bow string
Hello,
Does anybody know how turkish bow strings are made?
What kind of materials are used in the past and present?
For european bows I use B50 string.
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Grtz Yuna12
Does anybody know how turkish bow strings are made?
What kind of materials are used in the past and present?
For european bows I use B50 string.
javascript:emoticon(':?')
Grtz Yuna12
see Adams book:
- silk or
- silk with lashes of leather or sinew
silk is more durable than one would think
8)
- silk or
- silk with lashes of leather or sinew
silk is more durable than one would think
8)
The silk used is unreeled filament silk. Do not bother with spun silk since it is not strong enough.
Because the endloops are separate, you can make them thicker if necessary to take the abrasion of the bow nocks. Extra weight at the ends of a bowstring has less effect on the arrow's speed than in the middle.
Silk is extremely slippery. This means that it is easy to stretch the core of the string to get the tension equalised in all the strands since they will slide around under the serving at the ends. Do this before you finalise the servings and put the bowstring on the bow. Silk also has a tendency to knot itself together and I think this is the major reason for the number of small serving sections all along the string found in most original Turkish bowstrings.
Because the endloops are separate, you can make them thicker if necessary to take the abrasion of the bow nocks. Extra weight at the ends of a bowstring has less effect on the arrow's speed than in the middle.
Silk is extremely slippery. This means that it is easy to stretch the core of the string to get the tension equalised in all the strands since they will slide around under the serving at the ends. Do this before you finalise the servings and put the bowstring on the bow. Silk also has a tendency to knot itself together and I think this is the major reason for the number of small serving sections all along the string found in most original Turkish bowstrings.
Making my one deer rawhide string makes me see the usefulness of the material. The knots do not move at all and are not so difficult to untie with a sewing bodkin. It is thick but not heavy. No need for serving; authentic.
Thank you very much for this precious information!Bede wrote:
The silk used is unreeled filament silk. Do not bother with spun silk since it is not strong enough. (...)
What do you recommend? Silk unreeled directly from cocoons? Or silk fibres in a combed sliver as available from handcraft supplies fro spinning?
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It is possible to buy the unwound cocoon silk already twisted into thread of the correct diameter. It is sometimes called buttonhole thread. Unless you have a lot of time and are a very killed person, I would not recommend making the thread from combed fibres.
You can also get thinner silk thread marketed for machine sewing. It is much thinner than the buttonhole silk and many more turns are needed to make a string. Old Turkish strings often have component silk thread of the diameter of the buttonhole silk. The machine sewing thread is good for binding arrows and serving. For the core of the string only use undyed silk or perhaps indigo dyed silk.
You can also get thinner silk thread marketed for machine sewing. It is much thinner than the buttonhole silk and many more turns are needed to make a string. Old Turkish strings often have component silk thread of the diameter of the buttonhole silk. The machine sewing thread is good for binding arrows and serving. For the core of the string only use undyed silk or perhaps indigo dyed silk.
Thank you for detailed clarification! I planned do do some tests for several natural materials for bowstring. Your advices are highly valuable.