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@@jkhippie5929 I've sinew backed a lot of different ways, and it's easy to over think it. Everything boils down to, get glue on the bow, get glue on sinew, put the two together and let the glue and the sinew do their work. Horn bow makers need to follow strict rules because their bows are so stressed. Us mere mortals can do it whichever way we choose to do it.

@@user-mb4se6km5p Thank you, J

@@calinesanu9995 I have, and I have one in my workshop made out of white ash.

@@calinesanu9995 Ah Ha! It's funny you asked that at this time. I took the sinew string off my very English looking longbow and lost it. I just found it. It fell behind a workbench. Anyway, I went through a phase of making round belly longbows out of white ash. I made decent ones but white ash just doesn't like round bellies. I've seen drawings of Native bows from our south that looked every bit like ELBs and the Cherokees had war bows that were really long and heavy. Their hunting bows were supposedly shorter and lighter. A common theory is war bows that were used in similar ways evolved into similar weapons; the English, the Cherokee, the Basa in Africa all had fortifications and would use long heavy bows for artillery fire and long range shooting. On the flip side, horse bows tend to be compact. These are some huge generalities but sometimes there's a little truth hidden in generalities.

@@johnjriggsarchery2457 yeah, white ash isn't the best in compression. But from what I've seen even the Mary rose bows don't have that sharp D belly like some victorian bows have. I generally keep the belly on the ones I make in a squashed rectangle shape and just scrape off a bit more off the corners when I'm nearly finished tillering.

@@danielspain7231 johnjriggsarchery@gmail.com Thank you

@@UncleDanBand64 a 45 pound recurve is a pretty decent weapon. My old 40 pound Bear Archery recurve has less oomph than yours and it still stopped a couple of deer along with a hog. That pesky work sure can get in the way, but you'll get back into it. Great hearing from you. It's been a while.

@@johnjriggsarchery2457 yes sir

@@jkhippie5929 Good deal. As your Bow ages and you get a little string follow it should have even less hand shock.

@@Silentbet1of If it's a self bow and it's still in one piece with a crack on it's back, how about sinew backing it? I've taken bows that cracked on the back and 100% brought them back with a layer of sinew.

@@johnjriggsarchery2457 yes sir it’s a crack on the back it’s not very deep either but as I am new to making bows I’m afraid to do the work my self and getting real sinew seem to be very hard for me right now, I will be trying to back this bow as soon as I can thanks for the advice

@@christophertracey7201 Interesting. I would have never thought about tropical belly woods and handshock. Could it be because they're high density and or really hard? I'm not familiar with laminating or using woods like that though I wouldn't mind giving it a go.

Thank you. I wonder where that bow wound up.

@@danielspain7231 HI Daniel, it's all an experiment.

Of the shelf doesn't make much difference in materials but if it's a stick on rest brands can make a huge difference

@@andyrunkel8296 Luckily the only real symptom of this cooflu is fatigue. I don't have any respiratory problems or fever anymore, just really tired. There aren't any real rules for arrow rests on these modern trad bows. Some people have some kind of rubbery arrow rest and a lot of us just glue leather or fleece to the shelf that goes up along the arrow pass (side of the shelf). I'd say just pull off the rest he put on it and glue a strip of leather on it and see how it works. You'll have to adjust the nocks on the string too.

@@christophertracey7201 I bet.

@@johnjriggsarchery2457 Great tip....That's exactly what I will do. I think the fleece he put on there is just way to wide and is pushing the angle of my arrow way out of normal. Thanks so much! I will let you know how it goes.

@@estelpereira5011 Wow, I never thought of using TB 3 as a finish! Tremendous idea. Thank you!

@@johnjriggsarchery2457 it works well. You're welcome. I use it only on the sinew not the wood. But, you probably figured it out, LOL.

@@estelpereira6663 Yep, I figured but it helps to mention it.

@@estelpereira5011 All good advice, on every count. It's a tricky thing to try to picture different speeds of the limbs causing a sideways motion on the string because I keep coming back to, at some point along the string, the motion of the string snapping back will be in a straight line, so just make that the nocking point.

@@jkhippie5929 I appreciate the solid advice. One thing I try to do is never take myself too seriously, so if I also give people a chuckle, I did my job.

@@jkhippie5929 You're welcome, and I appreciate that you take time out of your day to watch my videos.

@@jkhippie5929 A couple of really good questions deserving of a video response, which I did.

@@davidbell4986 That reminds me of Cat Ballou. Lee Marvin is sitting on his horse, and both of them are drunk, leaning against a wall. Great movie.

@@estelpereira5011 Happy to yap.

@@jkhippie5929 I personally like white tail leg tendon sinew. Elk is good; it's longer but I rarely use it for any other reason than habit. I've tried cow but it's greasy and kind of horrible. I usually buy mine from Pine Hollow Longbows in the 10 packs because of Mike's consistent quality though you can find it on ebay. If you can find it on ebay with free shipping it would be worth a try.

@@classicbows I really appreciate your message. It also brings me back to what it was Luke to try to make working self bows before the internet and all the information out there now. Different times, my friend. Good times for primitive archery.

@@johnjriggsarchery2457 Yes...remember no mentors, just a few "so-so" books, and it took us - at least me - years to learn what now can be learned in such a short time! Good job on the channel...we are of the same age, and like a lot of the same stuff and I enjoy the banter. - Mark Baker

@@joygrubb7463 I betcha ya forgot the j in my middle name. johnjriggsarchery@gmail.com. I finally as of this morning have Wi-Fi in the house. Having an actual website will make things so much better.

@@joygrubb7463 Hey there, Sometimes people leave the middle initial j out of my email address. johnjriggsarchery@gmail.com. There's a j lurking there in the center.

@@jg0943 life would be so much more enjoyable without that work thing getting in the way.

@@user-zg1zl9xx4t Nope, I'm one of those guys that waits months. OK, sure, you don't have to wait a long time, a lot of people don't, and that works for them especially if it's a protective layer not a power layer; two different things. I've experimented over and over taking two exact bows and sinew backing them. Putting one up to cure for 6 months and shooting the other one after a couple of weeks. Done this so often and I've probably sinew backed over 200 bows easy. The one that waits will always be a better bow and the one that didn't risks that dramatic sudden drop in draw weight that some sinew backed bows suffer. I may want to recreate Native bows but that doesn't preclude me from following the ways of the masters of sinew backing; horn bow makers that wait a loooooong time.

@@jkhippie5929 Ah Ha! You nailed it. After I finish a sinew bow string and I twist them from dry fibers, I give them a quick hide glue bath and hang them from each end gently stretching them. Gently. I've never had one break on me.

@@joedaniels4646 Thank you. Now on to other bows.

@@danielspain7231 Thank you. Taking the edges down like that sets it up for a reasonable effort using the radiused sanding block to finish rounding.

@@danielspain7231 I admit that a nice two loop string looks spiffy.

@@danielspain7231 Good insurance. Good advice.

@@danielspain7231 A Warrior was captured by the calvary and when he was in confinement one of the guards asked him what the best wood for making bows was. He laughed and said osage. The guard thought, that's strange. The Warrior laughed because if the guard tried to make a bow out of osage, he'd fail.

@@christophkainz8047 There will always be vast discussions regarding this, but in my view, a crowned back makes for a better bow provided the back is strong enough for concentrated tension at your draw weight and draw length. The closer you get to maximizing forces without over stressing the bow, the better. Figure two scenarios. One, it's a smaller diameter tree and already has a rounded back. In a tree that grows fast and big, a small diameter isn't necessarily great because of really thick growth rings and not so dense wood. Branches on the other hand can be small in diameter, grew slower than that little sapling, and have really tough reaction wood. Some small trees are better than other, young small trees, too. The other scenario is decrowning and creating a bias ring bow. That's OK because the fibers are unbroken if your careful. Look closely at the bows in the Encyclopedia of NA Bows, Arrows, and Quivers, and you will see a lot of actual bows drawn with what we'd consider to be hugely violated rings. I guess I'll add one more thing; sinew or rawhide backing. I've taken bows that literally cracked a little on the back and turned them into great, 100% working bows with a layer of sinew.

I largely find it’s not so much species specific, or white wood specific but the condition, grain, density, sap content, season harvested, and how you look after the stave during the whole process that largely determines if I make or break a bow.

The wood i use at the moment for my bows is ash. And it seems like the back is never the problem. Its the belly that gets little, little cracks. The bows are still working fine and dont brake. But it feels like the belly cant take that much as the back.

@@danielspain7231 Me too.

@@danielspain7231 Definitely.

@@jkhippie5929 HI, I absolutely do. Shoot me an email and we'll sort it out.

@@paganpride464 I never thought of that. Wow, there's a ton of ways to season it, too.

@@timdefelice2570 PIcture laying a string in a bowl from one side to the other. It goes into the bowl and up the other side. Now say you put some glue on the string so it sticks to the bowl as it climbs down the side and back up. The bowl is like the reflexed handle. When the sinew on the bow dries it's like you pulling on the string from both sides of the bowl; it wants to straighten out and pull away from the bowl's bottom.

@johnjriggsarchery2457 that makes so much sense. Thank you. I have never sinew wrapped only rawhide so this is a bit of a learning curve for me.

@@andyrunkel8296 I appreciate that!

@@Tradbow85 I appreciate that. I really had a hard time pricing everything and wound up leaning toward going lower to inspire more first timers to jump into bow making. Funny thing is though, even though one can make any bow out of any wood type, these are still fun as heck to take and finish off. Have a great day, my bow making friend.

@@MrPatski1 HI, I typically us red oak but I may make some out of hard maple.

@@randalboatman5996 Absolutely yes. I have two osage/sinew backed bows to do and I'll show that part. Great request.

@@danielspain7231 Efficient and effective with minimal materials.

@@danielspain7231 I totally get it. I basically bind mine because I do a lot of painting. Otherwise I do like the look of a natural unbound sinew back.

@@jkcbrah4708 OH man, you found a prize in a bow wood desert. I've had Australians ask me what kind of native bow wood they could use which I'm no expert on Australian or NZ forestry. Is there some form of walnut down there? I believe that about the sinew and hoof glue. It's amazing stuff.

@@jkhippie5929 Howdy. That's one of those things, it depends upon your source. I could throw out the number 3% before it gives, which I've heard but I gotta say that it may be somewhat variable. Long answer short, it's a big guess.

@@johnjriggsarchery2457 Thanks John, it's so refreshing to see the handmade bows; rather than the store-bought goodies.

​@@jkhippie5929I appreciate that. Thank you

@@gustohislop128 I believe they originally came from people that had short straight self bows and when they gained too much string follow, they fixed them by bending the handles back, and it caught on. There's other stuff at play though. The Lakota for example believed that bows were a gift from the Thunder Beings and arrows from another powerful entity. The different shapes of bows held certain significance; straight bows, gullwings, and the rarer 5 bend bows (Cupid's shaped bows). Then we can get into Medicine Bows which held certain powers and meant different things to different tribes, one being they were made from a certain tree that was used as an actual cure for something. Is there an actual advantage mechanically? I believe so; they seem to be more stable to a small degree in having limbs that stay balanced in tiller. I also find, and wow, I've made so many gullwings I can't remember a fraction of them, they're also waaaay more forgiving than straight bows in tillering. Speed wise, I don't see any difference.