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Artificial sinew bowstring and thumb slap

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Vespusius:
Thanks on the info about nylon and polyester artificial sinew. I have several different types, none of them identify what they are made of, which makes it hard to know whether they would be good bowstring material or not. I wonder if there is a stretch test that would help separate the wheat from the chaff. I have ordered some B50, different colors.

I have just got to know what "pad the eyes out" means.

aaron:
Pad the eyes out:
if you use spectra/dynema/fast flight, your string will need less strands and therefore be thinner. Thin strings dig into bow tips, causing breakage. padding the loops means adding extra strands in the loops to thicken these parts.

Grasshopper Mouse:
Yup, aaron got the padding right.
Even if you use more stands making a high performance string the strands are thinner and the finished string is thin enough to warrant padding the eyes. A lot of string makers use B-50 or equivalent for the padding material.

As for telling the difference between nylon and polyester artificial sinew, you can do a burn test. The two materials smell different when they are burned. Of course, you'll need to have a control material that you know is nylon or polyester in order to tell what it smells like.

Guy

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