Figure 1: An endless-loop bowstring

Figure 2: A simple string-making jig

In part three of his series om bowstrings, Cleve Cheney explains how to make your own endless-loop string.

If you would like to experience the satisfaction of making your own bowstring, you can do so at not much cost. You will have to start off by making a string jig, and we will begin with a fairly basic and easy-to-construct jig. In a later article we will show you how to make an adjustable jig.
We will make an endless-loop bowstring, like that shown in Figure 1.

Step 1: Take a flat wooden plank and knock two six-inch (150 millimetre) nails into it. The distance between the nails will be the length of bowstring that you require. Saw or snip off the heads of the nails. Now knock two more nails in as shown and leave their heads on. These must be on a lower level than the first two nails, so that they do not get in your way later on.

Anchor the end of the string to the board with a drawing pin.

Loop the string around the shorter left-hand nail a few times and then around the longer nails, back and forth until you have the number of strands required – which will depend on the type of bowstring material you are using. See Figure 3. Wrap the end of the last strand of string around the right-hand shorter nail a few times. For clarity, the strands in the diagram are shown far apart. They should in actual fact be close together.

We must now tie the strings together with material called “serving”. Serving can be sinew, dental floss or commercial material.

Step 2: Leaving enough space for a loop, wrap the serving tightly around the strands for about 150 millimetres and then tie it off. This is the trickiest part of the whole process and we will try and illustrate how to do it in the accompanying drawings. Repeat on the opposite end and do a section in the middle as well. See Figure 4.

Step 3: Tying off the ends and doing the centre serving is the trickiest part of making a string. The process is illustrated in Figures 5-7.

You now have a functional bowstring. The size of the end loops will depend on the type of bow for which the string is intended. If it’s for a longbow or recurve, the end loops must be big enough to fit over the end nocks. For a compound bow, you will need a small loop to fit snugly over the mounting posts on the cams.

Making a Flemish string is somewhat more complicated and will be covered in the next article.