Flemish Twist Bowstring (Quick and Easy) 

I just served my self-made string for my self-made bow. I'll be putting arrows down range any day now! Thanks for the great videos.

3:17 Finally I found the wisdom, that I have sought for a very long time.

After watching this video I realized how grateful I am to have just ordered a string from you. Thanks for the video, but thank you more for just building my strings for me..

I owe an apology to Mrs. Anderson. I told her in the 9th grade I'd never need math skills for anything fun...

I love these videos. It's great watching you progress through your willingness to make mistakes. I think your scissors are marvelous. I keep several pairs like that around. They get the job done...and they have never walk off.

I learned from Clay Hayes how to make a Flemish twist string without a jig, and that knowledge will always be useful in a bind, but here lately I've been wanting to go into small business making strings and teaching bowyer knowledge and this has taught me a new level of professional development, thankyou

Man, I just love your videos. So informative, inspiring and full of great craftsmanship and practical knowledge/wisdom. A BIG thank you from 🇨🇦 . 🙂👍🇨🇦

I am loving the Jig and the String making process! My fingers feel like the first time I learned to play guitar.

That’s awesome!! You must have the patience of a saint!

I made a great B55 Flemish twist black on blue with your jig. Love the way it shot. Thank you.

Nicely done on this video, the one thing I will say, it is nice to see when you are dong the serving on it at the ending looping the whole spool thought the end on the inside of the loop, I have been doing it that way for 30 plus years, not too many folks do that in their videos but i do believe over many years of doing this, you can almost get a whole other string served with the amount of waste most folks have after cutting the string first then doing the loop. Thanks again for sharing and i hope you have a blessed week. Dale

My kid has some even more dull scissors in her crayon box you could use if you like. Yours don't seem dull enough.

Not sure why, but these videos are relaxing to watch

BRILLIANT well done Sir!

Your channel is an awesome resource!!! At least knowing the basics of bowyer-ing and bladesmithing are crucial for anyone thinking in terms of survival.

You started by tying off your string but I'd have secured the jig; my OCD flared up when I saw it moving around your benchtop. Keep the content coming because it's good and interesting and educational. Peace.

thank you my bowstring turned out amazing

I was taught to twist my strings from one end to the other ,the way you started yours it works better when serving a string ,then do a tie back weaving the string back along the track of the other fibers ,now I also do this on my long bows using artificial sinew

Yes I tried it came nicely and very good😍🤩🤩

Music is too distracting.

Damn. Flemish is art. Seems more complicated than endless loop but they always look nicer. I use a serving jig to keep it tight.

Great job looks great thank you.

Really interesting! Please, could you make a video dedicated exclusively on how to make the nooses at the ends, possibly a little slower and more detailed? I think that's the most complex part of the whole procedure. Thank you in advance.

Cheers for the guide. Would recommend not throwing in so much sped up footage, makes it easier for us to follow the process.

Clear as mud

You are awesome buddy.

I for one understood this very well, and the math you included is infinitely helpful. Awesome video brother. I guess all of the high school drop outs found this video.

Hello. I'm from flemish twist country Belgium, living in Flanders and speaking flemish. The traditional real flemish string was reinforced with a few short strands that were tapered in with the top loop (also at the bottom), and the string itself had to be 3ply since 2ply was considered inferior in medieval times. But, with modern string materials and the string itself not being fully twined (like the loop section) in the entire string, thats acceptable now. The flemish string commonly had a bowyers knot at the lower nock, not a loop. Once shot in, could well be that a second loop was split in, by opening up the twists, separating the plies on the end, and splitting in the plies backwards from where you want the loop. Now, I make my linnen strings, 3ply and 2 ply this way. Works great, even with heavy bows. My first ever linnen 3ply (9strands) still holds fine after hundreds of shots (67lb Elm selfbow). I dont use a jig, only a hook or even door knob. Takes about half an hour, but about 2hrs with a fully twined string. Fully twined gives a nice looking string too (like twined rope) a bit heavy but working great. Fully twined can be derived from early 16th C 'l'Art d'Archerie' (or The Art of Archery) where author described a string must look round and you should be able to clearly see the 3 separate plies when you untwine a string, and when letting go it should go back to a nice round string.

Literally the easiest and clearest tutorial I have seen on how to do this. Thank you!!

Great vid 👍

Thank you so much شكرا جزيلا زور سوپاس خیلی متشکر Tack så mycket

Still confused with the back twist ://

Do you twist the strands in the same direction for both loops?

You should check out the emberverse book series. I did on audiobook

Instead of adding back twist before making the second loop I double my Flemish twist in the first loop, straighten the strands, and then making the second loop pulls half the flimush twist from the first loop. Takes guessing out of the mix :)

This is kinda funny. I use waxed dental floss be (mostly) and recently stinging nettles, goose tendons, hemp, flax and yucca fibers. Have you ever heard of the overlap method? It's similar to the Flemish but doesn't use that lovely peg board of yours. My nots are different too. I figure nothing is approximate you need to adjust each individual bow. I really try not to rely on the tape measure too much and usually go by what feels right. Anyways it usually takes about 115 yards of dental floss for any of my bows. At most it costs 1$-2$. And it's available everywhere. I've had a d.f. string last 2 full seasons of shooting, brush and hunting. Give it a try!

Will the measurements for this work for recurve bows? I just made my jig and have yet to make a string with it, and was just wondering if I need to go shorter an inch for recurve

Can you do three ply bowstrings too?

Hey man do you ever sell any of your bows you make? Iv been to your site and didn't see any.

Quick and easy?! Imagine if this was long and complicated.....

Does it matter much if you have two bundles or three?

Ammm what is better, thinner or broader string for crossbow???

I made my first string it was 2” short not sure what I did but it came out ok. I think it has todo with the back twist I don’t get exactly what you are doing there.

So i am trying to do this for my first bow. However, the knot keeps undoing itself, any advice?

the key to a perfect flemish schlemish is the back twist after untwist.

Hi Kramer, this is Roberto from Italy. I wached some of your video and now I subscribed to your channel. All the video contains interesting tips and experiences, I'll take into account when will start to make my first bow. I just have a request regarding general video editing: please lower the volume of the music during the speech. Apart from my personal music preferences (I understand your use of loop jingle free from rights), it is annoying and make difficult to hear cleary what you say. Just that. Thank you. Cheers!

Great videos but please the music !

What string do you use?

Is there any particular serving material to use for the b55 Dacron Flemish twist bowstring? I'm seeing a lot of options and getting confused 😬 love your content! You're amazing! 💚💚💚 Keep at it!

Do you back twist the bundle as a whole 20x or back twisting each color?

I lost what this video was when you started saying numbers

Can we use straight bees wax for string wax? We have bee hives so there's just lots of it available.

have you ever restored old bow's? an old recurve maybe ? point me in the right direction? my grandma was a bare bow champion and is in the archery hall of fame. her name is Theresa Carter. she left the bow to my father and he just passed away last saturday. the bow isn't very expensive because she was very poor. but it's still a family heirloom. I would like to make it look original and display it out of respect for family heritage. and also carry on the tradition of bare bow target shooting to my young son. I live in the Los Angeles area and could ship it to a trustworthy source. thank you for your time.

What about the nock point?

which direction do i twist the strings after i straightened them? also being left handed makes everything hard for me

I have done 4 strings so far off this video and all 4 have unraveled at one end when stringing bow...can someone please help me out?

anyone ever make a bow string form the inners of 550 cord, im thinking emergency/backup bow string . endless loop would take what, close to 70ft?, i m guessing closer to 10ft for a flemish twist ( can spare 10ft of 550 cord) 550 cord has 7 core, so it would be a 14 strand ( or if not enough, a 7 strand) I picked up my for my ben person cougar 7050 bow at a gargae sale for $30, when i took it to get a string for it, the clerk told me i needed a 57" instead of 59" AMO 62"- ( new to archery and bought a 57" endless loop.)

Can you ship to México ? If so do you have bows ? AND arrows?

Hi. What's the purpose of the single central peg at one end? It doesn't seem to be used.

top left to top center is NOT 5" (it's the hypotenuse of a triangle with sides 5" & 1.875" so it's 5.09"). Right?

Finally i dont have to use guns to hunts those toddlers around my neighborhood the neighbors complain about the noise from guns so now i will use bows

Hey bud just wondering why you did not use that middle peg that's beside those bunches of pegs

My name is Sophia I am 13 I am trying to make my own bow and arrows I am having trouble with the string I thing maybe I should by the string at amizone

I would like to see a bow string made of 50# test spider wire fishing line.

What was the thread you used at the start?

What type of line do you use for the serving?

I got some old bows from a man I helped move and wanted a new string for one of them. I went to a local place to get one and the cashier made a comment that girls are rarely strong enough to pull back any bow so I’m making my own bowstring now ig

but how do you make the string? do you use flax, nettle, horse hair or cat gut?

Kill the music!!!

Will this work for a 45# compound bow?

I just use flex tape to hold my string on both ends

So for longbows you make the top loop 3 inch bottom 2 inch How long do you make the recurve loops?

Would you redo the video with steps that make it possible for people who have never done this to follow?

Can anyone tell me if these measurements will be the same for a recurve

I can't figure out the back twist, my string keeps unraveling

Wow, what a great video! Always wondered what was special about the Flemish twist but never had the ambition to look into it. Also, get a new pair of scissors! Watching those dull baby scissors attempt to cut is painful! :-)

It occurs to me that the Flemish twist method has been used in rope making that goes back to way before there was a Flanders. Wonder how the name was arrived at?

just finished my first string, made it in two colours, black and blue, but the blue string is bit longer then the black. when I twist the string in the end its kind get ok. is that a problem? Am I the only one with this problem??

What kinda of string should be used? I might have not understood it when you said it, English is not my native language.

what string did you use

I could NOT for the life of me figure out why my loop kept pulling loose, then you said you join the two colors together after the loop is formed to continue the twist, and it clicked. Thanks!

Can someone help me with the math made.

Ever tried to combine 652 and 8125?

Will a 750 Paracord work?

Nice video, but please change the music...

The background music really pi$$ed me off. The video would have been ten times better without the annoying, background "interference" !

Now all this math made me sleepy. Taking a nap.

I am SERIOUSLY thinking about a new hobby

Does anyone know what that type of rope is called?

Im so confused. He said the end length will be 41 inches but when he measured it at the end it was exactly 56 inches. How is the straight string and the twisted string the same size. What was the point of subtracting 17 inches in the start? Shouldnt you add a few inches since when you twist the strings they will get shorter?

TBH the 'music' makes this harder to follow, and that would especially be the case for those whom English isn't their first/native language..

Pokeee

B50 or D97 string, or what?

Either not enough or too many backtwists. The 2 bundles should end up round and not look like 2 ropes twisted.

Either theres a fatal flaw in your video, or I'm just an idiot. When i get to the second loop, after untwisting. I measure out my length then add half an inch, from there i only have another couple inches until the end of my shortest taper. I think other people complaining about the "unraveling" have this same problem. In your video, theres plenty of length left when you begin to make your second loop. WHAT IS MISSING?

Can i use a 62" bow string on a 60" bow ?

The music is very annoying and makes it difficult to understand your explanation of how the jig works.

How about a hemp string on a hemp fiber backed bow?!

why doesn't the string untwist?

Your scissors are uncomfortably dull...