Waist Cable Stringing Method 

I hate to necro, but the bow didn't make those sounds. If a bow sounds like that, you get a new one. Those noises would mean you're about to get a face filled with splinters and/or a broken arm or leg. That creaking was the stringer strap slipping against the wood as the bow changed shape. Again, not trying to start an argument but Hollywood and video game creators has convinced people that bows make noises, when in real life bows are absolutely silent. (the "THUNG" on some bows means the string isn't good, or the bow is terrible; either way, that's not a sound a real bow is supposed to make).

@@Lycantis Have you even shot any bow? What do you mean by "real bow"? I have 6 bows, their poundages are from 25 to 55, are made of glass fibet + wood siyah and laminated glass fiber + wood layers, their forms include traditional Chinese bow, hybrid long bow and modern "traditional" recurver. Out of these bows I have 2 bows which make cracking noises when stringing or being pulled, yet none of them really cracked. So let me ask you again, how do you define "real bow"?

@@williamberne "Real bow" as opposed to a video game or Hollywood-sound-dubbed bow that goes "creeeaaaaaak" when the character draws the string. You don't have to be so aggressive because I wasn't implying this bow in the video wasn't real, I was separating video game and movie bows to all the bows I have ever handled and drawn in my lifetime, which is a lot. I am listening to this video right now. I hear the strap loops creaking along the bow as the recurve portion moves because of the change in limb shape; most notably the loop under his right hand. I own three bows right now, two flat recurves and a horse bow. I string them with that same type of strap. The strap makes that noise every time as it creaks along the wood. The bows do not make that creaking noise, that's the strap itself. I have also seen the stringing of several war bows without a strap and none of them made that noise. These were all heavy poundage, real bows like you own, just so there's no misinterpretation again. I will be getting another horse bow at some point at high poundage like the one shown. What I never heard was that high poundage bow creak like that when people strung it, but they didn't use a strap. It took a couple of guys to do it but it was silent the whole time. All of the bows they strung that way were. I would be worried about any actual wood cracking noises and get it checked out by a professional--I'm a bowyer so if any of my bows make that noise they get tossed. When you hear that sound in wood floors, it's because of warping and swelling, causing the layers to become separated (there are a few other reasons, but all of them are bad news in anything made of wood). This also happens to laminated bows over time and is concerning. Not even my 60# makes that noise and the 100# never made that sound. It could really be nothing, but in the case of one of my bows that did make cracking noises in the actual bow, the lamination popped apart after a while of continued use despite ignoring the cracking noise, and that was money down the drain.

In that case, you can make some additional knots in the waist cable to shorten it enough where the bow will bend far enough to allow you to string the bow. I had to fine tune my waist cable to allow for this.

@@SatsuRyu hmm, what I mean is, the distance of leg extension from totally bent legs, is not enough to string. Legs not long enough, as the Manchu bow has massive long ears and huge recurve. I had to give up on it, as it required 2 people to string. Stuck with my baby 45lb horsebow bow instead

maybe use a second shorter waist cable and do it in 2 steps?

@@CludzyMasta Old post and late reaply, I know, but I may have a solution for just one person stringing. Could make a "tillering tree" but with something that locks the strap. Look that up, then modify it to have something to loop the pulling rope onto to hold the bow in place as you string it. So, in my mind, you secure the bow to the part that holds the bow (so it doesn't fly off), put the strap on it (secure the loops to stay in one spot or you're not bending anything), then attach the tiller rope to the middle of the strap with a heavy duty D-ring. The rope is in a pulley right under the bow, so it pulls straight down. Make sure there is a loop and something to put that loop over to hold the bow in draw that is a little over when it's in resting shape, allowing you to attach the string. Slowly let it back down and if it's just barely past resting shape it won't snap back even if you lose your grip (not recommended to let it do this, however; one thing could be to have a 2-loop peanut shape where you can grab the outer loop and harness with the inner loop). This was also just in case there are other people with corgi legs just like mine who have a hard time with long bows with a heavy draw.

I know a friend who has used this method to string a Tang-style horn bow (long straight tips, short bending section). The bowmaker in this case recommended placing the feet in the middle of the bending section. That said, you'd have to ask the bowyer.

The larger one is 106#@28.25". The smaller one is 109--110#@28.25".

@@TheWayofArchery thanks (and thanks for the extra span measurement). ps. Compliments to your current content and style: Its matter-of-fact subtle delivery style is refreshing, you are always information dense, and your production quality is good. nice work.