I'm thinking of cutting some maple for a stave. Has anyone ever done sinew backed maple? Does it work well? I want to do a complete scratch build and bow woods are kinda limited here.

Why not just a maple selfbow? Were you looking to make a short bow?

Yep. Works extremely well in fact.

Note: Maple doesn't REQUIRE a sinew backing at all. It makes fine self bows all by itself. But, for a shorter, narrower for drawlength and weight, highly stressed design, sinew backing will work well.

I guess I'm not married to the idea of sinew backing. I've been saving sinew for a few years to build a bow, but we don't have Osage here. Would you guys recommend a self bow over sinew backed?

I rarely back bows. I don't like hunting with backed bows as I prefer selfies. Jawge

yes it will work, just depends on what you want, I like both , sinew backed bows and self bows and shoot both,,

Cash, that's kind of a loaded question. If you take a Maple stave or sapling, and remove the bark and Cambium, you have the bask finished. So, unless there is an imperfection in the back, or you damage it, and the bow is of the correct dimensions, it's unlikely it will fail on the back.

Adding sinew CAN (not always) increase performance. It will nearly always increase durability. I don't personally think the oft mentioned issue of weather is realisitic.

No Osage in Michigan? I'm in Illinois, and just about anywhere there was a farm, there were Osage fence rows. 4 years ago, I found an Osage tree in some local woods that just happened to be on our archery clubs land. I got 3 nice staves and one skinny one.

Don't use the sinew just for the sake of using it. It is a great backing for certain designs, but not necessary (and even detrimental) in others. Depends what type of bow you wanna make. Do you have something in mind?

Michigan is very different from one end to the other. Lower Michigan has Osage, never seen any here in the up. There might be some but I don't know. I don't really have a design in mind, I was thinking of cutting soon, so I could begin seasoning. I've been wanting to do a complete scratch build for awhile and I'm getting some sinew piled up. Thanks for the responses

if I go elk hunting and know its gonna rain on me every day, I take a self bow,,,, if I am hunting for an afternoon or morning, I will take a sinew bow,, a little rain wont hurt them,, just depends, usually if I have a stave to short for a self bow,, then I can sinew back it and get the draw and weight I want,,, and sometimes improved performance,,:)

Maple is much better in tension than compression. Id like to see the maple used alone as a self bow, or as backing strips. Sinew will benefit the most when paired with a compression strong wood that will challenge its strength. Sinew is amazingly powerful.

By chance are you thinking sinew back because you want to cut now and you know the bark and cambium will not come off clean? If so, don't let short cuts dictate this hobby. It will cause disappointment over and over. Trust me on that, been there.

Even with winter wood, removing bark and cambium is easier than ring chasing. You should be able to get a nice clean back regardless. Maple is a nice wood for a beginner to work. Keep limbs widish and tiller carefully.

I have friend in northern Michigan who uses a good bit of sugar maple for self bows. He makes pyramid bows that shoot and look good. 2"+/- at the fades usually.

I mainly just wanted to build a sinew backed bow, figured I'd cut soon so it'll be seasoned when I'm ready. I've wanted to kill a deer with a complete scratch build for a long time so I don't want to buy a stave, and locally my hardwood options are maple, hemlock and oak. We have lots of cedar; has anyone built a bow from cedar? I'm thinking I'll cut soon and plan on a flat bow design. Maybe I'll just use the sinew for hafting my points

White oak would be choice number one with sugar maple being right behind it. ERC makes a decent bow on occasion, but nothing I would trust to last long. I like to aim my spare time and fruitful projects and not "whims". If that makes sense.

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