Strongest possible plant fiber for bowstring?

[Hartung]

Hi craftsman

I discovered your real great website some two weeks ago when I was in search for information on nettle cordage / nettle string.

I’m a hobby bowyer and would like to experiment with plant fibers as bowstring. Besides I’m of course also making arrows from shouts. I’m also producing my own rawhides and work with birch bark.

This weekend I made some trials with nettle fibers that I twisted according to the information given on this site: http://www.arthurhaines.com/reverse-wrap-cord.htm (Reverse-Wrap Method) and now have several questions.

1. Does anybody know if there is a plant fiber that is as strong or at least whose strength can be compared to a gut string? The fiber I made for bowstring was 3mm (1/8”) thick and broke after having applied a tension of 67#. That means that a nettle fiber string, twisted the above way is far less stronger than a gut string.

Broken string: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/Hartung/brockenfiber.jpg

I could get hemp fiber how about that? I don’t want to use linen because I could only get industrial produced linen which I don’t want.

2. Does anyone knows another methode of twisting fiber which makes very strong cordage / string? The author of the above website says that “This manner of splicing is probably the easiest method (though it is also one of the weakest ways; several other stronger methods also exist)“

Thanks for your help


PS: Is there a possibilty to post pics?

 

[Toddy]

I could get hemp fiber how about that? I don’t want to use linen because I could only get industrial produced linen which I don’t want.
QUOTE]

Hello, welcome to bcuk

Do you mean that you can only get commercially produced fibres or that you can only get already spun linen thread?

I find that hemp fibre is very, very good but that linen is better. It is strong, easily worked and lasts well even when wet. I know that historically linen strings were made for longbows.
Long line silk fibres are also available and have a long history in China, Korea and Japan, etc, as bow strings and for backing bows too.

I can buy all of these fibres here in the UK, but flax/linen is quite easy to grow and process at home if that is the root of your refusal to use it.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[JonnyP]

Hi Hartung............Sorry I can't help you with your questions, but I would just like to welcome you to the site, I am sure that your questions will be answered though.................Jon

 

[torjusg]

Of course you will have to splice and the more often you splice the stronger the cord. I made a string from nettle not long ago and it broke. It was very uniform, but obviously too thin. I guess removing the green matter between the fibres will increase the strength a lot, but also add a lot to off work.

Sinew is my preferred materials for bowstrings and fire-drill strings. It is stretchy (so is gut and rawhide) so the string don't have to be absolutely flawless. It also takes abrasion better than plant-fibres.

But obviously, beeing able to make a bowstring "on the fly" is something any wannabe primitive should know.

From what I understand (from books): Nettle is an extremely strong fibre and will always be stronger per weight than animal fibre. But since it is lacking in stretchiness it will have to be stronger to tolerate the momentary strain when the bow snaps home. On the other hand, animal fibre is heavier per strength. If both made flawlessly the conclusion should be that they are equally strong per mass, which is the determining factor in efficiency.

If you like thin strings I say the conclusion is that animal fibre is the best (unless you are very good at making bowstrings from plant fibre).

Instead of twisting strings, it is also possible to braid them. This may work well with sinew, which doesn't need the extra stretch offered by twisting the string. But with plant fibres this will make your string absolutely "dead" and will have to made thicker to make up for the loss of stretch.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[stovie]

Hi Hartung. Welcome to the forum that never ends......

Have you checked this article on growing your own bowstring by Dick Baugh. It might be the way forward

 

[shadow57]

Hello...

I had a go at growing my own bowstring from flax seeds last year :togo:

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?p=106321#post106321

and also experimented with nettles as well.

The results were that the linen thread was better than the nettle and that the poundage increased when the thread was waxed.

I read somewhere that it was better to harvest the flax just before it flowered.

It was good fun and learned a lot. eg There are 2 main crops of nettles per year

John

 

[8thsinner]

I hope this helps some in the nettle cord area.

The strongest way to make nettle cordage is in the technique.
Heres a few pointers and tips for the srtongest possible cord from natural fibres.

1) Do not make one strand cord.
2) Do not make just a three strand cord either.
3) Make three smaller three strand cords, then make these into a final strand.
4) Fibres on final strand when looked at closely should look parallel to big strand.
5) When finished making main strand longer than actual bow string length, Make up the smaller strands again about one and a half length of bow string as it stands now. Wrap these around the **** lines of your main strand in a way that they hold of their own accord, pay attention to the direction of making each of the individual strands, you don't want to make these threads the wrong way and have to start again.
6) After all of this splice the loops for the bow.
7) Finally braid over all of the threads with an eight strand round braid, this will shrink all of the previous fibres together offering more friction and thusly a hell of a lot more strength, You can use flattened fibre bundles for this last step as it offers more strength over all.

This is the toughest way to make bow strings or any cordage yourself but is not suited to things like reed mace etc.
It takes a very long time, but offers great improvements to any other method I have used, or ever seen.

If you don't believe me, try it for yourself.

Also you must use retted fibres, you certainly cannot use fresh fibres as they shrink and will break inside the cord.
As for linen, bought linen (irish linen only) is the best linen you are likely to find for bow strings.

Good luck and post pics when your done.



Edited to add
In this case the child safe protocals are restrictive of genuine uses of the word ****,
I add here a links to relevant sites giving details of such things.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82242
hit ctrl + F and search "rope"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/****#Other_meanings

Though I understand the restrictions, If we educated our children instead of hiding away from things what do we gain?

 

[Snufkin]

I think I read in TBB that nettle is the strongest natural fibre. If you are going to use it then follow the others advice on multiple strands.
Rawhide is a good primitive string material. Keep your eyes open for roadkilled squirrels as they provide a very tough, even thickness rawhide.

 

[Minotaur]

It must be possible, if for no other reason than bowstrings were made of fibre and not gut.

The problem would be down to processing, I would think. In a survival situation, gut would be the easy first choice, and fibre would be the long term solution.

I think a lot of traditional makers would take three stings with them and make the bow. I know when I find the time, I will get the skill to add a bowstring to my BOB, might not be able to take the bow anywhere, but a bit of string is a bit of string.

 

[torjusg]

It must be possible, if for no other reason than bowstrings were made of fibre and not gut.

The problem would be down to processing, I would think. In a survival situation, gut would be the easy first choice, and fibre would be the long term solution.

I think a lot of traditional makers would take three stings with them and make the bow. I know when I find the time, I will get the skill to add a bowstring to my BOB, might not be able to take the bow anywhere, but a bit of string is a bit of string.

To me it would be the opposite. Where do you get the gut in a survival situation? Your companion? Fibre tolerates less abrasion than animal materials and are thus less durable. I had a sinew string on a 65# bow I sold this summer. I have shot thousands of arrows with it and it is still just as good as it ever was. It's weight doesn't seem to be too hard on performance either.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Toddy]

I think you're forgetting something about the fibres though; it all really depends on how they are laid/ spun and plyed.
Gut, if properly cared for, is very good but properly made linen cordage is an amazing material. It's not all that hard to obtain either, and there are various other plants in the same family that will give cordage even from the dried winter 'skeletons'. The little garden border plant, lobellia, is very, very good, as is the weedy field flax. While you won't get the very long individual fibres of the cultivated flax from them you will get flax fibres, and if properly spun an excellent cord.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Hartung]

First of all, let my say thank you to all of you for your warm welcome as well as for all your great advice.

Special thanks to 8th sinner for that very detailed description. I’ll try that latter on during the winter.

I finally decided to make some trials (only trials) with hemp and must admit that it is very tough stuff. The string is made out of four strands, double twisted. Every strand is waxed. I later changed the waxing mixture from only beeswax to a mixture of 25% of salad-oil and 75% of beeswax. That mixture is less brittle than beewax.

Here are my first four strands.

And here is a finished pic of the finished hemp string (left) that was used for testing.

Right to the match is a gut string for thickness comparison. I extensively tested the hemp string with a bowscale and pulled it 90 times to 90-100#. The string stopped streching after having been pulled 10 times to 90-100#. It stretched for some 3%. By the way, the gut string didn’t stretch at all.

The loop I made for testing was similar to a Flemish twist.

No problem with that one either. But I think that making a string like 8thsinner said would be a better choice – and much more work ;-).

I perhaps should get the TBB 2 to see how the work with the nettle fiber.