Bowstrings: Buying vs Making

jakefd

New Member
I have been contemplating building my own bowstrings.

I wanted to know if anyone knows if there are any differences between making your own and what bowstring companies do that makes their strings better if any.

Every company clams not stretch and no peep rotation. Are they doing anything special to the strings? Or does the string material and stretching during building insure the no changes in the string.

Thanks
Jake
 

C Cape

Senior Member
There is a definite learning curve to building a good set. You may make 10-15 sets before you get it down to making a decent set. If you just want to make sets for yourself I don't think it's worth it personally for what you will have to spend on equipment and material. I had a string company for a little over a year until it got to where we were so busy that we couldn't keep up and either had to step up with adding workers or cut back so we decided to stop all together.
 

p&y finally

Senior Member
I used to make mine but now you can get an excellent set of string/cables around 50-75.00
Maybe I got lazy but its well worth it to me to let somebody else do it.
I have a buddy who made strings to sell at one time and he had a jig w/ a scale. He put them under 200# of pressure to pre-stretch them
 

jakeeib

Senior Member
I have been contemplating building my own bowstrings.

I wanted to know if anyone knows if there are any differences between making your own and what bowstring companies do that makes their strings better if any.

Every company clams not stretch and no peep rotation. Are they doing anything special to the strings? Or does the string material and stretching during building insure the no changes in the string.

Thanks
Jake

It is all the above. The string material we use today is incredible. Technique is a huge part of it also. The layout, the stretch time and tension, serving tech and tension and so on.
I have been building strings for years and still have sets I throw away because something didnt go right and I wont ship it to a customer.
 

dgmeadows

Senior Member
It is not difficult, and you can set up a functional jig without spending a huge amount of money. As noted above, there is a learning curve to it. On the other hand if you do not need to make multiple sets a year it is probably not worth the time and money spent. I still make my own, but I have multiple tournament bows and multiple hunting bows, and for a while at least my kids were shooting too. I bought the jig off ArcheryTalk, got Unistrut at Fastenal, and 300# porch swing spring from hardware store to use as a stretcher. If you decide to get into it, I recommend buying the video from Little Jon Archery products (username Deezlin on ArcheryTalk.). His jig is one of the best made, too, but pricey.
 

klemsontigers7

Senior Member
You just really can't build them for what you can buy them for if you're only building a few.

Now, if you're looking to get into the business of making them, I would suggest trying to learn from someone. There are many string makers who make an excellent string for $60.

I think if you tried to start making your own, just for you, you would be upside down by the time you got a great set built.... but hey, prove us wrong.
 
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