How I use a long string

[Hawkdancer]

Great info!  The hard part was learning how to floor tiller to get enough bend to even begin to use the long string!  And be patient with the tools!  Hopefully the lessons learned will carry through to the next bow!   This should help all the newbies both gain confidence, and stay a bit humble!  Steve, don't slow down too much!  Hope to see you at MoJam,
Hawkdancer

[Badger]

   Jawge, if you were to brace a bow using 10 inches of string movement starting with a short long string you would be at about 1/2 your draw weight or on a 50# bow about 50# too heavy. You cannot correlate draw weight to string movement or even limb tip movement.  it can only be correlated with its position on the draw length. 10" string movement would put you at target weight at about 14" draw.

[George Tsoukalas]

"10" string movement would put you at target weight at about 14" draw."
How did you come up with that?


Badger, obtaining draw weight at 10" of string movement puts me at around draw weight + 10#. Then I string it with the string. I should mention this is for a 26" draw. Values can be changed with a proportion if draw length is vastly different

A long time ago I took an unstrung finished bow and pulled it 10" with my  on my rope and pulley and checked weight. I got the weight of the  bow.

This method was just a guide for me to keep from trying to string too heavy a bow.

The reason I don't look at tip movement that in a finished bow my tips only move a few inches.

I should also mention that 10" of long string movement correlates to about brace height.

Jawge

[Badger]

  Jawge, you might have done it a long time ago but I do it about 100 times a year and 1 can tell you with 100% certainty that 10" of string movement is no where near target weight. I have been using this method for a long time on every single bow I build so I am not guessing or theorizing it is just the way it works. String movement has no relation to draw weight at all. 90% of a bow weight gain when you draw it is because you loose leverage as you pull the string back. You really have to go by the inches on your tiller tree yard stick to see where you are.

[George Tsoukalas]

Of course, I do it on my rope and pulley. Stretch it, measure down 10" and slowly bring the stave to draw weight and good movement  and then string it.
I've been using this method successfully for 25+ years.

All I am doing is bringing the stave to a manageable weight (10# over target) before stringing.

Jawge

[willie]

George

I have read your method many times and have scratched my head many times,  until you qualified your technique with.......

"I should also mention that 10" of long string movement correlates to about brace height."

[George Tsoukalas]

Sorry for the confusion, willie. Jawge

[willie]

No apology needed George.
I have found that there are many ways to tie on a longstring and some materiel's slip a bit more than others. That's why I look at tip movement relative to draw weight.

[DC]

Long string measurements have always confused me because the starting point changes depending on how long the string is. When people say 10" on the long string I was always confused because I didn't have a frame of reference to help me understand. Sometime back I drew a line across my backboard about 6" down from the shelf on my tree. Now whenever the tips of the bow cross that line I know it's at or about brace height and I can think about bracing it. So I use tip travel in a left handed sort of way.

[willie]

Don

So how much weight do you pull to get to that "lefty" 6"brace height, before you brace the bow with a short string?

I reduced a bow to bring the tips back 6" at 1/2 the full draw design poundage, before bracing. It did not leave much wood to play with.

[DC]

Draw weight which for me is 40#. Unless there is an obvious fault I pull to the full 40 every time it's on the tree. With an RD bow I can usually brace them as RD's are easier to brace. With a straight bow sometimes it's just too heavy and I have to use my bracing jig or more likely just wait a bit. I really haven't noticed a big difference whether I brace early or late as long as it's not too late. I was once working a flawless piece of yew on the long string and it was going so smoothly that I just lost track until I realised that I was at 27" and still on the long string. It turned out OK, just a little more elliptical than I wanted.