Archery guys......do you make your own strings?

Livesintrees

5 year old buck +
Just curious to see who here builds there own strings/cables. And a couple other questions.
1.) what jig are you using?
2.) what serving tool do you use?
3.) what product would you improve on?
4.) if you don’t build you own....what’s stopping you

Odd questions and topic I know. I’ve been building my own for 10 years now. And the costs of the equipment has gone through the roof. I’m in the process of designing/improving upon a few different pieces. And thus looking for feedback on it all. No reason some of this stuff should cost what it does.
 
I agree strings are pricey. Never thought of trying to make one though.
 
Just curious to see who here builds there own strings/cables. And a couple other questions.
1.) what jig are you using?
2.) what serving tool do you use?
3.) what product would you improve on?
4.) if you don’t build you own....what’s stopping you

Odd questions and topic I know. I’ve been building my own for 10 years now. And the costs of the equipment has gone through the roof. I’m in the process of designing/improving upon a few different pieces. And thus looking for feedback on it all. No reason some of this stuff should cost what it does.

I did for years. I used a Yellowstone jig. Back then bows were not near as efficient as they are today. Making my own allowed me to use some of the latest fibers so I could reduce my string weight. I was shooting a Martin Scepter back then when things like 452 were new.

I stopped making strings when during an unplanned visit to a proshop I made the mistake of shooting a Mathews Switchback. Needless to say, I left the store with the bow and never looked back. The Yellowstone jig I bought was made before single cam bows were popular and was not designed to make a string that long. You really need to make a lot of strings to amortize the cost of the jig (at least the one I bought).

Automatic string making machines have come a long way. I can't get nearly the same precision making strings myself that you can now get off the shelf. Since I'm no longer shooting tournaments, I don't go through nearly as many strings. I decided not to reinvest in a new string making jig. My Yellowstone now sits unused. I only reserve a string in an emergency situation these days. With shorter axle to axle lengths, strings have a much sharper angle. My manually reserved strings are not under as much and as uniform tension as machine served strings and separate much more quickly. When a serving wears out, I usually just buy another string.

Back in the day, the quality of my hand made strings was far superior to what I could buy. That is no longer true. I can't justify either the time or cost of buying a new jig and I don't want to step down in quality to what I can make.

Thanks,

Jack
 
I assume you are asking for longbow ... to do for modern bows would be crazy.

I am sure some are trained, but the personal injury risk is significant if you are not trained.
 
I appreciate the replies. I will say that for those who are under the impression that the newer bows are any different string wise.....they aren’t! I still hand make my own every year. I have two Hoyt carbon spider turbos. I also make around 60 sets a year for friends who hunt and moreso the target guys. I recently showed a friend of mine in an hours time each step in an abbreviated version. He made his own set in a few days as he had time. Better then what you would get from a manufacturer.

When you hand make you can choose the material, the colors, the serving types, and the most important the serving diameters.

my best friend wanted to start bow hunting 4 years ago (previously gun hunted, and bird hunted) but was on the fence about taking the plunge equipment wise. At the time I was was in the process of buying a new bow. I had been shooting a Hoyt alphamax. I refused to change for years until I shot the carbon spyder line bc that bow would shoot groups at 80 yards with Broadheads as well as my target setup would shoot. So one day I showed up at his house. I have him the full shebang. Fully setup bow in case. All he needed was a release and arrows. I thought he was gonna cry. The strings on that bow were two years old. This is season 7 on them and he won’t let me change them!

It’s a long winded story. The basic point I’m trying to make is anyone can do it with professional results. It seems like the cost of the jig is the biggest hinderance for most.

Please don’t think this is a product plug. Bc well I don’t have one. I’m working on several improvements. All will made right here in the USA if I decide to go outside a local base that are asking me to duplicate what I’ve made for myself already and all will be SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper then what’s currently available, but made with higher quality material.

I appreciate the input, and keep it coming!
 
I appreciate the replies. I will say that for those who are under the impression that the newer bows are any different string wise.....they aren’t! I still hand make my own every year. I have two Hoyt carbon spider turbos. I also make around 60 sets a year for friends who hunt and moreso the target guys. I recently showed a friend of mine in an hours time each step in an abbreviated version. He made his own set in a few days as he had time. Better then what you would get from a manufacturer.

When you hand make you can choose the material, the colors, the serving types, and the most important the serving diameters.

my best friend wanted to start bow hunting 4 years ago (previously gun hunted, and bird hunted) but was on the fence about taking the plunge equipment wise. At the time I was was in the process of buying a new bow. I had been shooting a Hoyt alphamax. I refused to change for years until I shot the carbon spyder line bc that bow would shoot groups at 80 yards with Broadheads as well as my target setup would shoot. So one day I showed up at his house. I have him the full shebang. Fully setup bow in case. All he needed was a release and arrows. I thought he was gonna cry. The strings on that bow were two years old. This is season 7 on them and he won’t let me change them!

It’s a long winded story. The basic point I’m trying to make is anyone can do it with professional results. It seems like the cost of the jig is the biggest hinderance for most.

Please don’t think this is a product plug. Bc well I don’t have one. I’m working on several improvements. All will made right here in the USA if I decide to go outside a local base that are asking me to duplicate what I’ve made for myself already and all will be SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper then what’s currently available, but made with higher quality material.

I appreciate the input, and keep it coming!

The biggest problem I find is quality. There are less stretch and creep issues with some of the newer hybrid materials but there is still stretch and creep. The strings I made required a shoot-in period of a couple hundred arrows before things would settle down and I could do my final tuning. The commercial strings we can now buy are built under high tension. I have a near zero break-in period with these new machine made strings and the servings are much tighter and have less separation. The custom strings I used to make were better than anything commercially available at the time, but that is no longer the case.

So, for improvement suggestions, one would need to find a way to design a jig that could keep the string under high tension during the build process. Perhaps something with a hydraulic cylinder. Next, the spools I used just used a spring and a screw for tension. Tension on the serving was uneven at best. Some kind of spool that had much more even and smooth tensioning is needed as well.

Keep in mind that is has been over 10 years since I've made a string. Perhaps jigs have changed since then so I may be out of date on the latest, but those were the shortcomings I found.

Thanks,

Jack
 
The biggest problem I find is quality. There are less stretch and creep issues with some of the newer hybrid materials but there is still stretch and creep. The strings I made required a shoot-in period of a couple hundred arrows before things would settle down and I could do my final tuning. The commercial strings we can now buy are built under high tension. I have a near zero break-in period with these new machine made strings and the servings are much tighter and have less separation. The custom strings I used to make were better than anything commercially available at the time, but that is no longer the case.

So, for improvement suggestions, one would need to find a way to design a jig that could keep the string under high tension during the build process. Perhaps something with a hydraulic cylinder. Next, the spools I used just used a spring and a screw for tension. Tension on the serving was uneven at best. Some kind of spool that had much more even and smooth tensioning is needed as well.

Keep in mind that is has been over 10 years since I've made a string. Perhaps jigs have changed since then so I may be out of date on the latest, but those were the shortcomings I found.

Thanks,

Jack

My issue with these serving machines. Is that you are anywhere from $1600 to upwards of $6000. Which while the lower end could possibly be reasoned for, there is zero justification for the upper end. When I talk to people about this, they say it’s not worth it. But if you change your strings every two years as recommended you are looking at $70-$150 depending on who you use. And if you don’t have a press your looking at about the same to do a setup. Now if you hunt with kids or your wife etc you can multiply that by 2,3,4,6 and so on. So having the ability to work on your own equipment truly pays off in the shortish term. While building your own set may not be for everyone, there are many people who do. And what I’m reading people are paying for the equipment is asinine.

I’ve had my own equipment machined for some time now and I think it’s time to possibly offer better quality for better prices. The more people and the more involved they become is this and all other aspects of the sport, the more solid our future becomes.
 
I about bought a commercially made jig/machine last year to add to my "Pro Shop" setup, but I got sidetracked with other products. Lots of custom string makers in the USA. Not that much more costly than Big Box store strings. The better builders have plenty of customer feedback so you know whether they are trustworthy or not. My last set for my Elite Hunter came from a guy in OK. Quality was very good, took longer to build them than he said it would though.
 
My issue with these serving machines. Is that you are anywhere from $1600 to upwards of $6000. Which while the lower end could possibly be reasoned for, there is zero justification for the upper end. When I talk to people about this, they say it’s not worth it. But if you change your strings every two years as recommended you are looking at $70-$150 depending on who you use. And if you don’t have a press your looking at about the same to do a setup. Now if you hunt with kids or your wife etc you can multiply that by 2,3,4,6 and so on. So having the ability to work on your own equipment truly pays off in the shortish term. While building your own set may not be for everyone, there are many people who do. And what I’m reading people are paying for the equipment is asinine.

I’ve had my own equipment machined for some time now and I think it’s time to possibly offer better quality for better prices. The more people and the more involved they become is this and all other aspects of the sport, the more solid our future becomes.

I think you are right that it boils down to volume. The cost of machines that put sufficient tension on the string and serving to produce high quality strings without the stretch and creep issues are outrageous unless you are doing volume. I paid a few hundred dollars for a high quality manual jig back when I got mine. The quality of the Yellowstone was pretty good, but the capability doesn't touch the modern high tension machines.

Unless you can find a way to bring the cost of a high tension jig way down, you may be better off buying one and using it for your family and then selling custom strings rather than trying to produce low tension jigs at a lower cost. If one is happy with the string characteristics produced by a low tension jig like the Yellowstone, then making your own strings makes sense and amortizing the cost of the jig is pretty fast. I just wonder what the market is for the lower tension strings. Certainly guys shooting traditional equipment may be a market.

The thing that causes me to change a string is safety. The thing that causes me to procrastinate changing strings is the time it takes to retune. High tension built strings (pre-stretched) considerably reduce the setup and retuning time.

Another thing to consider as you ponder this is cross-bows. They are being accepted in more and more states and becoming much more popular. Their profile has gone from being a "tool of the poacher" to an acceptable bowhunting instrument. As time availability of hunters is reduced in modern life, the reduced practice time is attractive to many and they address kid's and older hunter's needs as well. I would expect the market only to increase over time. With the string/rail contact of most crossbow designs and high poundage, strings wear more quickly than a compound bow.

Thanks,

Jack
 
I know several people that make their own strings and I've had a few of them myself but as Jack mentions, getting the right amount of stretch seems to be the biggest issue with hand made strings. I'll stick with someone like 60x for my strings.
 
... The more people and the more involved they become is this and all other aspects of the sport, the more solid our future becomes.

To that end, I think building your own arrows fits more folks. Entry cost is pretty low and you can get higher quality arrows. You can buy blanks with whatever straightness and other characteristics you want. By weighing components and carefully combining them you can achieve higher consistency in weights between arrows. You can sweat details like alignment much better than mass produced arrows. Low entry cost combined with improved quality results make arrow building a good fit for folks wanting to get more involved with the sport.

Thanks,

Jack
 
I assume you are asking for longbow ... to do for modern bows would be crazy.

I am sure some are trained, but the personal injury risk is significant if you are not trained.

It is not “difficult” to make a string for a compound bow, long bow, or recurve. However, as others have noted, making a string today on you own jig does not provide the return on investment that it did in the late 80s or 90s. Back then, a person could make a better string than he could buy from a vendor. I started with a variety of string making jigs that were sold commercially. I have my own machine shop and eventually made jig that had a boat winch on it to stretch the material as I made the string. String material today is light years ahead of where it use to be.

Fast forward today and I don’t think you can make a string that is “better than” the ones that can be purchased from a number of custom makers. Strings last longer than they use to last so you need to make a lot of strings to justify an expensive jig. The only complaint I have with custom strings now is the the center serving. I have never had one I didn’t have to replace after shooting a few hundred shots.

For me, I don’t make stings any longer. I agree with Jack, it is much more rewarding to make your custom arrows.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
It is not “difficult” to make a string for a compound bow, long bow, or recurve. However, as others have noted, making a string today on you own jig does not provide the return on investment that it did in the late 80s or 90s. Back then, a person could make a better string than he could buy from a vendor. I started with a variety of string making jigs that were sold commercially. I have my own machine shop and eventually made jig that had a boat winch on it to stretch the material as I made the string. String material today is light years ahead of where it use to be.

Fast forward today and I don’t think you can make a string that is “better than” the ones that can be purchased from a number of custom makers. Strings last longer than they use to last so you need to make a lot of strings to justify an expensive jig. The only complaint I have with custom strings now is the the center serving. I have never had one I didn’t have to replace after shooting a few hundred shots.

For me, I don’t make stings any longer. I agree with Jack, it is much more rewarding to make your custom arrows.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
On the strings I make, you would NEVER have the center serving separate from shooting. Most of not all center serving issues are a result of poorly made manufactured strings. The only time I need to replace a center serving is if someone is constantly changing loops out. Meaning the loop is snugged down repeatedly and turned. That will loosen servings. I have a set of strings on my friends bow that I made 5 seasons ago. Untold number of shots through it. 8000-10000 maybe more. All we do each year is a twist or so in the cable to bring the cams back into sync.
 
On the strings I make, you would NEVER have the center serving separate from shooting. Most of not all center serving issues are a result of poorly made manufactured strings. The only time I need to replace a center serving is if someone is constantly changing loops out. Meaning the loop is snugged down repeatedly and turned. That will loosen servings. I have a set of strings on my friends bow that I made 5 seasons ago. Untold number of shots through it. 8000-10000 maybe more. All we do each year is a twist or so in the cable to bring the cams back into sync.

Funny, I haven't had a serving separate on my compound since the good old days when strings were made by hand. That is not true for my crossbow.
 
Top