I was talking to an old guy at a 3D shoot, yesterday, who happens to be an archery historian. He mentioned in passing that he'd been given an artical written about Indian arrow points made entirely from sinew. Apparently this was many moons ago & he can no longer find the artical.
What he's wanting to do is publish an artical in The Arrowhead (an English periodical for the Historical Archery Society) about how these points were made & used and why they were favoured by some tribes over flint points.
All he could remember was that the artical was copyrighted & he was unable to publish it as is, but he had no idea where it came from & couln't find any more info about it.
He mentioned that he'd like to see a point made & tested so that he could then write up his own findings. The only reference I can find is on page 286 of The American Indian Craft Book by Marz Minor, published in 1978. Allit says is;

"Sinew arrow points were made of the hard sinew along the top of the buffao's neck. These points were used in hunting buffalo, because when the hard sinew arrow point struck a rib it would go round it, while a flint or other type of arrowhead would break the bone"

I'm really interested in trying to replicate one of these unusual heads, but with no pictures & absolutely no clue as to how the head could be formed, hardened & sharpened I wouldn't know were to begin!

Has anyone ever seen or handled one of these heads? Or better yet, made one?
Can anyone give me any leads as to where I could find out a little more about them, their construction & there use?

Rob,
I bet if you take multiple layers of back sinew and laminate them like you would do with wood you could probably come up with something similar. Once the glue sets up and hardens, you could then shape it however you'd like.  I'd be interested in seeing the thickness of the sinew taken from a Buffalos neck, most likley some heavy duty stuff. I hope someone else posts with more info or better yet, pictures.  Tim

Anyone?

Rob, I googled 'sinew arrowheads' and found JSTOR:Anthropologic Miscellanea. Looks like you need to purchase the article but seems to be a rather thin subject... Good luck with it, Bryan