Got Sinew?

[caribou]

Its an old habit of mine, Caribou hunting.......and I just keep on being myself, much to their demise....

So these guys make great sleeping bags and boots this timma year, so I figured to reup the gals with fresh sinews to craft and tie with....indeed, at one time, everything was tied together....clothes, boats, tents, sleds, bows and arrows, ect.......

Back sinews from a Caribou as seen with the skin peeled back.

These are good for thread for clothing and general utility, the longer, courser tendon from the back legs make course sinew and thats often braided for sewing thick Sea Mammal skins and making lines, ropes, snares, etc.



I cut them, some pull them, but they end by the hip bone if your in need of a few long threads



With the connective tissues pulled off and the sinews seen as the top layer. You can pinch them off and scrape them of you can push them off the meat (or meat off them) with a dull knife , as the stuff is easy to get off that way.

 

[caribou]

Once separated from the back-straps, they are a 'sheet' and you can dry them, then clean them further and use them , once dry.


The rear sinews are for things like bowstrings, tying things, bird snares, twine and leaders.
The rear leg sinews are a cable that runs along the bone and splits into two, one on the outer edge of the hock and one that runs through it.





carefull to cut the tissues around the sinews and not the sinews them selfs. One go's around the hock, this one through it.

 

[caribou]

Then once the sinews are free from the bone, and NOT cut, you grab ahold and ''pull'' the sinew from the meats of the rear hindquarters. After that , you can cut them at the ankle.






And youll end up with something like this




Dry them over night and chew the jerky off 'em.

Then proceed to do what you like or need to do with your sinews.

 

[Mn Fats]

Very cool, caribou. A nice reminder that I need to get into making more out of whitetails.

 

[Art Eatman]

Hey, thanks! Brings back memories of the stories of Ernest Thompson Seton's writing, and all the "life among the Indians" stories from back seventy and more years gone by.

 

[<*(((><]

I've watched the episode where I think your wife Agnes or maybe it was you was showing removing some of the sinew. I thought it was being cut in strips while it was still fresh, but I must have been wrong and it was the next day. I believe it was the wide strip off the backstrap if I remember right (like the one in the first picture of your second post). Very interesting, thanks for the education and pictures of how it's done.

 

[MCgunner]

Thanks for the lesson! I've often wondered about where sinews were taken from. I might try this with some whitetail. I'm going on a depredation hunt next week, should come home with several deer. What I'd like to do is try to make my own arrows for my stick bow and use sinew as the natives did hundreds of years ago to attach knapped arrow heads. BUT, that takes a lot of acquired skills I don't have, so I'll probably just take some out for research purposes.

My wife's cousin finds arrow heads on his place now and then. At thanksgiving, he showed me one that HAD to be an atlatl point. It was too big for an arrow and too small for a spear point. It was kind of awe inspiring to think that I was standing there looking at a BEAUTIFULLY knapped point that might be ten thousand or more years old and might have taken down a mammoth.

 

[Flintknapper]

Thanks for the lesson! I've often wondered about where sinews were taken from. I might try this with some whitetail. I'm going on a depredation hunt next week, should come home with several deer. What I'd like to do is try to make my own arrows for my stick bow and use sinew as the natives did hundreds of years ago to attach knapped arrow heads. BUT, that takes a lot of acquired skills I don't have, so I'll probably just take some out for research purposes.

My wife's cousin finds arrow heads on his place now and then. At thanksgiving, he showed me one that HAD to be an atlatl point. It was too big for an arrow and too small for a spear point. It was kind of awe inspiring to think that I was standing there looking at a BEAUTIFULLY knapped point that might be ten thousand or more years old and might have taken down a mammoth.

Making your own arrows is not hard, but extremely time consuming (if you do a good job). Folks tend to marvel at knapped points...but I can tell you that all the work is in the arrow shaft and fletchings. Once you learn how to 'knap' you can knock out serviceable points in 30 minutes, nicer ones in an hour or so. I never wince at breaking a 'point', its just a rock, we can make another. But the arrow shaft, that's another story....lots of work there.

 

[MCgunner]

Making your own arrows is not hard, but extremely time consuming (if you do a good job). Folks tend to marvel at knapped points...but I can tell you that all the work is in the arrow shaft and fletchings. Once you learn how to 'knap' you can knock out serviceable points in 30 minutes, nicer ones in an hour or so. I never wince at breaking a 'point', its just a rock, we can make another. But the arrow shaft, that's another story....lots of work there.

A bit off the sinew topic, but what do you use for arrow shafts?

 

[Flintknapper]

A bit off the sinew topic, but what do you use for arrow shafts?

I've made them from many different woods. Just depends on the 'theme'. That batch is modern 'traditional' and happens to be Port Orford Cedar but my favorite (for hunting) is Hard Rock Maple. IF the theme is 'primitive' (self nocks) then local material (dogwood, ash, rivercane) are good choices.

I like a heavy arrow. With traditional or primitive bows... 'speed' is not that important. You don't want a slow arrow but 150-180 fps is plenty. What you want with traditional equipment is for it to be quiet. Heavy arrows dampen bow string noise and also gives you a much better chance of getting a 'pass-through' which means you get to use that arrow over again.

Pass-throughs on Deer are fairly common. Hogs...not so much. Here in Deep East Texas...when a hog runs off with your arrow sticking out both sides...it is going to be broken, no two ways about it.

But back to the original topic (Sinew): It is incredibly tough stuff, is kind of naturally sticky and shrinks down tight when it dries. Good for hafting arrowheads. I don't use it on modern traditional arrows (I use epoxy and simulated sinew) but I have used it on primitive arrows with pine pitch and it does a pretty good job.

 

[caribou]

They used basically two kinds of bows that I know of up this Arctic way.
A double recurve for its power, and was usefull in War and likely game that you didnt care heard the 'twang'.
Then there was the fairly simple cable backed ''self(?) bow'' built with wood, antler and Ivory and bound in cables and tiedowns of Sinew. There could be 'tuned' according to the weather.
For Arrow Shafts, the men would get willows from the women who gathered then and peeled them for cordage and net making materials, or cut a few themselves, and Ive found references to Kotzebue Sound people traveling north, where there are no trees (just drift wood on the coasts) with split Spruce , made just for the Arrow trade.
They tipped the arrows with all kinds of stuff; I have Ivory, Jade, Antler, Obsidian, Slate, bone and a .45-70 'blunt' with a chunk of shaft still in it.

The top photo has a fish spear point made from antler with new sinew braided line.
The point thats in the second photo, second from the bottom is made of antler with barbs and a slot for a thin small cutting point, and has a very common attaching ''cone'' that was held with blood and a wrap of sinew in a socket on the arrow shafts end. These detached from the point in the animal, and probably saved alot of arrow shafts....


Heres a small broken ivory point beside a 7.62x54r

Back to sinew; These sinews Ive pulled , shown here, are now threads and the gusset cords for waterproof stitches that my daughters are using for making crimped soled ''Hard bottom'' Mukluks, at Anchorage right now



Sinews make a lot of things possible, shoes, weapons , clothing and that circle was perpetuated by Hunting, for untold thousands of years.

 

[caribou]

Found this on Skynet, some fine use of Sinew, on the two types of Bow I am familiar with in this area.

 

[caribou]

Oddly, a glitch in Skynet has yet again led me to a double post.........

 

[WestKentucky]

Real deal ulu there. It looks to have some age, or a lot of use, perhaps both. I love those blades. Would like to know a little more about that piece if you could share some info. I’m really interested in the handle material and a better size reference.

 

[tomturkey]

Chip Thanks for the information on the use of sinew. How you get it and use it was interesting. I have always thought of using the sinew off of the whitetails I shoot. I generally take it off of the back straps before I bone them off of the deer. I never realized that that was sinew on the back legs.
I have a couple of tourist trap ulus that my mother brought me when she was visiting my brother when he was living in Fairbanks. no comparison to the real thing. I enjoy watching Agnes use one for every thing on the show. It is great they way she is teaching your daughters the old way. Check your pm's

Flintknapper. Sadly there was an old farmer that beat me in finding any old arrow heads. His family donated his big collection to a local museum for all to enjoy after he passed on.

 

[caribou]

View attachment 815992
Real deal ulu there. It looks to have some age, or a lot of use, perhaps both. I love those blades. Would like to know a little more about that piece if you could share some info. I’m really interested in the handle material and a better size reference.

Heres a few Ulurok;

Inthe display case is a slate bladed Ivory handled ladies knife, and below that is a Jade Ulu with no handle.
The three outside the case are various hand and wherever made Ulu's. They have a ''coastal' look to them (Freshwater/Saltwater Eskimo)

This is the basic pattern taken from a 26 inch long handsaw blade, with handle scales, from the same saw. This would be a 'Kobuk River' pattern my wife preferrs, rather than a double faced blade, she like the distinctve sides, front and back. The edge is' I/ ' angled rather than a'V' edge.

 

[WestKentucky]

Heres a few Ulurok;

Inthe display case is a slate bladed Ivory handled ladies knife, and below that is a Jade Ulu with no handle.
The three outside the case are various hand and wherever made Ulu's. They have a ''coastal' look to them (Freshwater/Saltwater Eskimo)
View attachment 816197
This is the basic pattern taken from a 26 inch long handsaw blade, with handle scales, from the same saw. This would be a 'Kobuk River' pattern my wife preferrs, rather than a double faced blade, she like the distinctve sides, front and back. The edge is' I/ ' angled rather than a'V' edge.
View attachment 816198

Funny, I was thinking of how well a ground down circular saw would do at making a blade...pretty close.

 

[easy]

View attachment 815966

So, all this stringy stuff/sinew, are they individual strands or are they stripped from larger strands to make several smaller ones? (I don't know diddly about this stuff)

 

[caribou]

Funny, I was thinking of how well a ground down circular saw would do at making a blade...pretty close.

Close, but the flex you get out of a handsaw blade is better for working around bones and is 1/2 the weight of a circular saw blade.

So, all this stringy stuff/sinew, are they individual strands or are they stripped from larger strands to make several smaller ones? (I don't know diddly about this stuff)

The fibers all lay together, but when dried, twisted, folded and separated, you can fairly control how thick the strand will be. The back Sinews will be threads , as they lay but 1 layer thick, while the leg tendons will be able to be pared down to threads, the value is in the thick and heavy strands, for use of those tendons. Threads makes, twines, twines make cordage, cordage is made into rope, etc.

 

[Art Eatman]

For lengthy cordage or rope, do you use the Boy Scouts' three-strand splice? (Oooohhh, so very long ago! )

 

[caribou]

For lengthy cordage or rope, do you use the Boy Scouts' three-strand splice? (Oooohhh, so very long ago! )

Indeed, you do, Art.
The moistened threads will twine together nicely and the braid can be as long as you have sinews.

They were used on most things ''dry' as sinews tend to slacken and lilt when soaked. Harpoon leaders, and spear bindings, Bird snares ( they dont sniff and eat the sinews) and basic cordadge for tools , bows and such. Also good for a net that you could drive animals and birds into, but only as a dipnet or sein, though, for fish, not a gill net or anything that would be left long in water.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

As long legged as those caribou are that leg sinew would make pretty nice bow strings. Down here you have to pound and strip a lot of deer sinew to make a string.
Thanks for posting the ulu info. I think I have a couple old hand saws up in the barn so "winter project"...