07-27-2007, 12:13 AM
Heron actually praises bull sinew, Dane (also the tendon in deer's feet). The only sort he deplores is pig, which he says is useless.
I was under the impression that manufacturing sinew rope was laborious, fiddly and messy. Let us know how you get on!
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Here is the quick and sloppy method for preparing sinew.
First, get an animal leg! Use your handy knive to extract the leg tendon.
Or, you order it from a supplier, already dried. You have to pound the heck out of the tendon, and you can remove the outer shell pretty soon. You continue to pound the tendon, seperating out the fibers. At that point, it is just like making a primative string from, say, flax or dogbane. You do the old reverse twisting routine, and thus build up to the rope diameter you wish for. Clearly, it will take a lot of sinew to make enough rope for any seige engine of any size. And I wonder, is there a great number of women out there willing to give up thier hair for ropes? I doubt it,
If you have never handled dried sinew bundles, it is very similar to a dog chew. Very tough, so the pounding is a decent workout. Deer sinew is a lovely golden shade, very pretty stuff. I have a bunch of it out in my workshop, for the composite Roman bow I'm building, so for a manuballista, I'll pay a call to some local butchers and also contact slaughter houses.
A few other thoughts about sinew and moisture. Bows have to be protected from moisture, and one traditional method is to cover the sinew with snake skin or bark, which is the way traditional Korean composite bows are made (specifically, birch bark soaked for a year in salt water). So, I can see the logic in some sort of covering for the spring bundles until just before battle or practice.
Also, insects and other critters, including dogs, love to eat this stuff, so it has to be protected from that fate.
Not being a biologist or medical type, I wonder why sinew still in an animal works, since it is pretty wet in there? Kind of a gross thought, eh?
I was under the impression that manufacturing sinew rope was laborious, fiddly and messy. Let us know how you get on!
[/quote]Here is the quick and sloppy method for preparing sinew.
First, get an animal leg! Use your handy knive to extract the leg tendon.
Or, you order it from a supplier, already dried. You have to pound the heck out of the tendon, and you can remove the outer shell pretty soon. You continue to pound the tendon, seperating out the fibers. At that point, it is just like making a primative string from, say, flax or dogbane. You do the old reverse twisting routine, and thus build up to the rope diameter you wish for. Clearly, it will take a lot of sinew to make enough rope for any seige engine of any size. And I wonder, is there a great number of women out there willing to give up thier hair for ropes? I doubt it,
If you have never handled dried sinew bundles, it is very similar to a dog chew. Very tough, so the pounding is a decent workout. Deer sinew is a lovely golden shade, very pretty stuff. I have a bunch of it out in my workshop, for the composite Roman bow I'm building, so for a manuballista, I'll pay a call to some local butchers and also contact slaughter houses.
A few other thoughts about sinew and moisture. Bows have to be protected from moisture, and one traditional method is to cover the sinew with snake skin or bark, which is the way traditional Korean composite bows are made (specifically, birch bark soaked for a year in salt water). So, I can see the logic in some sort of covering for the spring bundles until just before battle or practice.
Also, insects and other critters, including dogs, love to eat this stuff, so it has to be protected from that fate.
Not being a biologist or medical type, I wonder why sinew still in an animal works, since it is pretty wet in there? Kind of a gross thought, eh?
Dane Donato
Legio III Cyrenaica
Legio III Cyrenaica
