Everyone interested in making their own bow should be capable of making a string for it as well. Making strings is one of the simplest tasks there is associated with archery and can make or break a bow. There are basically two types of modern strings, the “Flemish Twist” and the “Endless Loop”. The Flemish is my favorite and is easy to make and adjust if needed. I basically use two types of materials for crafting bow strings, Dacron B-50 and “Fast Flite”. Dacron is very common and comes in many colors. It can be shot with any bow regardless of design. Fast Flite material is a synthetic low stretch material. If you’re going to use Fast Flite I would suggest the use of a tip overlay on your bow. Some older as well as newer bows are not compatible with this material because of its “no stretch” characteristics. I keep it simple and make 2 ply strings of either material. The chart below will give an indication of the strands needed for your bows weight. To calculate the length of the strands needed use the following formula: The length of the bow minus 3” (4” for recurve) plus 16”.
|
Bow Weight |
Strands of B50 Dacron |
|
20 – 30 |
8 |
|
25 - 35 |
10 |
|
35 - 45 |
12 |
|
45 - 55 |
14 |
|
55 - 80 |
16 |
You will need the following supplies to make your own bowstrings:
|
1) |
Spool(s) of either Dacron B-50 or Fast Flite material |
|
2) |
Bees wax |
|
3) |
Razor knife or scissors |
|
4) |
Measuring tape (optional) |
|
5) |
String serving material |
|
6) |
Serving tool (little spinner) |
Cut your strands to length and divide them into two equal bundles. Taper the ends by snipping or cutting the ends of the individual strings different lengths and wax them heavily with bees wax for the first 10” or so. Do all four ends the same way.
On single color strings I add an 8” piece of different colored material to the last bit of the bundle so when the loop is twisted you can tell which bundle to lay on which. This only needed on one of the bundles.
Begin by twisting each bundle a bit just to tighten things up. Hold both bundles in your left hand about 6” or 7” from the end and twist each bundle towards your body.
Begin the loop by twisting a bundle towards your body and wrapping that bundle away from your body over the other bundle. Continue with the other bundle by twisting towards you and laying away from you over the other. Continue this until you have about 2” reverse twisted up.
In order to make the loop bring the loose ends around and lay them in with the rest of the string and twist them once again toward your body. Lay the bundle with the colored indicator to the corresponding bundle and meld them together.
To do the other loop measure up from the loop you just made along the bundles to get a length approx 2 ˝” to 3” shorter than your bow’s AMO length. Move your hand back an inch or so and begin twisting the bundles as before…twist toward lay away until you have about 2” twisted as before. Now lay the bundles together and meld as before and complete twisting the loop out past the splice.
IMPORTANT: This is where a lot of folks get confused. Hold a loop in each hand…now look and see which direction the string should be twisted to tighten. Follow the same twist direction you did on the melded bundles.
Twist the string 20 or 30 times and hang one loop on a nail or secure it by some fashion. Take your bees wax and heavily coat the string from tip to tip. Now take a scrap piece of leather and vigorously rub back and fourth along the length of the string to make the wax melt into the string by friction. Check the length against your bow to make sure it’s the correct length and brace the bow. If you chose B-50 the string will stretch like crazy for a while. Just keep twisting to shorten or hang a heavy weight on it over night (car battery). If you used Fast Flite is should stretch very little. Now go and shoot your bow a few times to get all the stretch out before serving.
Take care.. Sparky
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