Bowstring with or without twist?

kinkychinky

New member
A club member noticed that my bowstring does not have any twists in it.

Does it make a difference whether it is twisted or not?

I believe the bracing height is currently correct without twists and that adding some twists in the string with alter it slightly (increase it I believe).

What effects will altering the bracing height have on my shooting?

Is there an ideal bracing height or is this achieved through trial and error?

Many questions and many thanks to any answers you lot can offer.
 

joetapley

New member
Bowstrings are twisted for much the same reason ropes are braided. It spreads the load between the individual strands (imagine a no twist sting with one strand 0.5" shorter than the others) and makes the string act as a 'solid' unit.

Variations in bracing height (within reason) are pretty much irrelevant in my opinion as long as you are consistent with it each time you string the bow (others will have a different view). Corollary is that I don't believe there is an optimum bracing height, it's just an-other parameter. Make it too high and you will lose arrow speed, too low and the string starts thwaking the limbs or you can get a lot of limb vibration.
 

Armchair Archer

New member
joetapley - 13/5/2005 2:23 PMas long as you are consistent with it each time you string the bow .
One way i was shown how to do this is to pass the loops, at either end of the string, through each other then back again to lock them into each other, the string then stays twisted in your tackle box and you have consistency in bracing height, etc. Removes AN-Other paramater as joe so rightly puts it !!
 

joetapley

New member
One way i was shown how to do this is to pass the loops, at either end of the string, through each other then back again to lock them into each other
Yup that's what I do. Otherwise strings mysteriously seem to unwind themselves once the tackle box lid is down.
 

cecile

New member
The string needs indeed to be twisted.
Another reason to do so is that not twisted the string has no elasticity at all, which induce hard working for the limbs.
You may do at least 15 twists; normally it will not increase very much your brace height and strings and limbs will not worn sooner than expected.
 

Barry C

New member
How does an untwisted string wear out your limbs? I dont see how an untwisted string has less elasticity, just as has already been pointed out the shorter strands will be doing more of the work.
 

Armchair Archer

New member
As I understand it, the twists make the strands work together and spread the load evenly, the same way a rope works, this prevents any undue loading on seperate strands
 

Barry C

New member
I totally understand that armchair, but hoes does it become less elastic to the point where limb damage could occour. Without meaning to sound disrespectful, i find it quite hard to believe.
 

joetapley

New member
The more twists you put in a string the heavier it is per unit length and the more 'elastic' it becomes. Both will drop the bow energy efficiency. Moral - don't overdue the twists.
 

cecile

New member
Barry C - 18/5/2005 3:27 AM

I totally understand that armchair, but hoes does it become less elastic to the point where limb damage could occour. Without meaning to sound disrespectful, i find it quite hard to believe.
The succession of shocks (vibration) that will be received by the limbs will increase the wearing out.
The more stiff the string is the greater the shocks are. I'm sure you know that using a bow with improper tiller or misaligned limbs or bad string to grip distance (sorry, can remember the English name) will increase their wearing: limbs vibrates much more than with a well-set bow.
As for the stiffness of the string: compare a spring to a simple metal wire; which one is stiffer? It looks a little like the difference between twisted and not twisted strings.
 

kinkychinky

New member
Not sure where I heard it but is there a specific direction the twist need to be turned?

I read somewhere it needs to be in the same direction as the centre serving.

And on that note. What's the centre serving?
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
Yes you are right there, and the centre serving is the bit of the string with additional thread wrapped around it that your fingers go on, and the nocking point is on.
The distance between the handle and the string is known as the bracing hieght in English, or if it's a Longbow it can be known as the fistmele
Dan
 

cecile

New member
kinkychinky - 26/5/2005 9:13 AM

Not sure where I heard it but is there a specific direction the twist need to be turned?

I read somewhere it needs to be in the same direction as the centre serving.

And on that note. What's the centre serving?
I heard also that the twists may be done according the dexterity (left or right handed). I don't remember the rule, but from a logical point of view, I'd say turn to right if you are right-handed (with the bow placed as for shooting).
Anyway, I don't think this is important.
However, the thing concerning the twisting under the centre serving looks more interesting and appropriate to choose which way twisting the string.
 

Armchair Archer

New member
I think it's clockwise for right handed and counter-clockwise for left handed, but I could be wrong !!</p>

Tell you what, Chris, I'll ask the audience !</p>
 

Greyghost

New member
Hiya,
I took my bow to Tony at a shop to have my bow cranked up (I tried to reach 100yds for the first time and only hit by aiming about 5' over the target. So I raised and padded the platform on my tab and had my poundage increased by 10%). As I strung the bow, Tony saw that I was twisting the string the wrong way. From what I can gather, for a right hander, the string should be twisted anti clock wise and the opposite way round for a left hander. As was mentioned earlier, this is so it doesn't work against the serving.
Best wishes,
Steve
 

pitprops

New member
Greyghost - 27/5/2005 7:32 PM

Hiya,
I took my bow to Tony at a shop to have my bow cranked up (I tried to reach 100yds for the first time and only hit by aiming about 5' over the target. So I raised and padded the platform on my tab and had my poundage increased by 10%). As I strung the bow, Tony saw that I was twisting the string the wrong way. From what I can gather, for a right hander, the string should be twisted anti clock wise and the opposite way round for a left hander. As was mentioned earlier, this is so it doesn't work against the serving.
Best wishes,
Steve
Err, so from what you are saying, you can by left and right handed bowstrings? I think someone is "avin a larf"
 

Barry C

New member
I have made my own strings for 2 years and never even bothered to worry about twist direction. As long as your serving doesnt come undone, (in my opinion a mark of a poor quality string) then why imagine?a new problem. I think?it makes zero difference what direction the twists are as long as you make the string correctly.
 

Armchair Archer

New member
Greyghost - 27/5/2005 7:32 PM Hiya, I took my bow to Tony at a shop............. From what I can gather, for a right hander, the string should be twisted anti clock wise and the opposite way round for a left hander. As was mentioned earlier, this is so it doesn't work against the serving. Best wishes, Steve
</p>

Just looked at my bowstring and it would seem that greyghost was right and i was wrong, thats IF there is a right and wrong way and just to confuse the issue, i got my bow from a shop too, so that could just be their preference.</p>

Then again, Barry could be right and there might not be a right or wrong way !!!!</p>

Aarrrggghhhh - Anybody got any aspirin left from the arrow thread on the physics forum ?????</p>
 

joetapley

New member
Can't see any reason why direction ot twist makes any diference. What I would suggest is being consistent about the direction with all your strings. Makes adjusting bracing height simpler on bow setup as BH increase/decrease twist direction is always the same.
 
Top