flemish strings breaking

[traditionalman]

Are you sure the string is breaking and not pulling apart If you twist the string in the wrong direction when making it, you are in a sense taking the twist out of the string and making it able to pull apart.. Also make sure you have a least 4 and 1/2 inches of your string
twisted under and all your ends twisted into the bundle.

[Roy from Pa]

Geeze Jim. Ya lost me and I've been maken flemish strings for 10 years:) Never had a failure.  

I use 2 bundles of B-50, 6 to 7 or  8 strands per bundle, depending on the bow weight. Lay them out on my string jig, take them off and hold the ends of both bundles even in my left hand. Measure  up 8 inches from the ends and start to twist. I twist the 1 bundle away from me, then pull it back and left over the other bundle towards me. Then keep doing the same till I have about 1.5 or so twisted string. Then I form the loop by bending that together and continue on twisting and pulling towards me till I run out of the tag ends. I'll twist another 10 or 12 times, them clamp that end and do the same to the other end of the bundles. I do the same to each end, then twist counter clockwise and my string just twists up and shortens to what I need. Geeze it is hard to describe how we make a string.

[Lee Robinson .]

Post a picture of your strings...both "new" and "broke."

[Jim Dahlberg]

Pictures definitely work better don't they Roy.  Guess that's why I recommended the book.  It's got good pictures and a fairly good description if you pay better attention than I did initially!!

[vth0kie12]

def a break. it amost looks like a clean cut. all the strains a broke/cut  straight. i made another last night and lenghting my end so it would shorten the string, now i just have to see how long this one last.

[n8-mac]

Jim, I am useing B-55 for my strings.  i have not been "backlaying" my strings. Am i doing something wrong? No broken strings yet.

[Jason Scott]

What you want to avoid is cabling. I think that is what Jim is describing. It is when your individual bundles are twisted after tying the second loop. This can be detected while the two bundles are still runing parallel next to each other before twisting the string counter clockwise a little to string the bow. You should be able to insert your finger into each of the bundles (between the individual strands, not between the bundles) and run your finger down the length of the almost completed string. If you cant't then you have cabled that individual bundle during the twisting of your second loop. To avoid cabling(a bundle) you have to reverse twist the individual bundles the same amount of times that you will twist them when making the second loop.

I just backtwist the individual bundles after twisting the first loop, I don't back lay the bundles over each other. It serves the same funtion though. Then start twisting the second loop. After twisting the second loop you just tug the string from the loops firmly stretchin the string to ensure the bundles are carrying equal load. At this point you make sure there is no cabling and then add a little twist counter clockwise and string the bow. Heat the string with friction by rubbing a piece of leather up and down the string to seat the strands in the wax and serve the string. In short you don't want the individual strands of a bundle to be twisted, just the two untwisted bundles twisted around each other only. The only place the individual bundles are twisted is in the loops and an inch or so down the string from the bundles, then they straighten out like an endless loop string.