Silk Flemish Twist String

[Deb]

Anybody know where to get them? Ol'Man?

[trad"Doc"53]

Where did you come up with this?

[Davik]

Check...

Anybody know where to get them? Ol'Man?

JAVI...he makes Flemish Twist Strings...

[Mike Javi Cooper]

JAVI...he makes Flemish Twist Strings...

no I don't

[Ol Man]

Deb,

Silk can be used but, it would be very expensive as the only silk I know of is a 3 ply thread.. and real silk gets too rich to make a string that would be thick enough be able to put an arrow on it. Have you seen someone building a silk string? I know some guys used silk as a serving years ago..

[widdler]

Deb Arvin aint got enough money to keep you in silk. Rememaber he made your shooting tab out of shoe leather.

[fletcherfor2]

I did a search when I saw this earlier and found some article (apparently) about making bow strings in some bygone era with raw green silk or with hemp.

http://www.archerylibrary.com/books/gallice/docs/chapter04-1.html

I thought it interesting what this long ago author had to say in regard to hemp. He could just as easily have been talking about people.

"The other material of which strings are made is hemp, and this is of two kinds, male and female. The male is thick and coarse, and consequently is worthless for bow strings. The female sort is good, but it must be carefully picked and very well chosen."...so true

And no Deb, I was unable to locate anyone currently making strings with silk, but i did locate some "how to's".

[Deb]

Its not for me, Widdler. My Ren Fest friends want to be as authentic as possible. The artifcial sinew strings they shoot are ok, I guess, but I read that the king's archers had strings of silk which were better than sinew. I wanted to find them some.

[Ol Man]

I think if they check the archery history archives linen and hemp strings were far more common. Although - the Turks and Mongols used silk strings.

[M-2]

The female sort is good, but it must be carefully picked and very well chosen."

[Deb]

I think if they check the archery history archives linen and hemp strings were far more common. Although - the Turks and Mongols used silk strings.

What would you suggest? What can we come up with that would satisfy their need for historical accuracy and my need for them to have equipment with which I can teach them to hit something? Thanks for y'all's support.

[Deb]

Great read, Dusty, thanks.

[fletcherfor2]

What would you suggest? What can we come up with that would satisfy their need for historical accuracy and my need for them to have equipment with which I can teach them to hit something? Thanks for y'all's support.

Got any "carefully selected and well chosen" female hemp laying around?

Martha could check with her English email friends who are with the Saint George...something or other (they put on English War Bow shoots in various locations in England as well as Agincourt in France), and see if they have a source for silk or hemp strings.

Also I saw some web site in the past by a guy in Oklahoma (OK City I think) who makes English war bows. We could try to re-find that.

Dusty

[Mike Javi Cooper]

Surely living in the Austin area you know of someone growing some select female hemp plants... tell them you'd like to have all the stalks...

[fletcherfor2]

Check these folks out Deb. Their arrows and quivers look pretty authentic. There's a contact link you can use and see what they are doing for strings.

http://www.naturalarcher.com/

Here's another, but they're using B50 for their strings.

http://www.greenmanlongbows.co.uk/