About a month ago at the Back2Back I caused great confusion for the judges when I shot against Sean Evans in the final, while wearing a black T shirt with "EVANS" emblazoned across it in. "Evans to shoot first on target 1." "Evans is on target 2?" "No, that's Hall, Evans is on 1"... As much as I would have liked this to be a deliberate prank, it was a complete accident, but serves as a nice intro to today's post about Evans Performance Bowstrings, who have been supporting me for almost exactly a year now!
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The Back2Back final. I look more relaxed than I felt... photo credit: Chris Evans[/caption]
I know a little about string making, having made my own for a few years before I started to work with Chris Evans. It's one of those things where the only way to learn is to make a complete hash of it the first time, and I remember ending up on a friends floor in a tangled pile of 8125 that looked more like confetti than a bow string. But still, with some practice and the handy availability of the club string jig (an relic from a bygone era found in the storage cupboard) I just about got the hang of things.
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This is the much more robust piece of kit Chris uses[/caption]
It was early in 2016 when Chris approached me and asked if I'd like to try his strings. I'll fully admit to being a bit reluctant at first, I'd been making my own for a few years and had settled on some exact specifications that seemed to work for me, as well as having bought all the materials. At the time I was using Beiter nocking points as well, small pieces of plastic that are served directly onto the string to give a precise location and nock fit for Beiter nocks. But fair to say I wasn't perfect at it, two strings I made on the same day with the club jig had just come out two different lengths, and I could never quite get the Beiter nocks to stay still, the serving often separated above or below leading to the nocking point sliding up or down. Note: this is an absolute killer in the middle of a competition; if you ever find you keep grouping low or high despite moving your sight a few times check that you don't have a loose nocking point!
Chris was very helpful though, and agreed to make me a test string at exactly the specs I required: Length (169 cm), material (8190, white), size (22 strand), serving (No. 4 on the ends, Halo 0.19 in the middle, both black), loop size (1.5"). To try the Beiter nocks we even met at the club and he served the nocking points in for me! I started using the string straight away in training and found straight off that it took almost no time to break in: my own strings had always needed 300-500 arrows put through them to stretch them to their working length. By March I'd replaced all of my home made strings and I've not looked back since.
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These days I'm even more picky about my measurements...[/caption]
So just how does Chris make a string? For a classic endless loop string as found on 99% of target recurve bows the method is the same; wrap strands of material around a rectangular jig, rotate the posts and use serving to bind the end loops in place, twist and set up on a bow. The main factors determining quality are:
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Choice of materials.
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Quality of equipment.
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Skill of string maker
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Aside from a good string jig the only specialist tool needed is a decent serving jig.[/caption]
The jig is used to set the length of the string, wrapping the fibres around a rectangular set of posts that are then rotated to pull everything into a single line so the end loops can be served in. It's important that the jig is solidly built so that it doesn't contract under tension (many cheap commercial ones will do this), and that it's finely adjustable so as to get exactly the right length. Chris' is a custom made beast of solid metal
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Finishing the end loop binds the two halves of the string together[/caption]
The string is then transferred to the tensioner, which has a solid hook at both ends and applies over 200 lbs of force along the length of the string. This helps ensure the fibres are pulled tight into a bundle and keeps the serving in place. Here the end and centre servings are completed, though for my own strings I now get them without a centre so I can apply it myself in exactly the place I want for my bow.
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Two finished strings with their end servings in place on the tensioning hook.[/caption]
And that's it. With a bit of care I reckon I get around 20,000 arrows out of a pair of new strings; I always get two at a time and shoot both regularly so as to have a similar back-up for competitions. After that they are still perfectly usable as practice strings but are usually a bit worn and fuzzy and the centre compresses to the point where the nock fit starts to be affected.
So if you're interested to learn more about exactly how to make a string, the 2008 world archery make your own equipment guide has a decent starting description, and I'd say it's a worthwhile skill for any recurve archer to learn so that they can maintain their own gear or quickly test lots of different string lengths to find the best one for their bow. But if you want top quality without spending £££ on tools and equipment, if you want a variety of different fancy colour combinations or if you just want the best quality from someone who does this all the time, then have a chat with Chris.
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Full Disclaimer: I received these strings from Chris Evans of Evans Performance Bowstrings free of charge. The post was my own idea to show a little bit of what goes into making them.