Sinew Preparation and Usage:
Sinew is the tendon out of animals such as Deer, Elk & Buffalo to name a few. These tendons are obtained from the front and rear lower legs and also along the outer covering of muscles along the spine (backstrap sinew). These are collected, dried and pounded/shredded into small fibers.
To dry your hard earned sinew place them in a warm spot with good ventilation protected from animals for a few day to a week. Animals like your sinew more than you do and will greedily devour all of it in short order so take precautions. We’ll start with how to do leg sinew first.
Leg Sinew:
To process leg sinew you must have a smooth surfaced mallet or hammer of sorts and some type of smooth anvil or base to pound it on. I use a small section of railroad track and an Osage wooden mallet I made. Begin by pounding the sinew on the anvil with the mallet until the outer sheath begins to loosen off. Some people use this but I discard it. My wiener dogs love it when I pound sinew in front of the TV, as they get the scraps…LOL
Continue to roll and pound the sinew until it can be pulled apart by your fingers or you can use two pliers as well. Keep pulling and pounding until the fibers can be teased apart to the consistency of heavy thread. You must be careful and use smooth tools or risk cutting the sinew threads while pounding. I usually leave a “Tag” end attached to the sinew as it is easier to keep the bundles from becoming a tangled mess. It takes 8-9 leg tendons (deer) to back an average bow. I just pound it until my fingers give out on me. It will keep forever in a zip lock baggies once processed.
Backstrap Sinew:
Backstrap sinew can be processed without pounding. Take your dried sinew and wring it back and fourth between your hands. It will easily separate into long slender threads. They can also be pulled through a “florist’s frog” or a comb made from finishing nails set in a piece of wood. I normally don’t use this for bow backing, but it can be done. They work exceptionally well for sewing garments, bow strings, attaching stone points, wrapping feathers, reinforcing self nocks or any number of ABO hafting jobs. I regard these sinews as prized possessions and guard them because of the longer threads that can be obtained and the inability to obtain them in any quantity without mortgaging the house.
Take care.. Sparky
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