First flemish twist - spiderwire/dyneema

[Griff]

First bow string that i've ever made. I used spiderwire 60lbs. test dyneema fishing string. after finishing the second loop i noticed that the darker strand was shorter than the lighter strand. after twisting the sting overall several times it seemed to blend together alright. I also believe that i've made the sting a little too long for my bow. 54" recurve with a 52" string. It took too many twists to get the brace height up to an acceptable height. only the shorter sting broke after test firing 15-20 arrows. luckily the bow didn't explode on me the string just snapped and caused the bow to jump. I'm curious with the snap in my bowstring being just off center of the whole string was my issue in the fact that the string was too long and was twisted up a lot, or was it mainly that one strand was tighter than the other? Will be giving it another go soon and would appreciate constructive criticism.

[Chief RID]

That's a new one for me Griff. I only use B-50 Dacron so that tells my age and my performance category. I would thing if you used enough strands your fishing line string would work fine. just watch how it cuts into your bow nocks.

[sleek]

I use power pro which is a spectra based line. I use 8 strands of 50 pound test and have yet to break one after 5 years of use.

I should add that ire verse twist mine. I know nothing of flemish twist.

[bubby]

It looks like you have some cabling going on, i use d 97 and typically i start eight inches from the end and get enough twisted to form the loop and fold it over and get that wnd twisted till it gets back to two bundles and i put a twist tie on it, then i hand it from a nail and get the bundles nice and straight and wax them good, then i make the other loop trying not to over twist after the fold. Take the twist tie off and then twist the whole string about where i think it goes and lean into it good and rub the wax in nice and hot, keep the bundles straight and not twisted is the key to not getting cabling

[Griff]

First bow string that i've ever made. I used spiderwire 60lbs. test dyneema fishing string. after finishing the second loop i noticed that the darker strand was shorter than the lighter strand. after twisting the sting overall several times it seemed to blend together alright. I also believe that i've made the sting a little too long for my bow. 54" recurve with a 52" string. It took too many twists to get the brace height up to an acceptable height. only the shorter sting broke after test firing 15-20 arrows. luckily the bow didn't explode on me the string just snapped and caused the bow to jump. I'm curious with the snap in my bowstring being just off center of the whole string was my issue in the fact that the string was too long and was twisted up a lot, or was it mainly that one strand was tighter than the other? Will be giving it another go soon and would appreciate constructive criticism.

I can definitely see what you're talking about here. I was most certainly really trying to twist the individual strands quite a bit before crossing over each time.

[sleek]

Cabling. What is it and why is it bad?

[Griff]

Cabling. What is it and why is it bad?

looks as if cabling is bad because your string cant handle it and breaks. If I'm picking up what bubby is putting down then I'd guess cabling happens when you have twists in your string body that are much like what you would have in your loops. real tight and twisted over as well. the string that came with my bow had a definite difference in the string pattern from the loop ends to the main body of the string. I'm thinking bubby is saying that its acceptable to twist your overall string after you get your loops made but you don't want to twist the individual strands AND twist them together.

[osage outlaw]

Cabling is when your two bundles are twisted before you twist them together.  The entire string will look like the twists out of the loops.  I don't know if it hurts performance.  If you had one bundle shorter than the other when you twisted it up I'd guess that was your problem.


This string is smooth with no cabling.




This string has some cabling

[bubby]

Besides looking really crappy if one bundle has more twists than the other it makes that bundle shorter, putting more stress on one bundle and not both

[sleek]

Hmmmmm this is interesting. I suppose i cable all my strings because they all look like the bottom one. But, i reverse twist. Will that make a difference?

[osage outlaw]

You can reverse twist a string and still get them smooth like the first picture.  When you do your first loop you clamp it and untwist the loose bundles keeping count of how many twists you took out.  When you get them straight you keep going the same amount of twists to put some reverse twist into the bundles.  Now when as you twist up your other loop the reverse twists are taken out and you end up with a smooth bow string like in the first picture.  It's kind of hard to explain.  Hope that makes sense.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Cant give you hard numbers, but cabling and over twisting drastically reduces strength.

[Griff]

Cant give you hard numbers, but cabling and over twisting drastically reduces strength.

I believe it. I roughed out that 14 strands of 65lbs. test line should be adequate for my 50lbs. bow. but after I put all those twists into the body of the line it didn't last very long.  14 strands of 65lbs is a static load of 910lbs. I thought that this should be enough for the bow to function effectively. I will try again tomorrow and see if i can learn from ya'lls insight.

[Griff]

Big learning curve with these bowstrings.. believe i've got a passable one now.

[bubby]

That second pic clearly shows cabling, see how it looks like two vines growing around each other, keep at it you'll get it