Heavy bow strings

[duffontap]

I've never heard of the hide glue additive.  What's the source on that?

         J. D.

[sagitarius boemoru]

Chris Boyton wrote me that while ago. Such strings are more like wire, than anything else, they can only be bend in larger diameter curves. Also he wrote me that prior WW2 they used to shelac these strings so they be nice shiney and slick. I think that suchhide glue, used instead of wax must be very thin.

Anyway, wheels of my revenge are turning...oh what I m saying  I went into contact with Eco - center here in close vicinity, for a string making course and a bow for primitive skill display, they are going to supply me with raw hemp fibres over 2 meters long, worked by hand from plant, means without microfractures.
They also gave me a contact to Romenian factory, which works hemp in non cut form, means long fibres also over 2 meters long and I even found a tent maker here who buys a tent cloth from them regluary. He goes there at june 20th so I might be able to buy some raw fibre good for strings via him.
I m thinking about 10 pounds of raw fibre, that will set me for some experimentation.

They have agricultural advisor who indeed confirmed that hemp can be sown thick, with plants nearby to each other so its strives for light and grows very tall. They use double of ammount of seed per hectar for this method.

Stand by for updates.

Jaro

[duffontap]

Standing by with great interest. 

If the linen/hemp strings were treated with hide glue, that would explain why the archers at Crecy unstrung their bows in the rain wouldn't it?

          J. D. Duff

[sagitarius boemoru]

J.D. it becomes somehow sticky in water, but I tried to unglue some things I glued on musical instrument with hide glue and there was lots of vapour needed and in end I broke the wood off rather than having the joint coming loose.But I m not expert in these strings and save cooking glue I dont use it nearly as often.

With strings - they dont work when overdry, they wont work when soaked completelly either, but if the hide glue works instead of wax as we use it, would there be much diference if it just be sticky as hell?
(But no doubt the archers knew rain was not good for bows nor strings)

Jaro

[bruce wilcock]

starch is used to glaze thread has anyone used it on a bow string

[markinengland]

Jaro,
Mark Stretton told me that it makes a difference if the fibres are from the male or female hemp plant. He said that one is much stronger than the other. I am afraid I canot remember which one though. I hope he wasn't pulling my leg!
Mark in England

[sagitarius boemoru]

I might be able to try. I will know in august, when I get the material. Since they are going to process it for me by hand anyway it should be easy to separate the material from each other...


Jaro

[Yeomanbowman]

Jaro,
Mark Stretton told me that it makes a difference if the fibres are from the male or female hemp plant. He said that one is much stronger than the other. I am afraid I canot remember which one though. I hope he wasn't pulling my leg!
Mark in England

Mark, I think it's femail.

[SimonUK]

J.D. it becomes somehow sticky in water, but I tried to unglue some things I glued on musical instrument with hide glue and there was lots of vapour needed and in end I broke the wood off rather than having the joint coming loose.But I m not expert in these strings and save cooking glue I dont use it nearly as often.

With strings - they dont work when overdry, they wont work when soaked completelly either, but if the hide glue works instead of wax as we use it, would there be much diference if it just be sticky as hell?
(But no doubt the archers knew rain was not good for bows nor strings)

Jaro

Off thread, but if you need to unstick the hide glue in a musical instrument, you insert a hot knife into the joint.

[gpw]

Thicker strings may reduce cast, but are more comfortable to shoot and usually alot quieter...

"it's an ill string that breaketh a good bow"....

[Rod]

I had a spell of messing with flight arrows a good while back and got down from 12 strands of fastflight to only 4 strands in the quest for a few more yards.
I got the distance alright, but the longbow started sounding more like a violin than a cello when the string was plucked.
The main thing I learnt is that the best reason for a finger shooter settling on a number of threads in  string is to make it durable and comfortable to shoot without sacrificing cast un-necessarily.
Believe me, if you think your bow string is hard on the fingers, just try 4 strands of fast flight....

In a warbow, reliability and the ability to shoot rapidly but with some control over a period of time would seem to me to dictate string thickness, rather than other factors.

BTW I have a small bow with it's original string, probably somewhat dessicated by know after a century or so. It has the gluey finish which being dry tends to crack and the string having been too dry for too long is no longer reliable.

I also have some Roumanian garden string which sounds very like the long fibre that Jaro mentions. I have often thought that one of the issues with modern linen is that the fibres are too short.

Rod.