Hazel longbow, 100# @ 28"

[Hawkdancer]

Paracord is actually parachute cord, it is stretchy to absorb the shock of a 200 # plus jumper and his/her equipment at the opening of the parachute.  Really great stuff!  For trivia, the standard US military chute has 26 suspension lines, each 550# test, cargo chutes many more.  You might try a couple strands of lawn mower pull cord, it does' stretch so much, but I haven't the experience to do more than throw out an idea.
Hawkdancer

[FilipT]

You might try a couple strands of lawn mower pull cord, it does' stretch so much, but I haven't the experience to do more than throw out an idea.
Hawkdancer

Have tried that, didn't work much. Comes already as a rope and has a stretch but doesn't break.

[FilipT]

Keep it simple.  Get rid of all the tricks and the rings and the belts etc.

You're just making a bow.

Make one string that has a bowyers knot at one end, so you can set the right length.  Make another string to use as a stringer.  Brace the bow high enough that the tips aren't pulling the string apart, but are being pulled downwards.  I personally always go to full brace height immediately, but that's up to you.  The lower the brace height, the more the string will want to stretch.

We're talking primitive weapons here.  Always have that in mind and you'll be fine.

I did went for a full brace height, but something is not right, string just settled against the belly. Luckily I finally can brace the bow and as I soon my paypal activates I am buying FF spool.

[WillS]

Are you pre-stretching your string?  They all have stretch in them, it has to be removed by pre-stretching once the string has been finished. 

Can you post some pics of the string you've just made?

[FilipT]

I will post pictures tomorrow. Also, I think I realized for real this time what is wrong with string. It's a bit about material but mostly about my technique. I made stupid mistake while making it. Lets just say that I didn't twist properly and these twists don't function properly.

Not sure if it's smart to untwist the whole thing and start over, might be a bit hard to separate bundles.

[DC]

I take them apart and redo them all the time. Take as much of the old twist out as you can. Once you've made a few strings you start to understand what's going on in there and you can second guess stuff.

[Strichev]

Do you think it would be possible to get in contact with those Chinese UHMWPE spectra fishing braid manufacturers and order just a monofilament string? They have to braid it, but they could just take it off the production line before braiding and just ship it out. I guess it would have to be a large order for them to bother doing that but still... it would probably be way cheaper than "archery" fast flight. It's the same material.

[FilipT]

I found 35$, 2700 feet FF string on ebay. Brand is Brownell and seller is from USA. I'll order this, as I don't care about fishing braid and I don't ever intend to buy it again. That stuff is so hard to work with as its so slick and dry that it doesn't really make sense using it, except if it's your only way (like mine was).

[Strichev]

Dunno, I didn't find it that hard to work with the braid, just wax it liberally. But yeah, being super cheap about things ain't good. Then again, 1000 m braid is cheaper than 900 m fast-flight - and it's way thicker. So, you could get 3000 m for the same price as that proper FF.

 I'll probably also order a proper FF spool. If you ever find good linen or hemp for making strings, do send me a PM.

[WillS]

Suitable linen isn't hard to find (just search for Barbour 18/3 and try and get the original Irish stuff, but the new EU made Barbour is fine too) but hemp.... Urgh.  I've been stripping down hemp plants for weeks now to make strings and it's a very unpleasant job.  Absolutely the best natural fibre for strings though, no question.  You can get it from Japan or India in full length fibres if you're rich, or do it the long slow way - either method you can make glued hemp strings incredibly thin that will be safe in the heaviest bows you could ever imagine.

Linen works best I've found as a full reverse twist string with 3 plies - imagine you're twisting up the loop of a normal string, and just keep doing the same thing for the full length. 

[Strichev]

Thank Will, I'll look into that. I'd really like a natural string on a bow for once.

[JNystrom]

Linen works best I've found as a full reverse twist string with 3 plies - imagine you're twisting up the loop of a normal string, and just keep doing the same thing for the full length.

Why full twist? I remember you have made linen strings for 130 pound bows at least, is that the highest?
I've always made the normal flemish.

[WillS]

It just helps remove the inconsistencies with unknown fibres.  I wasn't impressed with the breaking strain tests, so full reverse twist locks the short fibres in much better.  That string was still only about 3mm which is a good size for general shooting. 

You can definitely make them without reverse twisting the whole string, but you'd need very good quality linen thread in order to do it, or treat it like the hemp strings and glue instead of wax them.  I know it's been done at 180lb without reverse twisting.

[FilipT]

Will, is this Barbour 18/3 you are talking about or that "EU made" as you put it? Can you do it two plys flemish? What is the breaking strength of each strand?

[WillS]

It's all 18/3 Barbour, but it used to be made in Ireland before the company shut down.  It's now made in the EU somewhere.  There's still the original spools out there but they're not always stored correctly, and can be very weak and brittle.

You can do 2 ply Flemish but it won't be very strong.  It can get quite complicated, but essentially you need to make sure you have a maximum of 7 individual strands per bundle.  Depending on breaking strain you then need to calculate how many bundles you need.  3 ply is far stronger than 2 ply, even with the same number of strands.  For instance, if you decide you need 21 strands, you must make the string with 3 plies of 7 strands.

With modern string materials you can just bunch up as many strands as you want, but with natural fibre strings you have to be much more careful.