Queston from a beginner....please help....

[pintail_drake2004]

Howdy Yall, Well I bought me and my brother a bow blank from dryad bows (and we are both tickled pink with them) they came with the dvd which show him w/ a "long string" and a "short string" My question is...What are these? wont a piece of rope work for the long string? Is the short string the same as the bow string that will be uses on the finished piece? Where do i get these from, and how much will the cost me? Also the tillering tree looks complicated in the how to secitons on here, anyone have some simple photos of one?

Sorry for all the questions, But this our first attempt at a bow, and we really want them to work.

Thanks. Pintail

[Dick in Seattle]

I'm sure better qualified people will answer, but I suspect the long string is the tillering string.    Take a look at this series of pix and you'll see what I'm talking about:

 http://www.docwightman.com/bulletinboard/bulletinboard.htm

This page shows  a series of pix of making a bow, taken at Rudderbows .ast Jan.

Dick in Seattle

[Jim now in Kentucky]

Long string needs to be something you are sure won't break and will not slip off the ends of the bow. It should be long enough to be fit on the bow without bending he bow.

Short string is only "short" compared to the long string. It too needs to be strong and durable. It could be the string you will use when the bow is finished, but certainly needs to be durable.

[Pat B]

The long string can be made out of anything that is strong enough. I use parachute cord, others use cloths line cord and Marc St Louis uses thin aircraft cable. Basically you want the long string so you can work with the stave on the tiller tree without overstressing it.  For me, once I have a bow bending to 6" to 8", I abandom the tiller string and brace the bow to a low brace height of about 4" with the string that will ultimately be this bows string.
   By  low bracing at 4" I can stand back and look at the profile of the bow and can look down the bow for limb twists and if the string is tracking correctly. With a few twists or  by
re-tying the bowyers knot at the bottom of the strings I make, I can eventually bring the bow to it's ultimate brace height.
  If you use a long string beyond a certain point you will get a false reading.   Pat