I've always shot flemish strings before and am thinking of giving endless loop a try. From what I've seen, it seems to be standard practice to twist them to adjust brace height and keep them round just like you would a flemish. How much adjustment can you typically get out of an endless loop by twisting it, and does the direction of twist matter?
Ideally, an endless string should have just enough twists so the string holds together as a unified whole and is not just a collection of individual strands. If there are more than two twists per inch, that is too much in my opinion. Others may differ. My experience is that the first 15-20 twists after the string is made don't seem to change the length very much, but after that 4 twists should make a noticeable difference in the length.
You want to twist it in the direction that twists will tighten the center serving. With the bow unstrung, twist the center serving in both directions. One direction will tighten it; the other direction will loosen it.
This is one I just made last night. I have written complete instructions for making endless strings, if anyone is interested.
Quote from: McDave on September 17, 2025, 09:14:17 AMIdeally, an endless string should have just enough twists so the string holds together as a unified whole and is not just a collection of individual strands. If there are more than two twists per inch, that is too much in my opinion. Others may differ. My experience is that the first 15-20 twists after the string is made don't seem to change the length very much, but after that 4 twists should make a noticeable difference in the length.
You want to twist it in the direction that twists will tighten the center serving. With the bow unstrung, twist the center serving in both directions. One direction will tighten it; the other direction will loosen it.
Thanks, McDave!
Quote from: McDave on September 17, 2025, 09:28:51 AMThis is one I just made last night. I have written complete instructions for making endless strings, if anyone is interested.
I'm interested in your written instructions.
Here is a .pdf of the instructions. Hope this works; I've never tried it before.
Edit: worked for me. Just click on the .pdf attachment below and the instructions should come up.
Quote from: McDave on September 18, 2025, 09:49:00 AMHere is a .pdf of the instructions. Hope this works; I've never tried it before.
That worked, thanks!
This shows how I modified my string stretcher to stretch strings that are longer than would fit on the stretcher directly. I could have just used a longer piece of unistrut, but you can see how it is already almost too long for my kitchen table. The string making jig, which is similar to the stretching jig shown and mounts on the same piece of unistrut, will make strings up to 66" without any modifications.