Timber hitch on bow string.

[Rain Man]

I bought a bowstring off of 3 rivers that has a flemish loop on one end and a timber hitch on the other end.  I'm a rookie and cant figure out how to adjust it.  Also, do you leave the timberhitch in the permanent bowstring, or do I have to untie it and make another flemish loop?  I thought they would send directions with the package, but they didn't, so now I'm at another brick wall.

[walkabout]

to adjust the timber hitch you take the free dangling end and loosen the twists which go around the string making the loop. you then feed the extra from the actual string through the loop until its as short as you want it then you pull the timber hitch tight again.(if that makes sense) the timber hitch is essentially just the string wrapped over itself, if you look at it you should be able to figure it out. you can leave the timber hitch in it, wont hurt any unless you adjust it alot, or you can put another loop in it if you have enough extra, usually about 7" to make a loop. personally i left the timber hitch in my longbow string, for one to be able to adjust as it stretched, and for another i use it to tiller other bows as its the longest string i have. i just make another string if it gets too worn. good luck, if you still need help ill try to post pics explaining.

[Rain Man]

Makes perfect sense.  Thanks!  Now that I have it braced, I pulled it to 28" and it's at 47 pounds.  Made a heck of a difference!  I'm starting to believe I can actually take a deer with a bow I made myself... well, you helped too!    I'll post pics soon

[walkabout]

lol, glad you got it figured out. i brace my bows at 6 1/2 inches then tune from there if theyre noisy,etc b50 strings will stretch a little bit too so when it does give it a few twists to get it back to the right length, or you can hang a weight off it overnight to prestretch it. you just dont want too many twists or the string becomes a really long spring and robs power from your bow. congrats on the build though, hope to see pics and maybe even in the future more bows. once you build one its hard not to build more.

[Rain Man]

Here it is.  Braced and finished.  I'll shoot it tomorrow, as long as it stops raining.

 

[Innocente]

NICE WORK rain!
give us some full draw pics!

[walkabout]

looks great    did you build the top limb longer? in the pic it looks like it is. i built my last bow for my sister doing this and it shoots great.

[Rain Man]

Nah, I thought that too when I looked at the picture.  It's 72 inches and the handle is centered right on the 36 inch line.  It must be the angle of the pic.

[walkabout]

let us know how it flings arrows, glad it turned out so well for your first bow.Usually once you build one youre so amazed that you can pull it off you want to build more and see how much better you can get, at least thats what hooked me.

[Rain Man]

Shoots like a dream        :D        Thanks for your help.  I only shot it from about 10-15 yards away but I didn't miss the target and my last 3 arrows were in a 2 inch group.  I shot maybe 30 times.  Thanks again.  You and the TradGang crew made me a happy guy.

I think for the next bow I'm going to go without a shelf and that glued on handle.  I'm going to subtract that 10 inches from the length and make a 62" bend-through-the-handle bow.

Here's full draw.  The bottom limb bends slightly more than the top.  Uh-oh.  I know that's bad but it's shoots ok.  Should I start wearing eye-protection?   :D   I guess I sort of rushed through this project.

   

[walkabout]

nah, you could even the tiller up if you wanted though, but you may lose a little wieght. generally you want the top limb tobe braced 1/4 inch more than the bottom. my latest board bow is 60"nock to nock, 45#@25"  burlap backed bend through handle. its got some power in that short little draw.lol. it has a lil finger pinch too. im waiting to see how it shoots . good luck on your next one.

[Rain Man]

do you have any pics?  I'd like to see what that looks like

[walkabout]

ill take a few and get em up as soon as i can, im still finishing the leather handle add ons and havent put a finish yet but its done aside from that. i started making arrows for it today but itll take a while because of my work schedule. its 1 1/2 inch faded to tips from 2 inches past midlimb i believe. developed a crack under the edge of the burlap but after i saturated it with superglue and wrapped 1/2" around that spot on the limb it held and tillered well. im actually amazed it didnt come in light. if not late tonight then tomorow morning sometime ill post some pics of it. i have a post up thats following the progress, its "bend through handle design" got alot of good feedback from people about how i should go about it.

[walkabout]

heres a link to my post of this bow, i added pics.   http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=125&t=003209&p=2#000029