Waxed Linen string question.

[Prarie Bowyer]

So I live a little past the middle of nowhere.  Everything has to be shipped to me (even wood sometimes).  I see that some people use waxed linen as string.  I'm working on an ELB and thought to myself . . . "Self, a white, cream colored string would make this, and linen would give that historical feel".  Now I usually prefer the B50 or higher grades but I don't need anything else so I hate to buy one spool and pay the shipping (darn my economics training!).  Then I'm walking along Walmart looking for something to fix a broken toy with and I see in the craft section small spools of "waxed linen string" for pretty reasonable ($2.00 for enough to make one string).

Is all waxed linen string the same or are there specific types that I should look at. 

Also the bow is a bamboo backed "Lyptus" wood.  I'm starting to like this wood.  It's light weight but pretty rigid.  I'm at 68# at 29 with the loose string.  My aim is to go as heavy as I can.  It looks like with a little more bending and a bit of twist removal I'll be able to launch arrow shaped satelites from my back yard.

[bubby]

if your at 29" on the long string ya better get it to about a 4" brace, that long string will lie to ya, I always try to get on the short string as soon as I can, Bub

[Prarie Bowyer]

So what about the linen string?

[Buckeye Guy]

Hang a piece of that string on your tiller tree and see how much weight it takes to break it! then you'll have an idea how many strings you'll need to use for your bow string be sure to give your self a good margin for safety!
Guy

[Matt S.]

I don't know about the waxed linen string from Wal-Mart, but I got a spool of Irish waxed linen from pyrosupplies (I'm not sure if I can link to them, but you can search the web and find their site). The spool wasn't cheap at around $50 with shipping, but from that spool I have made 20-30 strings and I still have anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 of the spool left. The linen is relatively strong and has virtually ZERO stretch, but it does weight about TWICE as much as B50. I have a hard time getting a string under 175 grains.

I'd say buy some of that Wal-Mart string and test it out. let us know what you find!

[frankg]

I asked a similar question about Barbours Irish Linen stitching cord for strings and seems nobody knew . The #5 stitching cord is less than 1/16" diameter and very strong , used in saddle ,harness and shoe repair . I went ahead and made a twisted type string ending with eight strands for a 50# bow . Hasnt broke so far 

I took four strands and waxed real thorough with beeswax and tied them to a cord on porch rail and tied other end in a loop. I took a little cup hook and put it in my hand drill hooking the strands loop. I then stretched the strands out taught and run drill till the srands wound up to point when I relaxed tention the strands wanted to kink up on themselves. At this point I took the looped end and tied it to the cord on the rail and stretched the string back out hooking the resulting loop where doubled over on cup hook in drill and put drill in reverse direction running until string wanted to kink up when I relaxed the tention . At this point I waxed it down again and burnished it with a brown grocery sack piece . Seems to be holding up good and as was said virtually no stretch !

[Prarie Bowyer]

It may not matter.  Looks like I got a bit of those hairline cracks in the belly.  It's right by the handle bump (ELB) so I cut it off planed it down and moved it a bit.  I'll either pike the bow or ofset the handle.   I'm going to try and save it.  Making the string tonight.

[markinengland]

Prarie Bowyer,
Linen waxed or unwaxed should be good for a string as long as the bow string is made strong enough.
Usually the linen will have a code like 18/3. The first number is how many yards are needed to weigh an ounce (I think) so the higher then number the thinner the thread. The second number if how many threads are twisted together. Linen is stronger when it is slightly moist and is weaker when it is dry so may not work as well in very dry climates. Waxing can help keep the moisture in (as opposed to some materails where you need to keep the moisture out).
When testing the breaking strain you need to avoid point stressing it at a knot or sharp edge. This will give false poor results. I have found it a good idea to slightly build up the ends of the string around loop/knots to help prevent breakage there for similar point stress reasons.
A few small chrysals are not too much of a problem. The bow will probably still shoot fine for quite a while. They point to the bow being too stressed overall, or too stressed locally. Shortening the bow may add to rather than reduce this. Reducing the poundage would help. Put a shorted string on at brace height and you may need to reduce the middle of the bow and mid limbs as it may be a bit whip tillered.
Good luck.
Mark in England

[Prarie Bowyer]

A single thread of the walmart stuff is three strands of raw wound togeather.  It is not waxed IMO.  I could easily snap it by pulling on a singe thread.  I returned it all.  It's mute anyway becasue the bow broke on the tillering tree.  I'll finish up attempting with that wood and then I"ll never buy it again.

[PEARL DRUMS]

68# @ 29" on a long string is a bad thing, probably contributed to the break in my opinion.

[toomanyknots]

Matt, how many strands you think it would take of the stuff you got to make a 50# - 60# bow string? The linen that I use now takes about 8 to 12 strands. And 8 will make a nice thin string. Was the stuff you got real thick? I have been wanting to purchase some linen from them lately. I was thinking of getting the 70# 7 strand irish stuff, but I didn't wanna get stuff that was too thick, I would rather get a thinner strand and wax each strand myself. I'm sittin here thinkin, maybe it's 70# breakin strength because it's a freakin rope, . I have also been using linen for a while, but not very strong stuff. I believe it is 4 strand. I have not noticed a significant weight change from b50 to linen, and for me I usually have to double up my b50 strings just to get rid of the stretch. So my b50 strings come out thicker than my linen strings, and either way the linen will still shoot better, whether it is heavier or not. To test breaking strength I wrap around the linen until it is snug, not tie knots, as they will just break as Mark has pointed out, but just wrap around over and over until it is snug, and then wrap the other one around a bunch of times to something like a fence or something round, and then test it.