Tradhunter - Traditional Archery Bow Hunting Forums

Another mistake that is common is to do the serving backwards.
In the case with the string in this demonstration you should start at the right and work to the left serving tool passing over the string and away from you.
The reason for this, as the string breaks in and it gets more twists, the serving will get tighter and not separate.
If the serving is done in the opposite direction, as the string gets twisted up, the serving gets looser and will start to separate, especially at the nock point.
Hope this has been understandable and possibly helpful to someone.
Twist 'em up and happy shooting.

.......GRAPS......wow..... I'm gonna try that tonight or tomorrow and post the results.... I see a revamp in Flemish Dave's business.. I guess sometimes you don't know what you don't know... I need to make a string for Jose to put on my new bow anyway.

Thanks for the info Graps! not only about back splicing but also about counter twisting the string to avoid cabling. I have received aa few cabled strings, just didn't know what to call it or what it was cause by. Does cabling affect anything negatively aside from nock fit?

Cabling for the most part just looks like someone didn't know what they are doing.
As far as nock fit, that can change on you as the string is twisted . Because you have an out of round condition.
One way the nock might fall off and just a quarter turn the nock can be way too tight.

Very nice Dale! That makes it very clear.

One more thing that I think is important is pre stretching. Some of the top string makers pre stretch to as much as 300 lbs for 20 minutes or more.
It's not to big of a deal for a do it yourself string. But for production or custom strings that should be made to AMO standards, the string should be 3" less than the bow length (AMO). Some will say 4" inch less for Recurve and 3" for Longbow.
So a 66" bow (AMO) should take a 66" string (AMO) which should be measured at the industry standard (AMO) of 100lbs of tension for a actual string length of 63".

Of course with the Flemish we have a bit of adjustment. Another thing we all may know is not every bow is actually made to AMO standards.

The Bowyer has a bit more to deal with to stay within the "standards". Master strings (actually cable) as they talk about in the AMO Booklet. When the bow is braced proper with the master string a 66" bow (AMO) should take a 66" string (AMO) which has actual length of 63". A 66" bow (AMO) does not mean the bow is 66" long. It means that the bow will meet the AMO standards for a bow that will brace proper using a 66" AMO standard string.

Wow. I hope I got all that right. Please correct me if I did not.
Provided I got that all correct I know a lot of you know it already, but we do have some here on Tradhunter new to Tradition Archery.

I never liked AMO measurement, why use an arbitrary figure for for something so simple? one top of that not everyone uses it and not everyone measures their bows the same way. I wish they would just go by actual string length and forget the amo deal altogether. jmho

That's what I tend to do, make the bow to take the AMO string length. That''s what I got out of the standards when I read them.
The key words being the "Master String" which is actually cable they say.
I try to cut my string grooves to where my string for that size bow braces the bow close to where it works best.

One other thing I forgot to mention in my last post.
We have lots of new string materials now since the intro of Fastflight that do not stretch as much as the Dacrons.
Some move a bit more than others, most of them very little. What ever the material a guy should be able to count on the string being the proper length out of the packaging.
I recall back to a Flemish String (Dacron) I bought from another Bowyer in my area some time back. I put the string on the bow. It started out very close to my brace height. Then I could actually see the brace height shrink before my eyes. The next thing I new the bow was straight again. That's why to me the 100lb of tension is important when measuring for proper length of a finished string.
I was told it was Rick Barbee who pre stretched everything he made at 300lbs. I could have been told wrong though.

Don't get me wrong, amo could work if everyone was on the same page, but with different materials, different ways of making strings, and different bow designs it just seems to me like it adds a confusing element into the equation that does not need to be there. I think every bowyer should say what brace height their bows tend to work well with and suggest a string length to reach that brace. In my limited experience with bowyers this is how it has worked so far.

I think it also depends on how heavy your arrows are, diffent gpp of arrows need different braces

I have not had the pleasure of shooting a rick barbee string ( I have heard he makes a fine one) but I have tried a few different string makers, for flemish I have a couple favorites; both pre stretch their strings with 200 pound weights, I assume 300 pounds would only be better. those strings made of bcy x stretched barely any if at all, probably the only real stretch was actually me messing up the twist of the string while removing it.

Thanks for adding that Tom.

First attempts