Bowstring material question,?

Question

On a very light draw weight cable cam bow what would be a good material for a temporary bowstring?

Answer 1

Horsehair breaks at 15 pounds.
Cotton breaks at 18 pounds.
Catgut breaks at 20 pounds.
Silk breaks at 22 pounds.
Irish linen breaks at 28 pounds.
Chinese grass fiber breaks at 32 pounds.

Use Irish linen or shoemakers' thread. It is Barbour's Number 12. Each thread will stand a strain of six pounds; a bowstring of fifty strands will withstand a pull weight of 300 pounds.

If you want to test some material to see if it will work, suspend a weight starting at 5 lbs then add at 1 pound increments until it breaks, then go down 1 lb. That is a good estimate of how many pounds a strand can withstand. Then just add strands together until you have the desired strength. Add extra strands to account for accidental breaks and to avoid injury. When you are designing things that need a safety factor, the typical ratio is 3 to 1. Which means if you want a pull of 50lbs actually put enough strands to equal 150lbs. thats a 3 to 1 safety factor.

At the nock, take dental floss and tie it into the strands and wrap it around and around until it looks like a factory string. Use a needle at the end to push (sew) the loose end back up under the dental floss, then cut off any extra and needle.

Good luck and make sure you take every safety precaution, no guarantee, "dont try this at home", ask an adult, get an expert to help, wear proper safety gear, this can be dangerous.

Answer 2

any thing of the right thickness that doesn't stretch a lot. pre-stretch it.