This is intersting Bruce because I was just reading on this subject and debating whether I wanted to attempt to build a continuous-loop bowstring. I was intrigued due to what Jack Harrison wrote in his book, “Traditional Bowyer, More Unnessasary Fun.”
He is a continuous-loop advocate. He states that a continuous-loop is a better choice for traditional bow over a flemish-twist. He has done testing to discover that a continuou-loop bowstring shot the same arrow an average of eight to ten feet per second faster than a bow strung with a flemish-twist. The continuous-loop has less stretch than a twisted string.
He also noted that historically most figerglass-backed longbows and recurves made between the end of World War II through the early 1960’s were supplied with continuous-loop strings and that it was only with the re-birth of traditional bowyery as a cottage industry in the 1970s that it became a “standard in tradition” to produce longbows and recurves with flemish-twist strings.
This is info that I simply found interesting and thought i would attempt to build a continous-loop string until I realized the contraption I would have to build or purchase to actually build a continuous-loop sting. So at this point it is just a highlighted section of Jack’s book and not a reality in my workshop…
