Bowstrings-The Overlooked Necessity

Probably one of the most overlooked elements of primitive archery is the bowstring.  Yet, without a bowstring your bending stick is pretty much useless.  Now days many people use synthetic materials that are lighter weight and faster. 

I've done a fair bit of research on what was historically used and there is a wide variety of materials you can use.  Everything from squirrel hide and cat gut to cannabis fibers and silk.  What you're looking for is high tensile strength, low weight, and little to no stretch in the string.  When these factors are ideal the most amount of energy is transferred from the bow to the arrow.

When making strings I have to also consider what is available to me personally.  Do I want to take an animals life for it?  I don't especially enjoy killing animals so I try to get around it if I can.  In this latest case I didn't even have to kill a plant. 

I found a rather large agave plant and took one lower leaf.  Using my bare hands I processed the fibers out and got rid of the plant flesh.  I was left with a large mess of nice white fibers.  They were real nice!  I took a few and started reverse wrapping a thin string.  I just kept going until the fibers were gone.  I made sure I kept the diameter of the string constant down the whole length.  This is extremely important.  Once that was done I found the middle of the string and with a few extra strands did a Flemish twist which forms a loop at one end.  From there I reverse wrapped it down the length of the string.  My string ended up being way too long... oh well!  I tied off the end so it wouldn't unravel.  I tied a double Turkish loop to the Flemish twist.  This is so there is minimal wear and tear to the string itself.  with the string tied to the bottom limb I braced the bow and it was ready do go!  I had to adjust the brace height after the first brace as the string did stretch some but is no longer stretching.

Overall, I think this is a really good string.  It's funny how valuable something like this is when you take every step and make it yourself.  To anyone else this is just a string and they will never know my archery equipment like I do.  It's insanely personal, knowing every wave of the grain in the bow, the effort that went into each arrow, and how many times the creators thumb cramped up when making the string.  This truly belongs to me in every sense of possession.  A wise man once said, "You've got to possess your possessions." - Peter Lord