Compound string making - sort of

Martin Heelis

Active member
Ironman
Hi

I made a stringer for my longbow last night. Since it involved making a string almost as long as the one on my compound I decided to try out using the string material to serve the end loops.

It turned out reasonably well except for uneven tension in the strands. What is the best way to even out the tension when making really long strings?

I had one set of posts in-line with the jig and the other at 90 degrees. When I went around the post on the in-line posts I stacked the strands up vertically - should they go on top of each other instead?

Cheers,

Martin
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Making a really long string has some advantages.Imagine for a moment that you have wound on twenty strands for a 40" cable or a 104" string.Imagine one strand is hanging loose by 5mm.If you left it and served, the longer string, once under bow tension, would stretch enough to bring the loose strand into the pack. The much shorter string would not stretch so much and the loose one would remain loose.
Having said that, an obviously loose strand, can be fixed as soon as it is noticed.
As far as strands going round a post; if you serve while the string is round a single post, the strands adopt a round section and there is not much serving at the beginning of the operation. A bit of tension at the early stage can pull the others into line.(most of the friction is created at the posts; just stretching adds friction as you try to pull the loose strands in.I find it helps to pull the two sides apart at different points along the string.( pull so the long narrow oval becomes more Kite shaped)
 

Martin Heelis

Active member
Ironman
Making a really long string has some advantages.Imagine for a moment that you have wound on twenty strands for a 40" cable or a 104" string.Imagine one strand is hanging loose by 5mm.If you left it and served, the longer string, once under bow tension, would stretch enough to bring the loose strand into the pack. The much shorter string would not stretch so much and the loose one would remain loose.
Having said that, an obviously loose strand, can be fixed as soon as it is noticed.
As far as strands going round a post; if you serve while the string is round a single post, the strands adopt a round section and there is not much serving at the beginning of the operation. A bit of tension at the early stage can pull the others into line.(most of the friction is created at the posts; just stretching adds friction as you try to pull the loose strands in.I find it helps to pull the two sides apart at different points along the string.( pull so the long narrow oval becomes more Kite shaped)
I'm not sure I quite understand. Are you using a jig with just 2 posts on it?
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Hi Martin, My string jig is a pretty standard four poster with Heelis extension for solo cam bow strings.Homemade from wood, apart from the metal posts.
However, I use it mainly as a two poster as I don't serve the end loops in the usual way. They are served with the tail ends of the actual string; still attached at one end. Using the single post at each end adds friction to hold the working ends in place so they don't end up loose compared to the others.Once one end is served that way, the opposite end is served with a separate piece of bow string. By that time the string's length is determined by the first end serving.
 
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