u-finish horsebow finishing

[walkabout]

So i saw a horsebow on a post here awhile ago, and figured id try my hand at finishing one. Theres alot of options, and alot of stuff you can personalize when finishing them. Anyway, heres a few pics of my mock up of the handle/riser before I commit to a finish.                 its black leather with brown/black strips laced around the top and bottom and down the middle of the front. It feels pretty good in the hand, and so far i like the design.might change it to white lacing instead, but i wont know for sure until i commit to how im wrapping the siyahs. Kudos to 4est for the rest/strike plate idea. I toyed around with a few others but this seems like itll work pretty well

[bjansen]

Very nice!

[walkabout]

so on to yet another part of the bow, the siyahs. alot of creative freedom here, ive seen alot of people use hemp, and even some use leather.For this bow i pretty much decided on keeping the natural wood showing through the fiberglass on the back and belly, so i wanted something that was a little plain. my inner perfectionist never lets me do anything without first doing a mock up, so i got the idea to use some artificial sinew i had. I made the bowstring for my longbow outta the stuff, so i know it ages really well under alot of use. anyway heres a few pics.         any thoughts on how it looks?

[carver]

it looks great!  tell me, how do you attach the artificial sinew?  what kind of adhesive?

[walkabout]

actually i havent, i planned on just wrapping a few layers on it. its artificial sinew waxed stuff so i dont think i could glue it if i tried. im liking it though the more i think about it cus itll help keep the overall mass of the limbtips down.

[walkabout]

theres a few diferent types of the artificial sinew on the market that i know of, this stuff is made by tandy. i asked  tandy awhile back what the breaking strength of it was cus i made a bowstring from it and the guy i talked to said probably around 25 lbs. or so. anyway this stuff is more natural buckskin color than the stuff thats really stretchy.

[Jason Jelinek]

Try silk.  It's period, strong and will look good.

[walkabout]

this stuff just comes on a spool, its kinda like dental floss i guess. anyway i just wrap it on then pull the end through using the starting end. kinda like you do when serving a bowstring.

[walkabout]

i had considered using colored cordage to wrap them but wanted to do something a lil diferent with this bow.

[carver]

if ya like that, try this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t_31Bxn7vQ&NR=1

[carver]

the guy has a whole lot of uploads...they are all in korean, can't understand a word...but if you watch him carefully you can make out what he's doing.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by walkabout:
actually i havent, i planned on just wrapping a few layers on it. its artificial sinew waxed stuff so i dont think i could glue it if i tried. im liking it though the more i think about it cus itll help keep the overall mass of the limbtips down.

I used the same stuff and any of the TB glue will hold it in place.

[walkabout]

yea those traditional composites are definitly an artform. very labor intensive, and great overall end product. ill have to try that guido, cus im seriously leaning toward using the sinew stuff. i like how it compliments the wood grain of the limbs, and that stuff looks great after its seen a bit of use. reminds me of when i was growing up with my grandpa back home trapping and seeing all his pelts on stretchers.lol its one of those colors you dont see very often.

[walkabout]

speaking of pelts i wouldnt mind having a fox tail to make some string silencers out of for this bow. would go nice with the rest of the colors.

[walkabout]

gives me incentive to start scouting hunting spots for next year:D can never have enough materials, and a fox hide quiver would be pretty nice.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Looking great man. Keep the pics coming I wanna see how this turns out.
kris

[walkabout]

so after taking time to put final coats of finish on the siyahs, i got to work adding more permanent touches. since Im laying out the handle/riser with black leather, i thought id add an accent strip at the base of the siyahs. its the same black leather as the handle and i laced it with three strands of artificial sinew.     so far i think it looks pretty good, kinda captures a lil of the traditional styling and still keeps to a somewhat minimalist design. heres a pic down the front profile.   This is a pic of the string i made for my longbow, just to illustrate some of the color that the artificial sinew gets.    anyway next ill be adding the wrapping to the other siyah and then the matching accent piece. this all takes me awhile cus i add stuff, then leave it for a few hrs and admire from afar to see if im really content with it. more after the next step.

[bjansen]

Looking great...did you thin the width of the siyahs at all?  I really like the look of them.

[4est trekker]

Looks good.  Remember that artificial sinew stretches a LOT, and I've found it never really settles in unless it's too thick to be anywhere near efficient.  

Have you shot it yet?

[walkabout]

only thing i really did to the siyahs was to round the square edges off the front.im really happy with the whole thing so far, even though i havent gotten to shoot it. the siyahs made me nervous, even though i braced it and drew it before doing anything. as far as the sinew,ive used it quite a bit for diferent things here and there. my string made of it is 14 strand, i went by the norm for b50 just to be safe. it hasnt really stretched yet on my longbow, its been the same every time ive braced it. cant remember if it was that string or something else, but i remember pre stretching somethin.lol