String making (linen) doubt

[dantolin]

Hi all
I've been reading some time threads about making linen strings and home made wax. (I start to be bored of B50 )
And last week I've found some linen here! (Spain). It has a almost-white color, and specs. says that it's 10kgs (22lbs).
It has two strands. And it's around 4<5 mm in diameter.
For making strings out of it: should I consider the thread (with the two strands) as one strand? or may I separate the strands?
Thanks in advance for reading and your answers,
David

[PatM]

You can do whatever you want with it as long as you make it strong enough. I think bleached linen is a bit weaker.

[dantolin]

Thanks Pat. I take note of it.

[Badger]

    You would normally make your string at 6 times the draw weight of the bow. All the linen I have seen is almost exactly 1/2 of what they rate it at because of the way it is tested. 2 strand is too small and will require too many strands to make a string. I would say get a minimum of 6 strands. I use the 6-7 or 8 most of the time.

[Ardent]

Maybe break test a strand to see what the real-world tensile strength is? Tie one end to a rafter or something and tie a bucket to the other end, then add weight to the bucket until the thread fails.

[bownarra]

Maybe break test a strand to see what the real-world tensile strength is? Tie one end to a rafter or something and tie a bucket to the other end, then add weight to the bucket until the thread fails.

That will give you a reading of about 35% less than the actual breaking strength. you shouldn't tie it you should wrap it around something smooth.

[AndrewS]

@dantolin
you are from spain
look  for Hoogen or Gruschwitz (both a german factories) 18/3, 20/3, 20/6, 20/8 in shoemaker or upholsteery supplies (18/3 may be the best)
You can get this yarn waxed (pitched, gepitcht) and nonwaxed.
The waxed yarn is the better choice.
With 8 strands you can make a string for a 50lbs bow without problems.

[AndrewS]

The Numbers are a combination of weight and the number of  single Threads used for oneThread of the yarn - it is a bit silly and can havee different meanings: 18/ 3 means the yarn is made of three single threads and 18 meter weight 1 Gramm or it means three threads and a weighting of 3gramm...... and I don't know if it only the weight of unwaxed yarn ....

At Gruschwitz you can order the yarn but you have to order 10 coils of 250g at on time.....

[Badger]

Maybe break test a strand to see what the real-world tensile strength is? Tie one end to a rafter or something and tie a bucket to the other end, then add weight to the bucket until the thread fails.

That will give you a reading of about 35% less than the actual breaking strength. you shouldn't tie it you should wrap it around something smooth.

   Any roll of string I buy I will test several samples and then average them out. They are usually very close. As for the knot, it rarely if ever breaks at the knot so I know longer worry about wrapping instead of tying.

[dantolin]

Thanks all.
yes, I will test it (wrapping).
And I'm gonna take a look to that German yarn. Thanks AndrewS.
I'll let you know what the test reveals.

I can find also here some Spanish 6 strands linen thread, and maybe Spanish shoemaker/saddle maker hemp yarn too. I will test all and let you know.

Cheers,
David

[turmoiler]

Hi David,

how do you do? There are a spec of your linen that I don't understand very well, do you say that the string diameter is 4 to 5 mm? thats quite thick for a 10 kg string. By the way, can you tell me where did you find this linen? I would like to try it too. I also managed to get some linen, also bleached, it is made of 6 mini strands and is more or less 0'5 mm thick in diameter. I still have to test the strength of this string as it didn't have any spec when I bought it. I bought it in a hardware store that has the name of a wizard in its name. I'm sure that you know what place I am talking about.

BTW Badger says that the bow string must be 6 times stronger than the bow draw weight but I always thought that it should only be 4 times than the draw weight. Am I wrong?

greetings
Sergio

[dantolin]

Hola Sergio!
How much time without knowing about you, neighbor!!
Sorry, yes, the linen is 0.5mm (I doubt it is 0.5 so that's why I put 0.4 as a posibility), and it is the same that you bought at (LM?)  I think. Did you try it?
Yes, I use to do my strings 3 to 4 times draw weight too. (I have used linen from Switzerland given to me by Blaise Fontannaz in the ones that I made with natural materials)
Bye,
David

[Badger]

Hi David,

how do you do? There are a spec of your linen that I don't understand very well, do you say that the string diameter is 4 to 5 mm? thats quite thick for a 10 kg string. By the way, can you tell me where did you find this linen? I would like to try it too. I also managed to get some linen, also bleached, it is made of 6 mini strands and is more or less 0'5 mm thick in diameter. I still have to test the strength of this string as it didn't have any spec when I bought it. I bought it in a hardware store that has the name of a wizard in its name. I'm sure that you know what place I am talking about.

BTW Badger says that the bow string must be 6 times stronger than the bow draw weight but I always thought that it should only be 4 times than the draw weight. Am I wrong?

greetings
Sergio

  If you are using something like silk that stretches 4 times will work. Linen has almost no stretch so it is harder for the individual strands to equal out tension. I use 4 times for flight shooting and still break them all the time. The continuous loop string if done properly better evens out the tension of the strands and 4 times will also work pretty well there.

[dantolin]

Thanks Badger, good to know.

[turmoiler]

Hi David,

Yes, I have been out for a while because of health Issues. Now I am feeling a little better and I am trying to catch up on my hobbies.
Yes, we bought the same stuff from the same place. It is the best linen that I have found in that place. They used to sell polished and not bleached linen but it was quite rough and it had uneven thicknes. Despite this I made some strings with the old stuff that worked more or less ok but they wear out quite fast. This new stuff seems quite better. I'm going to do some strength tests and after this a bow string following badger's advice 5 or 6 times stronger than the bow. I'll post how it goes.

cheers
Sergio