Making a new bow string

A little fraying near centre serving; black part is 2mm across

I noticed recently that my current bow string was beginning to look a little worn near the centre serving. For non-archery folks, that's the middle of the string which is strengthened for clicking the arrow on and because that's where your fngers go to draw the bow ready to shoot. Apart from my making a learner's sample piece of bowstring by the Flemish Twist method at a workshop, Toad has done all our string making so far. I decided it was time to learn the process properly for myself.

<< Flemish Twist end loop

Initially I made a white string with waxed Dyneema thread. Toad thought its slight tackiness would be easier to work with, at least to begin with. Unfortunately, following the usual 'rules' for working out string length didn't work so it ended up too short for my bow, Biddy (Black Douglas by Border Bows>>"BD">>Biddy). However, I made it well and it will do for another bow.

Doing a yellow end serving on the white Dyneema string

When Toad made his recommendation, he was perhaps forgetting that I'm used to doing fiddly things with thread. In any case, I decided my second attempt would use "Angel Majesty" thread, which is coated with resin instead of wax. I preferred the feel of it when working and didn't find it difficult. I decided to stick with yellow end servings.

I like the way they show up and make it easy to see if they are sitting in the limb tip grooves properly. One checks by feel as well, of course.

This is what the red string looks like on Biddy. The wee bit of chamois leather is to rub over the string to make sure all is even. The centre serving and nocking point for the arrow are still to be done at this stage but the bracing height (distance between the bow grip and the string) is within the recommended range. Border Bows, with these extra-recurved limbs, have lower bracing heights than standard recurves. The red is right too – looks good and makes a nice note when twanged, an F#, I think.