Bow string

[Niels]

What would be the easiest/fastest material to make a bowstring out of? I'm asking because I made a hazel bow yesterday, but the string I was using broke yesterday.
I've already tried nettle it took me hours to just get about 1,5 meters and I need at least 4 meters to twist it into a good string.
Once I've found a good string I'll post some pictures of my bow.

 

[dwardo]

Depends of the weight of the bow. Unless your pretty handy at cordage making then its hard going. A rough guide for strength is 5X the draw weight of your bow to be able to stand the shock of release.
Personally I am pretty useless beyond "functional" cordage. Common ones are lime, sinew, rawhide.

I cheat and go for dacron every time. Last thing you want after spending so much time making a bow is for the string to snap and take the bow with it.

If you are looking for cheap and cheerful i hear bailing twine is good. Basically you want very tough and just as important low stretch.

 

[Niels]

Thanks! Better get back at twining nettles than...

 

[grey-array]

Hey Niels,

Not sure if you have any spruce trees down your way in zeeland, but I've seen some great cordage made out of the Cambium layer of them
and pretty strong too.
Here is a nice post, look about a quarter down the page: http://livingprimitively.com/page/2/
It is however a rather destructive method of getting string as it bring allot of stress on the tree, perhpas going down to a good butcher and ask him if he might have some sinnew you can do anything with?

Yours sincerely Ruud

 

[ateallthepies]

Yes Dacron is a good choice for a man-made fibre, fairly cheap and with a little stretch that is good for wooden bows. There are loads of other materials with fancy names to confuse you but I would stick to Dacron.

If your after natural string materials then nothing is going to be as fast/easy as the man-made fibres but here is a list of some starting with the strongest...

Plants:

Flax
Hemp
Ramie
Nettles
Dogbain
Milkweed
Iris
Bromelia
Palm
Yucca
Bamboo
Raffia

Animal:

Sinew
Silk
Gut
Rawhide

Tree inner barks:

Basswood
Red Mulberry
Elm
Willow
Mesquite
Cottonwood
Big Leaf Maple
Cedar
Juniper


Steve.

 

[boatman]

Needed a string for my repaired Homlgaard bow and made it in about twenty minutes from a spool of artificial sinew I had. Breaking strain of 70lbs so twisted three strands, 210. Did this three times so theoretically the breaking strain of my new string is about 600lbs. Overkill but necessary to get enough thickness. It does stretch but you can pre-stretch to some extent and keep re-tying the bowyers knot at one end.

Three times the poundage of the bow is generally assumed to be the minimum strength required so a 500lb paracord string should work if you had any around.

 

[dwardo]

Needed a string for my repaired Homlgaard bow and made it in about twenty minutes from a spool of artificial sinew I had. Breaking strain of 70lbs so twisted three strands, 210. Did this three times so theoretically the breaking strain of my new string is about 600lbs. Overkill but necessary to get enough thickness. It does stretch but you can pre-stretch to some extent and keep re-tying the bowyers knot at one end.

Three times the poundage of the bow is generally assumed to be the minimum strength required so a 500lb paracord string should work if you had any around.

That reminded me of someone who used dental floss! Which i believe is similar to artificial sinew.
The problem with paracord and the likes is stretch. I used to use it for a tillering string but eventually went to a huge B50 string made by the guys at bow-plus. If the string stretches too much it will rob your bow of energy when you release. Whilst tillering it can give you a false reading and poor reflection of the bows tiller.

 

[ateallthepies]

I wonder what a string made of the 2-3mm Dyneema braid would be like? It has a breaking strength of 500kg + and low stretch and it costs about a pound a metre. I'm sure a couple of quick and dirty loops either end could be fashioned?

Also another option is to get a roll of linen thread and make up a multi-strand string in the normal way? A sort of traditional material but quick method?

Steve.

 

[mrcharly]

Linen would work.

Remember that the nocking loops will be much weaker than combined strength of the threads. Usual rule of thumb is reduce by 1/3rd.

So if your string has a breaking strain of 70lb, you use 3 strands, then that works out as breaking strain of 140lb.

But even that isn't the whole story. Breaking strains are for static loads (ie, dangling a weight off the end). The shock load on the string is much higher.

 

[Bushwhacker]

A chap I spoke to years ago said he used Eel skin as a bow string.

 

[Niels]

I think I will ask a butcher than... Eel skin eh? Would have to be a long eel or a very short bow. Never mind, eels are protected here nowadays anyway. If the butcher has nothing for me than I will just have to buy some dacron.