Sinew backing a bow.......
Iv'e decided to back one of my longbows with sinew. The bows dimensions are 68' long, and about 1 and 1/4 of an inch thick, close to 1 1/2 inches wide, and tapers to about 3/4 of an inch near the "ears". Im using hide glue for the adhesive and pine pitch to cover the sinew. What I want to know is if it is ok to have just one layer of sinew on the back, and if it is ok if the sinew is only about 3/4 of an inch wide (the width of surface area on the back of the bow). I just thought this small amount of sinew would do little to improve the cast on my bow, what do you experienced bowyers think? My bow pulls 45 pounds at around 26 inch draw, and fires around 110 mph. My guess is the bow will pick up a few pounds, maybe 4 or 5, and increase speed to about 115 mph, I have no clue. Iv'e only backed my bows with rawhide. Any advice or correction of my calculations would be mighty helpful. Thanks.