Here I am making a 14 strand, 2 ply, Dacron B-50. My strings have one loop for the top limb and a timber hitch for the bottom. They are twisted the full length of the string and are usually 2 colors.
Start with a roll or 3 of Dacron B-50.
Hold the spool between your feet and pull to your fullest reach for length. Reach down to the spool and pull up again making sure to lay the strands nicely together.
End up with 2 plys of 7 strands each.
Make sure and clip the loops at each end. End up with the
ends staggered a bit so it will taper nicely when you twist up the loop.
Start your loop about 8 inches from the end of the plys. The
short end is to my right in these pictures. Start by pinching the
plys together and twist the top ply away from you. Then pull it towrds
you and over the other ply. Pinch that twist.
Then twist the other ply away from you and pull it towards you and
over the other ply. Pinch that twist.
Continue on until you have twisted up about 5 inches. It won't
look quite this blurry unless you are drunk but it will look something
like this.
Fold the twisted part over to make your loop and lay the matching plys
back together like this.
Start twisting them the same as above and soon you will have your loop
twisted in slick as snot. You can continue on hand twisting for the
full length if you have a passion for carpal tunnel syndrome but I do it
another way.
I saw some aborinal dude twisting string on his leg in the Traditional Bowyer's Bible Chapter on Strings and figured it could work like that for me too. I usually do this on a bare leg and lose lots of hair but I figured I'd spare you that.
Simply pinch the end of your loop in your left hand and roll twist into your plys with your right on top of your leg. When you get to your knee, let go of the loop and it'll twist itself up. You can help it along to make sure the twist stays even.
Soon you will be at the end where you will tie a knot. I twisted
this one up in about 10 minutes excluding picture taking time. I
hand twist the last 10 inches or so since it makes for a tighter twist
and that helps when tying the timber hitch.
Here's how I do that.
Loop the sting over your finger or a bow tip like this. You have
to do it exactly like this or it will slip. The tag (shorter) end
is under the standing end here.
Bring the tag end back around the standing end and up through the loop
you have made around your finger or bow tip.
Run the tag end through the loop again like this. This knot is
great since it grips fairly tight in a static mode but it grips tighter
and tighter with increased pressure. Then if you need to loosen it
for adjustment or whatever, it isn't very difficult. I adjust strings
on my finger like this until I get the brace real close. I twist
it for further, fine adjustments.
Dacron stretches an inch or two so I always hang a 25 pound dumbbell
from mine for a couple hours. They will still stretch a bit on the
bow requiring some adjustment. Just watch your brace with a new string.
I then serve my strings with the little spinner you see in the first photo.