in the hands. 57.90lbs at 26-27" in the end which is awesome and right around where i was hoping. prior to sinew it was 48lbs at 26". Ill include some videos here to show me shooting a tiny bit. my daughter took the video and could not figure out the rotation of the video but you guys get the idea. the reflex was around 8" prior to getting it strung and shooting. I didnt need to scrape anything and all looked well balanced which was glad of as i didnt want to loose any draw weight. I found that one side favoured the string to the one side a little more due to the wiggles in the bow so i adjusted and made that my top limb. I dont have my chrono dug out from the big move yet but upon shooting it it feels very fast and snappy.
Link for pictures
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0f3r7nMbR79UufPdkxI4lGIMA
https://youtube.com/shorts/icJH_Xhx2QM?si=dfnRJ8I_R19CSaLR
(https://i.imgur.com/k7xyXqH.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/sv4a5IO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/JDE0qbb.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/h9ogrfF.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/gQmuBaj.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/NxvJCcq.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/kWSsG1N.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/lPENvyZ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/t0Q3nsR.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/mqSmrar.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/vkg7jIi.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ohSJZ7t.jpg)
The retained reflex settled in around 5.5-6" after shooting few dozen arrows through it at full draw. what a pleasure to shoot. Im just shooting in my garage for now until I get something figured out for outside.
heres a few pics right after unstringing the bow and a short video clip.
https://youtube.com/shorts/moK97vT2Ceg?si=XlGQ9RwUbbzjgB0D
(https://i.imgur.com/UvvcfdG.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/JV4XAcB.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/25BgmuF.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/dswR8Aj.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/T1SjG9F.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/EdfD3Gm.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/jhgBRqb.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/t0Q3nsR.jpg)
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Really sweet Dave.. absolutely love the snake skins. Haven’t been on the site a lot here lately. Gotta love that Osage. Really cool little bow. Excellent work as always.
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Really sweet Dave.. absolutely love the snake skins. Haven’t been on the site a lot here lately. Gotta love that Osage. Really cool little bow. Excellent work as always.
Thanks Mike! It was a fun little bow to make. If you recall I traded you this stave a while back. It’s a belly split that went a bit thin thus the little bow here. The snake skins I got from a trade with bob barns I believe.
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What a beauty, Dave! Those coral snakes are the perfect complement to the shape of the bow.
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That’s just absolutely fantastic. Something to aspire to for sure.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share and document the process, invaluable for me and I’m sure for many others!
I’ve got mine shooting, I’ll get pics and videos up later
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What a beauty, Dave! Those coral snakes are the perfect complement to the shape of the bow.
Thanks WB.
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That’s just absolutely fantastic. Something to aspire to for sure.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share and document the process, invaluable for me and I’m sure for many others!
I’ve got mine shooting, I’ll get pics and videos up later
Thanks. James. Looking forward to seeing your also brother. Looking further at mine now I’d like to get closer to 27-28” draw. I may get my semi static tips moving a bit more. They still seem more static. That’s the beauty of the sinew and wood combo. It can take a lot. I had my daughter take my video when I posted it but the side ways orientation limits the full view of the bow. I may have to redo it.