B55,D97, and Linen

[Selfbowman]

Pat I don’t buy into that method . I broke two bows the first flight shoot I attended. One the string broke and the other a knock broke . Both causing a basic dry fire. This was shooting light flight arrows. Thats part of flight shooting though. I would rather get 6 arrows off for a better chance to brake a record. 10-15 grains of extra string weight in most cases will not matter braking records. My effort is in the bow and a good arrow match. Arvin

[bassman]

It is what I had to test.  10 strands of linen could have very well have yielded the same velocities as D97. Nothing scientific about my test, and  at least I got a chance to shoot a linen string for the first time.

[Badger]

  Is there any chance you could weigh those strings?

[bassman]

 Badger about 2 months a go while making a 70 inch Elm bow I knocked my powder measuring scale that measured in grains off the table of my loading bench ,and broke It. Never got around yet to buy a digital scale. My brothers have them, but because of Covid  I can't get my hands on theirs. You, Mark, and Arvin, Bownarra, and others have way more experience than I on the subject of linen strings, so I will ask this question.....Have any of you  tied equal weight linen, and ff strings, and tested them for speed, and distance comparisons?

[Yooper Bowyer]

Wouldn't a sinew, rawhide, gut, or other natural fiber string also work in primitive class?

[pumarchery]

For Primitive string, i say hemp. It was used by the Flemish in past and medieval times, was gotten from Italy then in ye olde time. Also raw silk, the green stuff, which used to be grow in France. I never understood why people went to linen, i guess hemp just had a bad rep cuz of weed ? I imagine the raw green silk is hard to get or something. Anyway, if u can get either of those , u can make a historical Flemish string if u want. Apply not wax, but natural cherry gum, though tragacanth is recommended in the guide i have as good alternative. Using natural gum, it makes the string hard and stiff but flexible yet, like a violin string a bit. I have a guide for this, but it's all in Dutch so of limited use to most here, hopefully I translated well enough for this to be of use, for people wanting to make Traditional string like the old Flemish used to, much good string rolling to y'all!

[redhillwoods]

I've only ever used linen, served with silk or mercerized cotton. Years ago l did a basic stress test and found each cord to break at  just over 6 lbs. l make endless loop strings and just put one extra loop for insurance. So a #50 bow would have 10 cords. Never had one break yet as far as l know (about 100 strings).
Note: the weakness with linen is it's abrasion resistance ie. it frays easily. Serving at every contact point is crucial. Never used a modern string material so nothing to compare performance-wise

[Badger]

6 times bow weight is considered a minimum by most when using linen strings. For flight I go no lower than about 4 times bow weight and that doesn't usually last more than a few shots.

[Eric Garza]

6 times bow weight is considered a minimum by most when using linen strings. For flight I go no lower than about 4 times bow weight and that doesn't usually last more than a few shots.

Fascinating. I use linen exclusively for all of my shooting and hunting. I make my strings about 4x the draw weight of the bow and, in all my 20+ years of shooting, have only had one string failure. It broke in one of the loops. I make a mix of endless loop and twisted strings.

[Selfbowman]

Wouldn't a sinew, rawhide, gut, or other natural fiber string also work in primitive class?

yes but most use linen I guess cause it’s better fill in blank why . It boils down to strength, mass weight, and stretch.

[Marc St Louis]

The linen I have is pretty good quality.  A 340# string comes out at about 1/8" in diameter, couldn't tell you what it weighs though.  A 300# string is what I generally make for 50# to 60# bows, never had one break even with a high string tension bow

[bassman]

If anybody would know it would be a serious flight shooter like you, and the Badger.

[bassman]

I just ran a caliper on this bow string, and it is also 1/8 diameter, and does not look like it is going to break any time soon.

[Selfbowman]

I still have lots to learn believe me. Steves been at it a long time. Me 3 years. But that’s what I see there. Arvin

[PatM]

I just ran a caliper on this bow string, and it is also 1/8 diameter, and does not look like it is going to break any time soon.

 Do you remember where it came from?