: Artificial sinew is great to work with. Using it is one of the parts of
: making a SOF I like best. The wax makes it easy to tighten things because
: it sticks to itself, and it holds knots extremely well for the same
: reason. It's important to have a material that you like and is easy to
: work with, because lashing takes a long time and is hard on the hands. I
: sew the skin with 40lb braided dacron line and it's a killer on the hands,
: so I wouldn't choose to use a similar product for lashing. There's a lot
: more line in lashing than there is sewing the skin.

: There are a couple of provisos with the artificial sinew, though, and they
: both have to do with the skin material. First is, if you don't do your
: lashing through holes in your chine and keel, the wax can and get on your
: skin and make it hard for some finishes to stick to the skin. Secondly, I
: live in the Great Lakes, and mildew is a problem with frames because we
: don't have salt water to discourage it, so everyone uses tung oil pretty
: liberally around here. In the past I used tung oil thinned with mineral
: spirits on the first coat, but if you use artificial sinew avoid it. It
: dissolves the wax and the resultant slurry stays a goopy mess for a long
: time, and again is bound to get on the skin.

: There is a LOT to be said for using what's on hand, and there's a supplier of
: the artificial sinew two blocks from my house, but it's not hard to find
: through e-commerce. You can look at Jas. A Townsend.

: Good luck!

: m

Great Thanks very much
P