sinew conditioner????

[Jon Stewart]

Need some help. Has anyone heard of a sinew conditioner? A guy posted a photo on Leatherwall (stickbow) of a round rock that had narrow grooves cut into it. I asked if the poster thought is was a shaft straightener or an abrader. Another guy posted and said he was a part time archeoligist and proclaimed that if was a sinew conditioner.

Any thoughts. And you can go to the leatherwall site and view the photo. The post is under indian artifacts.

Having used sinew on arrows and bow backing I don't think it can maintain the strength to cut into the rock that is shown.

 

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[kuger]

yea,that does not even make sense.The only thing you can put on a bowstring to condition it is beeswax

 

[NC field hunter]

I am a self proclaimed archeologist just as the other cat. Lol! All jokes aside, I have read about the conditioning of sinew. Credible sources, however, I can't site them at the present. My reading stated sinew was chewed, for softening. After that, they would pull it back and forth in a small hook shaped piece of stone. I'll post one tonight, if I still have one of them in arms reach. Never heard of using a round grooved stone, but, I suppose different regions provide different resources. Hence, different methods. I can't say he is wrong, nor right.

 

[kuger]

I have used sinew for a lot of things,never heard of that,guess ya learn something new everyday?

 

[BosnMate]

Sinew off the back strap is long and when dried easily pulls apart, but is stiff and not flexible, and chewing helps condition it. Supposedly the saliva helps, but I can't tell the difference between the dry sinew being stripped apart and chewed, or stripped into threads and soaked in water, but then I have but very limited knowledge using sinew when making a few arrows in the past. Leg sinew, that which lies behind the leg bones from the knee and/or hock to heel comes in a sheath. When dried there is no stripping of that stuff. I tried soaking, and using a vice and pliers, neither of which existed during the stone age, and I was barely able to pull it apart. Then one day a fellow I met showed me how to work with leg sinew. He let it dry in the sheath until it was brick hard. Next he used a rock and a piece of wood and pounded the sinew until it separated the way he wanted it, and then twisted it into a two ply cord, which was also an eye opener for me. If you pound the sinew between two rocks you stand the danger of cutting or weakening the strands, and of course one would be foolish to pound back strap sinew. Anyhow, for tying on points and feathers I have some elk and deer back strap sinew, which is much easier to work with. DO NOT use artificial heat to dry, nor hot water to soak sinew when working with it, because it's animal protein, and there is the danger of cooking it, which then ruins the sinew. Perhaps your sinew conditioner was intended for leg sinew, which having a bit of experience with it, makes sense to me.

 

[rock]

Sometimes and not always people will see something they want and say it is something it isnt and then go back and make a low ball offer on it. I am not saying this is what happened but I have seen that kind of thing happen in the past. That way they get a nice piece for next to nothing.

 

[Tnmountains]

All I know is I trim it off all my meat when buthchering or before cooking That back strap sinew is wide and long like Bosnmate said.

 

[kuger]

I still have a big ball of all the sinew from the Buffalo I shot a few years ago,sure if I looked I have box's of deer and elk too,could never resist not saving it,and with clients handled 40+elk and deer a year!LOL!