Early Medieval bowstrings may have been made from a range of animal and plant fibres, including horse hair, sinew, flax and bast fibres. Here, I use my previously harvested linden bast to twist a two-ply bowstring with a nocking loop at one end.

The bast fibres are tested and chosen for their strength and quality to make the bowstring as strong as possible. The strands can be split and pulled apart to the desired width. To begin, two bundles are made, each forming one ply of the cord. Twisting the bundles helps to gauge their thickness. The two bundles must be even in thickness.

The two bundles are then twisted together. The twist is started leaving a hands-breadth of loose ends which will be twisted back into the cord to form the nocking loop.

To form the two-ply twist, one bundle is twisted away from the body, then wrapped over the other bundle towards the body. This is then repeated over and over. This reverse twist keeps the cord from unravelling.

Once enough length has been twisted to form the loop, the two ends of the loop can be twisted together using the same method. The resulting cord will be thicker and must be made to taper back into the bowstring.

Cutting out strands at regular intervals reduces the material that is twisted into the cord, so the cord tapers gently from the nocking loop back into the desired thickness of the bowstring.

As the bast material runs out, new fibres are added by laying these alongside the existing bundle of fibres, twisting them tightly together and continuing the two-ply twist. Care must be taken to ensure the thickness of the two bundles stays even.

Once the cord is long enough, wrapping with a strand of bast keeps it from unraveling. Once the bowstring is fitted to the bow, the cord can be back spliced to finish the end.

I will use this bowstring in a future project to make a Nydam-style yew longbow.

If you would like to support me further, you can become a patron here:
  / gesithasgewissa  

Or make a one-off donation:
https://paypal.me/gesithasgewissa

  / gesithasgewissa  
  / gesithasgewissa