bow string?

[jon r]

What is a suitable material for a bow string? I dont have rawhide or sinews so what else is there? Could i use nilon cord?

And another question..... What is the stuff you wrap round the centre of the string to make it smoother?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bardster]

What is a suitable material for a bow string? I dont have rawhide or sinews so what else is there? Could i use nilon cord?

And another question..... What is the stuff you wrap round the centre of the string to make it smoother?

Thanks in advance!

Traditionally, linen was used and you can buy linen thread from various sources. Personally its a bit of an unknown qty breaking strain wise and I would overbuild it so you end up with a string that is thicker than necessary. Most modern strings are made from a material called Dacron B50 which has a known breaking strain so you can use a smaller number of threads - typically 14. The stuff round the middle is called serving thread and is usually a soft nylon thread. Again for a trad string you can use more linen. I would advise against normal nylon string as it will have too much stretch.

Here a good supplier I have used a lot http://www.jjtraditionalarchery.co.uk/

 

[Robbo]

Modern Bow strings are made of specialised synthetic threads such as Fastflight and Dacron B50.

Dacron B50 is normally used for wooden bows as it have more give than Fastflight.

However, Linen thread was and is still used by traditionalists, most leatherworking suppliers will stock linen thread, silk thread was used in the far east, hemp was also used to make bow strings.

I've made a bow string from a ball of hemp string i got from a craft shop for £1.

Nettle cordage can be used if its well made (not something I've ever tried...yet).

I'd avoid using nylon as this will have an ENORMOUS amount of stretch in it.

Do a web search on making a flemish loop string and an endless loop string, the Thread wrapped round the bow string is called serving and can be pretty much anything from cotton thread to fishing monofilament line.

Hope this helps

Andy

 

[Robbo]

LOL, Beaten to it, too slow I guess.

Andy

 

[jon r]

cheers! :You_Rock_

That website is really good Bardster!

If i got the spool of 1/4lb deacon B50 would that mean i would nead 4 strands thickness for every lb that my bow is? (that seems like a lot)

Also what is Serving Material? http://www.jjtraditionalarchery.co.uk/

 

[Diederik Pomstra]

If you don't have access to skin or sinew you can try gut (you can buy it from the butcher, he uses it for making sauages). It's really strong and longlasting. All you have to do is soak it overnight to get the salt out and twist about five lengths of it for a fifty pound bow (depends a bit on the quality of the gut). After twisting it, let it dry and it's done. A bowstring for the lazy bowyer...
Diederik

 

[bent-stick]

I have some hemp cord that I've made a string from.

What draw weight is your bow? If it is over about 40lbs the stign is going to be quite thick but I can let you have enough for a string if you like.

 

[bent-stick]

cheers! :You_Rock_

That website is really good Bardster!

If i got the spool of 1/4lb deacon B50 would that mean i would nead 4 strands thickness for every lb that my bow is? (that seems like a lot)

Also what is Serving Material? http://www.jjtraditionalarchery.co.uk/

1/4lb dacron means you get 4oz of it.

I use 9 stands up to 30lbs 12 strands 30-40 and 15 strands up to 60 lbs because I like to over-engineer the string. A broken string is often a broken bow. I usually do 3ply strings.. There is a formula in TBB biut My Volume 3seems to have gone walklabout. I'll post it if I can find it.

Serving string is a wrapping around the string to help protect the string and your fingers where the arrow nocks and where the where you pull back. You can also serve in the loops but I'm assuming you want to lay them in with a flemish twist?

 

[Bardster]

cheers! :You_Rock_

That website is really good Bardster!

If i got the spool of 1/4lb deacon B50 would that mean i would nead 4 strands thickness for every lb that my bow is? (that seems like a lot)

Also what is Serving Material? http://www.jjtraditionalarchery.co.uk/

for bows betrween 40lbs and 60lbs i would use 14 strands, 12 strands for lighter bows and 16 or 18 strands for heavier bows.

Serving material is the thread that is wound around the string to strength it and protect it from wear at the point at which you knock your arrow.

 

[jon r]

can someone do a tutorial? that would be fantastic!

I have never done this before so its hart to learn just by chatting to people. Thanks for your help so far! You are great people!

 

[bent-stick]

I'm doing a couple of strings this weekend. I'll see if I can get er inddors to wield the camera.

EDIT:

Found TBB vol 3 and it says the breaking strain of the string should be 4x draw weight. Further on it says 10x draw weight at 15" draw. Over engineering the string will loose you a bit of arrow speed but as I said before it's better to be safe than sorry. And some bow designs, especilly those with heavy limb tips will apply a greater shock loading.

There's also some instructions for making a squirrel hide string. I have a bit of rawhide here and I'll give it a try and pass on the results.

 

[jon r]

That sounds great! thanks Bent-Stick!!! :You_Rock_

 

[jon r]

so if i got some B-50, would i get the recomended amount of strands, fold them in half at the centre and make them into cordage? I havnt got a clue! Need help!

And then is the serving material wrapped round and round the b50 from end to end or just in the middle?

 

[bent-stick]

Patience, lad, patience

I did all the photos for a tutorial on Sunday. I'll be putting them together into the wee hours tonight...watch this space...

 

[jon r]

Thanks very much Bent-Stick! :You_Rock_

 

[leon-b]

If you don't have access to skin or sinew you can try gut (you can buy it from the butcher, he uses it for making sauages). It's really strong and longlasting. All you have to do is soak it overnight to get the salt out and twist about five lengths of it for a fifty pound bow (depends a bit on the quality of the gut). After twisting it, let it dry and it's done. A bowstring for the lazy bowyer...
Diederik

i have made cordage out of pig intestine and it is very strong
leon

 

[bent-stick]

OK here it is. It's big, just under 1Mb bit there are loads of pictures. I'm still working on the HTML version...

http://www.customarchery.net/docs/stringmaking.pdf

The main technique is twisting and crossing the strands and there's a movie of that here:

http://www.customarchery.net/docs/DSCN1088.MOV

Any questions give us a shout.

I've done all the pictures for putting on a serving but won't get around to putting them together until later in the week.

I'll also do some pictures of a rawhide string and a hemp string at some stage.

 

[jon r]

What a fantastic tutorial!!! Thats a great help!

 

[bent-stick]

A pleasure. Hope it works for you.

I've just realised I missed a step.

When you have finished the loop you'll find you have a reverse twist in the strands so while you are getting even tension in them get twist that out and put a forward twist to strands otherwise they will tend to undo the loop.

\i'll update the tutorial tomorrow night.