I Made This
This month: OCD Strings
Ibuild custom bowstrings, specialising in single string bows (recurve & longbow). Each string is built for a specific archer and a particular bow. I don’t keep any inventory of prebuilt strings. They are all customised and I work closely with each archer until we get it right.
I have always been a perfectionist. That's why it's called OCD. I started making strings for myself and others long before it was a business. When I decided to make it an actual business, I experimented with a few names, but when I landed on “OCD Strings”, I knew that was the right fit. It just clicked.
I am an Olympic recurve archer at heart. (I'm also a USA Archery Level 4 NTS coach). I want to know how everything on my bow works and how to fix it all myself. Once I learned about the mechanics of the bow, I wanted to know how to make the strings as well. My coach taught me how to make strings, but I soon realised I would never really get good at them making just a few strings a year for myself. That’s when I started making strings for others too. It really just evolved from there. I don’t actually remember my first sale. I was making strings for my friends and fellow archers and I think at some point one of them wanted to pay me at least for materials.
I specialise in strings for single string bows. I don’t do compound. Most string builders build for compound and will do a recurve string if they have to, but they find recurve shooters to be too picky. I thrive on picky. Those are my people and I want to support them.
I dropped out of college when I was 19 to become a flute maker.
I moved to Boston and worked my way through an apprenticeship program. After climbing the apprenticeship ranks, I arrived at the master craftsman level and made professional flutes for a number of