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War bow string theory

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staveshaver:
 I have read that at the slightest hint of rain, English warbowmen would unbrace their bows and call it a day , if this is true could it be possible that the strings they used were gut? In a beef culture the material would be plentiful, and cheep.  it  is more than strong enough and it may explain why no strings were found on the mary rose .This is pure speculation.I am sure some of you can debunk this theory easily but it is a thought,  I am learning more since I found this forum than in my whole life . I have been a bowyer for half my life and made a lot of long bows but my next project will be a war bow.

triton:
only input I can offer at the moment is from personal experience as a butcher near 30 years ago.  lambs intestine was used for sausage skins, myself and another trainee had some fun in that shop, tug-o-war with lambs gut.  when it's soaked in hot water it resembles what it was like inside the animal, soft, pliable and very elastic radially but not longitudinally. If it was twisted (as it is between sausage links) and held taught between pegs, it would certainly be very stiff and strong.

nickf:
as far as I know the warbowstrings were usually made of linen, or hemp. You want to avoid anything elastic on those big bows, trust me. A non-prestretched b-50string will stretch enormously, and slapping the bowhand violently, even with a high brace. It could be the strings were treated with hideglue, or something else, though.

Nick

Marc St Louis:
A bit of testing was done by someone on PP and he found that linen strings actually gained in strength when they got wet

nick1346:

--- Quote from: Marc St Louis on May 02, 2009, 04:52:41 pm ---A bit of testing was done by someone on PP and he found that linen strings actually gained in strength when they got wet

--- End quote ---

Really? That is interesting, I'll have to look that up, any idea as to when it was posted?

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