Making my own bowstring

[@Anime-Control]

A Lindybeige video about a relatively niche topic with a generally exploratory nature and a “we’ll figure it out” attitude? An instant classic

[@loso8381]

Its not two hours long :(

[@ScienceDiscoverer]

@@loso8381 The magic of time warping.

[@CottonTailJoe]

Yes

[@AmTrFilms]

Isn;t that every video of his?

[@45calibermedic]

And he knows a bit about it. Not everything, but he has some background knowledge from his study of history and archery. Just the sort of thing that stimulates wonderful discussion in the comments. We need way more of lindy explaining old words and ideas while exploring traditional and historical life.

[@TreeFrogOnATree]

Can't wait for episode 6 when you raise your own standing army!

[@joeyjoejoejrshabadoo4311]

It'll be released 2 years from now like the sword forging series.

[@badusername9903]

making my own grand levee, i cant wait

[@bashkillszombies]

Episode 4,308 you mean.

[@humor86]

Only if they're still using forks!

[@HeisenbergFam]

Bro casually returned after a month just to make an authentic bowstring, respect

[@edgarbanuelos6472]

Very British the more I think about it

[@colinmackay92]

Far longer than that. His last legitimate video was many months ago. His most recent content was just the interviews. They were awesome. But this is the first classic lindybeige video in quite a while.

[@Milamberinx]

Probably filmed 5 years ago and not been edited too. Anyone an expert on ageing Beigemen?

[@CausticTitan]

Dude you are everywhere

[@VoidVagabond]

​@@CausticTitan I thought I was crazy for noticing this.

[@Brave_Sir_Robin]

I think the thing I love most about this channel is how every episode is a complete roll of the dice. You never know what you’re going to get, and yet it’s always absolutely fascinating. Bravo

[@NorroTaku]

like a box of chocolate

[@Gordons1888]

'Two guys who know a little bit giving it a go' That's the mentality that built the empire

[@crisisOstrich]

Nothing stops an arrow like a good Frenchman

[@_Mentat]

It seems to be the lot of Frenchmen to be skewered by English arrows.

[@johnmcmanus7809]

Mad Jack Churchill decided the Germans also worked well in this regard.

[@ClashClash89]

I have met multiple German seniors pocking their heads into active archery ranges… so mad jack probably had some very cooperative targets. ;p friggin nominees for the Darwin Award…

[@michaelturner2523]

And you know what the only good Frenchman is...

[@blurby]

enough flax to make a hundred bowstrings, or enough flax to try 100 methods of processing

[@PerfectAlibi1]

I go with the latter, or enough for 99 failures... XD

[@abyssaljam441]

@@PerfectAlibi1 99 failures but the bow rope ain't one

[@CR0SBO]

"Couple of guys, who know a bit, giving it at go" feels like a perfect series to enjoy. I for one will look forward to the spoon whittling episode, and the flint knapping one too of course!

[@simonspacek3670]

"How do you know that you cannot make a bowstring, if you never tried to make one?" A lot of things is quite easy (but still time consuming) if you give it a try. Can you mix concrete? Well, it is easy, just try it. On your third try you will be pretty good. Make sling from string? Well, first two or three were a bit rubbish, but the next one was good. Sew trousers? Version 4 was not bad and version 5 I had for few years until the fabric fall apart.

[@man.inblack]

If you want anything flint, chase up Phil Harding and his hat on Time Team. He’ll smash out Stone Age tools in cut off shorts.

[@Earthenfist]

@@man.inblack I'm personally a fan of Will Lorde. He's got a KZbin channel and talks about a lot of Neolithic stuff.

[@galankaufmann]

Typically, bowstrings are waxed. This strenghtens the cord by sticking the fibers together, reduces fraying and waterproofs it somewhat in the bargain.

[@cryhavocandletslipthedogso1873]

I suppose it might inflict a permanent -50% fire resistance debuff on it though

[@DStein22]

I never knew it would be entertaining to watch people make a bowstring for 40 minutes

[@GaborSzabo747]

If it's a Lindybeige video, it is interesting!

[@Logan_93]

36min

[@nickharvey7233]

My Mum's family were in the linen trade in Ireland for generations (Ireland was one of the global centres of the industry). That wooden sword thing you refer to will be a scutching knife - we still have one hanging on the wall...

[@collinvickers2345]

I appreciate how genuine Lloyd is. It doesn't get any more classic than shooting a cardboard box with a homemade bow - didn't we all do that as kids? :)

[@16m49x3]

we yes. But our children will not be allowed to

[@vincent-of-the-bog]

@@16m49x3 you could just... allow them to?

[@16m49x3]

@@vincent-of-the-bog I bet the government will find a way to ban homemade bows...

[@Valkbg]

I didnt. But I did make artillery pieces out of cork and matches

[@IFarmBugs]

Cardboard boxes were rare but the apple trees had plenty of apples

[@tedferkin]

Mildred: Harold, you remember that strange bloke next door. He's got another bloke with him and they are hitting straw with a pretend sword then trying to make spaghetti with it A few hours later... Harold: Mildred, he seems to have used the spaghetti to make a bow now.

[@adamcetinkent]

Harold should keep an eye out.

[@grailknight6794]

​@@adamcetinkent"eye" see what you did there 👀

[@JasonKenway]

Your Merlin impression was spot on, one of my all time favourite films and soundtracks.

[@lindybeige]

I am a dream to some, and a nightmare to others.

[@seeriktus]

Don't be afraid to leave it uncut, doing long ones like this can be kind of therapeutic

[@Hrogthar]

YES! Been missing a classic style Lindybeige long form video. Thank you.

[@Wintermute909]

Same here!

[@thothtahuti5509]

@@Wintermute909 and here! ❤️

[@Spindlegrind]

Same… the Ukraine bollox was making me rethink subscription.

[@thothtahuti5509]

@Spindlegrind fair enough, too. I like his classic style, but I couldn't get into them, i did watch the first one and then stopped watching. I'm sure it was well intentioned, I just prefer my politics and politicians dead and in the past (*dark humor). I'm glad to see him back in his "wheel house", which oddly is almost ANYTHING else, this is the first subject he ever covered that didn't leave me riveted in the moment and more knowledgeable by the end :) ❤️

[@jphilb]

Glad I stayed to the end for the sing along.

[@maxpowers9129]

I loved this episode. Trying to do things our ancestors mastered helps show just how human and clever they really were. It's easy to act smug thinking we would know better, but the truth is very few people can replicate the level of technology from the past, and fewer still could replicate our current technology when starting from scratch.

[@shaneintheuk2026]

Replicating our current level of technology would be impossible without millions of people working together. Creating a chip fabrication plant from scratch requires a ton of other factories to create the parts.

[@himan12345678]

​@@shaneintheuk2026 the thing no one seems to get is that recreating current tech after a hypothetical collapse wouldn't be from scratch. It would be from salvage/ruins. It could be from scratch, and the more time has passed since such a collapse the more and more likely it will be from scratch. But it would most likely be from salvage. Which a single person can do. I'm currently in the process of doing electronics fabrication from salvage actually. My biggest hurdle is stealthy "dumpster diving" into landfills. Which wouldn't be an issue really in a post collapse. But if you want to counter that it took many to make those original parts, then yes. But it also takes many (not humans) to make rocks and trees and other natural materials for humans to then process. No man is an island.

[@shaneintheuk2026]

@@himan12345678 interesting and viable in the short term but longer term I think it would be extremely difficult. Once the easy salvage is gone, trying to educate the next generation becomes a massive problem. How do you get people to degree level when the population is much smaller and everyone is trying to survive. David Brin’s The Postman discusses it nicely.

[@Lanka0Kera]

Few people know the basics of past technology because people don't care about museums that try to keep the knowledge alive. I know *how to* work flax into thread because both my parents took care of a museum for common household *stuff* as it'd had been around late middle ages tech wise. Never done it myself, but I know how to - and especially *why* some parts of the process are required. I know ye-shite-tonne of past-common stuff that have absolutely no use in modern age. Taught when I was a kid, now in mid 30 a lot of them are things I'd like to actually try to make by myself just to see if I can...

[@joshuabacker2363]

@@shaneintheuk2026 Depends on how genetic intelligence was affected by a collapse and what sort of population one has to work with, and what level of knowledge or skills were retained. Salvage would make trial and error much less necessary though, because just having an example to work from is what makes it possible for non-geniuses to make things. It takes a rare and intrinsic talent to come up with, say, the idea of the printing press. But once it's been done, it's relatively easy to copy.

[@huskiefan8950]

My wifes family is ojibwe, natives of Canada/Minnesota, and her dad told me something cool one time. He said that in the past their tribe would kill a turtle, and cut a spiral pattern around the skin of its outstretched neck(2 person job) in such a way that you ended up with a long skinny "rope". They would dry the skin, twist it tightly and tie it off, and they used that as bowstrings, successfully. It was like he was passing on some sage wisdom. That was a cool moment 😎

[@ivan55599]

Yes! Finally a continuity of series of "Ancient versatile crafts, as demonstrated by an incompetent".

[@crapphone7744]

You have the best viewers, ever. I love that a viewer just sent you the raw materials randomly. He knew you couldn't resist trying it. As hard as the work looked, it sure beats following the north end of a south bound ox pulling a plow. Better a journeyman than a peasant.

[@tomw86]

You randomly showed up on my suggested videos - but yet we did student radio together more than 15 years ago. Hello old friend :D

[@therealcarlxii]

I didn´t know that it was called "abseiling" in English. As a native German speaker it´s always funny for me to hear German words in the middle of an English conversation

[@AngloSaxonWheatFarmer]

This is the beautiful thing about newcastle, the history, the lovely buildings. and knowing somewhere among us Loyd is making bowstrings his back garden

[@piotrektiger8633]

Truly some great impressions😆

[@RobVollat]

Love ya, Lindy 👋 You’re someone I’ve routinely searched for once every few months for almost a decade now. Here’s to the decades yet to come! 🍻

[@andytopley314]

I thought Kon-Tiki was trans -Pacific and made of logs. I believe Lloyd refers to a prior adventure of Thor Heyerdahl with the trans-Atlantic reed boat relating to Egyptians travelling to the New World.

[@atspoonermom7652]

Yes, Kon-Tiki was green balsa logs starting from Chile and sailing west with the Pacific currents. They lashed it together with hemp rope, likely originally made in a similar fashion to the flax bowstring! However, where Kon-Tiki was 1947, the Thor's reed boat voyage crossing the Atlantic was 1970, so it was later, not prior.

[@lindybeige]

Yes, the Ra-II was the boat I was referring to. I got the names mixed up. Sorry.

[@adwarfsittingonagiantsshoulder]

Intersting topic. It seemed like eons passed since the last upload from Lloyd, glad to see him back ! I hav'nt done any bowstring for years, and those where made out of dynema or fastflight... really cool to see one made out of natural fibers. Even with modern materials, I needed loads of trial and error and a lot of time to make, so I'm very impressed by this video ! As alwais this channel is full of suprises and a lot of fun to watch.

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

I've read the books. But Arny is so iconic in that role it's so hard to seperate the character from the actor.

[@wolfkillerq9363]

Ah just in time, I was wondering how to make a bow string from scratch!

[@13goodbye]

Constructive suggestion: spin thin strings of full length flax furst, then ply several together ( opposit spin) then there will be no joins and enough twist onnthe fibres to lake them stable. Can spin with a drop spindle or a long stick rolled along the thigh

[@pandakicker1]

Ohhhh Lindybeige, I always love your goofiness. Please never stop being yourself. Blessings and hugs from Texas!

[@Severalangrybees]

This kind of content is a favourite for me. Watching you try stuff out is great

[@Munisk52]

I absolutely adore your "lets just try it and figure it out" approach sir, thats after all how learning is done best!

[@ConnorLandonFreeman]

I'm not five minutes in yet, but this is already amazing. Lloyd denies us a video for a million years, then makes one about bloody bowstrings! The man is a hero!

[@krystallinecestmoneau1358]

it's so nice that Lindy is still making great videos since all this time , his videos have been a companion of mine for a while now , and I like it !

[@j.q.higgins2245]

What a forking hell of work! Based on the foliage in the background and on the progress you made, it dawned on me that you must have recorded this video in early autumn... ... of 2018. 😂 Well done!

[@lesliefranklin1870]

Keeping civil while you string us along. Great first attempt. By the 100th bowstring, I'm sure it'll look professional.

[@Luddite1]

I love the fact that you did a survival course where the squaddies were deferring to you regarding orienteering and yet you trusted them to set up the ropes which you used to abseil !!! Your a brave man sir I salute you

[@Tentin.Quarantino]

Fun fact: all Englishman are imbued with unerring accuracy with a bow, provided that the target is a Frenchman.

[@Spritofjazz]

Saw this before the French invasion, thought it was a joke. I should’ve known better

[@bickyboo7789]

Does anyone know where I may acquire an archery target in the shape of a Frenchman?

[@Tentin.Quarantino]

@@bickyboo7789 why, Agincourt, of course 😁 Or France, but those ones tend to move about a bit.

[@MelkisgoedvoorJan]

The fact that I have been watching your entire back catalogue this month but didnt get this new video recommended says something about the algorithm

[@GavTatu]

there are some great vids of old gents making flax.... its amazing ! conan... i read so many when i was 12/13 year old... i was enthralled !

[@Wintermute909]

Im so glad we're back to normal vids.

[@BlookbugIV]

What were the not normal videos? I’ve not been keeping up.

[@consoya]

With sprinkles of trivia and anecdotes, love it.

[@mattfleming86]

It has been an absolutely hellish week.. I needed this. Thanks Lindy!

[@khodexus4963]

On the Conan anecdote, what you said is actually incorrect. Arnold got cast because he was the only body builder who DIDN'T have to lose weight to lift his arms because he had been training in a slightly different way that allowed him to retain more flexibility than was typical of body builders of the time.

[@lindybeige]

I have heard this said specifically of Arnie and Conan.

[@loungelizard3922]

Nice to see two friends doing some hand crafts and having a yarn. I wouldn't want to be on the other side of that bow. I'm thinking about growing some of that flax myself.

[@DenStoraVargen]

It seemed to be a torture to prep this thing and there are better modern alternatives but only to see this I got a clue how to prep plants to get some rope... So this not only is a true experience to try out on a self build bow in the outdoors it also come in quite handy to make some rope if there is no other option or you wonna make this experience. It's quite impresses me how simple it is to make rope in theory (but not to make it happen xD). So learn a new skill I just have to try out. I quite have to think about how a hundred years ago every body know this but today most guys just being lost without paracord. Thanks for the inspiration. Overall it may would help to wax the bundles and than string it together, it would generate more friction and helps to withstands the rain.

[@hawkeyesgirl2244]

I think if you guys had info on flax to linen processing it might have been helpful at the beginning. When he described the tools he needed it made me think of this immediately. Rope or yarn the processing overlaps! Love for this channel! ❤

[@rogersmith7396]

Washer rollers for the first part then a spinning wheel.

[@RealMoukeycat]

If this is an example of "Bush craft" I keep wondering if the forks were naturally sourced. I tend to doubt it. It's the wrong time of year in England for the forks to be ripe.

[@blunderingfool]

We have these wonderful inventions called greenhouses, I had a haul of spoons in the dead of winter last year!

[@RealMoukeycat]

@blunderingfool so you're telling us it wasn't true bush craft. I was imagining Lindy went on a long walk in the countryside to sorce the forks. But all he did was pop into the garden.

[@siprus]

Authentic bowstrings were often coated with beeswax. Modern sorce often state that this is to protect the string from water, but it might also help to bind the strings together.

[@piokul]

You can also make very strong string from nettle. In a more bushcraft and less agricultural setting. Nice greenish colour!

[@Par-Crom]

Apparently, the best period to gather them would be in May - June. You can cook nettles to make delicious soup too !

[@konsyjes]

I wonder what people used to pre-stretch the string during the middle ages, if anything; to stress it until it settles. Your accuracy is very gratifying to watch ;)

[@miinyoo]

I honestly could listen to you both banter for hours while doing something equally tedious and be right as a rain cloud.

[@mormonboy25]

Love the casual admission of lindybeige nearly hitting the deck second time abseiling due to overconfidence. Goes to show we are all susceptible to the donning-Krueger effect

[@TheMightyZwom]

"I'm starting to get something a bit hair-like" Not only this, but it's also beige!

[@Bluemilk92]

Hours of flax into bowstrings. I'm having horrible Runescape flashbacks.

[@Waster_War_Boss]

Excellent video as always thank you

[@hodgeman]

I made a trash bow from a tree branch, strong elastic and some real arrows.... it went dangerously far, all the way across the park (was much more careful after the first launch). The branches break, but are easily replaceable.

[@peterpaul7932]

Lloyd is already a alltime classic. Thank you for your work and continues work!

[@KronosGodwisen]

What I really appreciate is going to that extra step to test it against wizardry.

[@leemasters3592]

@SallyPointer has some great videos on making cordage from plant fibres. Also some on repairing knitwear which might also interest you @Lindybeige considering your collection of lovely knit jumpers.

[@egallagher41]

Welcome back "Lindy" we missed you🤠

[@Logan_93]

Gosh, if i were a make-a-wish kid, my wish would be to spend one day nerding out with Lindybeige.

[@ginojaco]

You need finer fibres, to twine them more tightly, neater joining in, and then... double up the fine twine to make a thicker twine.

[@heraldreichel1971]

There used to be a process called "London Shrinking". Possibly anachronistic both ways, but probably people knew about textile shrinking and what it does before it was an industrial process? Some people in the 1400s certainly knew that a wet rope tied to a boat would pull it off a sandbank when it dried where manpower had failed.

[@rickfordmorningstar130]

That you RP Warhammer absolutely makes my day.

[@rogershakespeare3889]

Best part of the video was you and Mark sharing stories while you worked. Thanks for the video Lindy!

[@ianhelyar9553]

14:40 grunting in an Austrian accent! Well done Lindy!

[@Oldo]

2 friends having fun, love it

[@Pentagon6519]

When doing the rope making part put the loop over a nail in a board. Allows you to keep some tension on it and allows full use of both hands.

[@pierauspitz]

Hello! What an interesting experiment! It seems to me that your thread would benefit being spun much tighter. Probably using a drop spindle would help. Perfectly period technology, and one could easily imagine the archer's wife spinning thread for his bowstring in-between spinning for cloth. I must also say that the build up reminds me a lot of shoemaker's thread. That too could be done more easily by stacking threads, and holding them around a fixed point (hook or nail or tree branch), and rolling the threads, under mild tension, on your thigh with you flat hand to furl them together. Once again, it would help making a much tighter and stronger string than free-handed method. There is a very nice video made by a Lausanne shoe maker showing the process. Given the similarities in technology, I wonder if a bow string would also have been waxed or pitched, like shoemaker thread, for cohesion and weather resistance. I mean, a well spun and pitched 6 thread waxed end is rather thin, and virtually unbreakable by hand (it would cut you before braking)....

[@ethelredhardrede1838]

That was not only the best Nicole Williamson impression I have ever heard, its the only one.

[@collinvickers2345]

It seems likely to me that our ancestors would have used a hackle kit and carding comb for this sort of thing, but it looks like a pair of dining forks will work in a pinch.

[@abyssaljam441]

they just had to wait for the fork to be invented first?

[@opsoverseas]

Olden crafts, modern revival! Over the course of the hundred years war I expect you'd get a few good bowstrings out of that lot! Good stuff, well done both!

[@Bigfoot_With_Internet_Access]

We bigfoots have to make everything ourselves out here in the woods

[@Runenmensch]

There I was, thinking I couldn't like you more and now you share your love of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay! Absolutely love it 😄 Bummer that talk did get cut

[@harrykouwen1426]

Remember the flail= A very usefull grain releaser but also flax beating tool. Also branches from a blackberry stretched and fixed on a board or table or chair or antique cabinet can be used instead of a fork if you don´t have nails or a wirebrush. A normal comb or hairbrush for the fine tuning. But great effort for a first go! I learned rope making when I was 8 years old from an old farmer, he had an old twining board made by his grandfather, so must have been from the 1850's. We made rope with flax, first twing single strand with a weighted spool, also from old ways, well used by many hands by the color of it. After that the miracle for an 8 year old; the counter twining with the grandfathers tool, good memories!

[@therealzilch]

Wonderfully simple and simply wonderful. As a string maker myself (for stringed instruments) I appreciate the worksmanship. cheers from rainy Vienna, Scott

[@Finvarra]

The best thing you could have done in the first phase is to take your time and do it one stalk at a time. It takes longer but pulling off each one individually avoids breaking or ripping them as much as the beating and forking business does. This ultimately gives you a stronger string relative to its thickness - because each fiber wound into it is longer and hence contacts more of the adjacent fibers. PS. This is especially true if you are going for an authentic method, since they were time-rich and resource-poor, wasting time was preferable to wasting material. I recall a similar principle was discussed when you made your sword - your man talking about how it's better to beat the shape rather than grind it.

[@williamreed9590]

Thanks for your footage. I was recently tasked with making a primative bow and string at an American Mountain Man event. It worked marvelously.

[@mojom.9221]

Our Beige Saint has returned. Hello Again Lindybeige. Glad to see you again.

[@chrisleffler6490]

Fantastic work! I’ve missed these crafting videos with the beige man

[@pgjuzek]

I approve of the amount of mess, in fact I'm quite jealous of how little mess you made during your seem to be weekend project vs my average project mess. I tip my hat

[@simonspacek3670]

Just two guys, making a bowstring with things they have laying around. A lot of "I have no idea what am I doing but it looks like it is going in the right direction" energy and I love it. Oh, and thank you for that video, just last week I was thinking about what should I use when my bowstring snaps, so now I know. I would also add some beeswax on the string, just to protect it from water and also to keep those small things on it and maker of my bow advised to cover center with another string to protect the string from damage from arrows, but those are just cosmetic details.

[@gavin5410]

What do you mean by cover center with another string? Like to wrap a string around it?

[@simonspacek3670]

@@gavin5410 Exactly. The guy I bought my bow from advised to wrap it with any waxed string, he used one he otherwise uses for sewing leather. He said that then the string will survive at least twice as long.

[@Pillowcase]

For the first 15 minutes I was thinking a violin bow, and was slightly surprised Lindy also plays violin.

[@RealBelisariusCawl]

By 24:18 you’ve answered your question from 12:16 if I may say so. These kinds of activities were both useful and provided people something to do while having conversation. They didn’t need to worry about churning out hundreds of these things as quickly as possible to turn a profit. As long as they still had functional bows, they were just making spare parts.

[@goreobsessed2308]

Neat I've looked up a lot about old school bows over the years. Never looked up how the strings were made

[@DadofScience]

So that's pretty bloody remarkable for a crack at it for the first time. Bloody well done!

[@DmncPalm]

Thank you for the video, Sir Beige

[@mpersad]

Well I'd certainly chalk that up as a success. Well done both for such an enjoyable video!

[@Pattern51lover]

As someone who works or musical instruments for a living, I was pretty excited to see this show up in my feed… oh wait…

[@aewtech]

I used context clues to determine abseiling is British for rappelling!

[@lindybeige]

Oh yes! I edited that bit out, sorry. I meant to leave it in. Whoops.

[@JessWLStuart]

10/10 for the comradery! I'm not an expert on making bowstrings from flax fiber - so no comments on that. My expertise in bow strings only involves spending money and hearing sales pitches.

[@fakshen1973]

It's just the right amounts of everything that makes me with I had a chair and a handful of flax where yhe camera is sitting to talk about my stories of repelling and cockups doing such.

[@markiobook8639]

Northern Irish linen will always be the best in the world. Belgian is the poor man's derivative. The wooden sword is called a scutching sword (dehulling). How any Englishman could not know what a scutching sword is beyond the Pale. The nails would be for carding- aligning the fibres- they'll na do much for yer scutchin. My gran worked in the linen mills in Randalstown, County Antrim. From the ballad of William Bloat: "But the strangest turn to the whole concern, Is only just beginning. He went to Hell but his wife got well, and she's still alive and sinning. For the razor blade was German-made, but the rope was Belfast linen.." Belgian (not a nation really I agree with Farage) linen has always been the poor man's substitute, the other great product of Ireland being Europe's finest lace that excelled that of Bruges (admittedly very good), introduced by Anglo and Anglo-Irish aristocracy to return industry and prosperity to Ireland through cottage labour. The Ballad of William Bloat: In a mean abode on the Shankill Road, Lived a man named William Bloat; He had a wife, the bane of his life, Who always got his goat. So one day at dawn, with her nightdress on He slit her bloody throat. With a razor gash he settled her hash, Oh never was crime so quick. But the drip drip drip on the pillowslip ', of her lifeblood made him sick. And the pool of gore on the bedroom floor grew clotted and cold and thick. And yet he was glad he had done what he had, when she lay there stiff and still. But a sudden awe of the angry law struck his heart with an icy chill. So to finish the fun so well begun, he decided himself to kill. So he took the sheet from the wife's cold feet and twisted it into a rope, And he hanged himself from the pantry shelf, 'Twas an easy end, let's hope with him facin' death with his dyin' breath, he solemnly cursed the Pope. But the strangest turn to the whole concern, Is only just beginning. He went to Hell but his wife got well, and she's still alive and sinning. For the razor blade was German-made, but the rope was Belfast linen.

[@sasmunionboss]

Wow. I think I just learned where the term "tow-headed" comes from. Oh, and how bow strings were made!

[@AndyJarman]

I made a wooden sailing dinghy. It has taken a year of sailing to iron out all the issues. We tend to under estimate the skill and patience required when perfecting crafts.

[@AllisterCaine]

Our ancestors had lots of time on their hands and an incredible drive to make things work. With us having computers and smartphones today it's unbelievable to me that there's people out there saying "it was aliens". No, it was 200 years of work, many slaves and coca leaves.

[@hernerweisenberg7052]

@@AllisterCaine "no way they could have cut that granit this precisely 4000 years ago, we couldn't even do it today!" Meanwhile we make transistors only a few atoms wide :D

[@bunyslayer]

Its always lovely when you have a guest, even if he should be muttering in a shed haha! (Also, it would be cool to hear some of your tabletop stories!)

[@WalterBurton]

Mark is a real trooper.

[@MrT0001768]

I'm sure you will be aware but the principle of an even length of spun fibres is to spin and pull at the same time, the thinner sections then become stronger so transferring the stretch and increasingly the twist to the thicker sections which by that time have become thinner and so on. Peter Norcliffe, Huddersfield.