Back to good ol' B-50

[Longtoke]

one of my bows has b50 and one has bcy-x.  I am happy with both strings but you can feel the difference in the b50 on really hot days. I would use low stretch on all my bows if I could.

how much of a difference is there between b55 and b50

[LBR]

B-55 is a higher grade of polyester.  Not a huge difference, but enough to appreciate for me.

[two4hooking]

I had a well respected bowyer tell me that you can hide some tiller and design inadequacies with modern no stretch strings that are called out by B50. So perhaps low stretch strings are more "forgiving" in that respect.....

[LBR]

How is that supposed to work?

When I tillered my bows or retillered bows, I used an 18 strand B50.  The final sandpaper tillering is where I can, very labor intensive, get the limb timing to that sweet spot.  If a longbow shoots rough with a B50, I have seen it a number of times that things work better with an adequately thick and padded modern string.  However, if a bow shoots sweet with a B50, it shoots really sweet with one of Chad's BCY jobs.

[LBR]

I haven't shot a bow yet that didn't feel better with a low stretch material...with some the difference is night and day.  

I'm no bowyer, but I'm sure that at least part of the reason is the string vibration.  A simple way to look at it is pluck a piece of stout twine vs. a rubber band.  The rubber band is much more elastic, so it vibrates a lot more.  Dacron is much more elastic, so you get more vibration.

[Longtoke]

Originally posted by LBR:
I haven't shot a bow yet that didn't feel better with a low stretch material...with some the difference is night and day.  

I'm no bowyer, but I'm sure that at least part of the reason is the string vibration.  A simple way to look at it is pluck a piece of stout twine vs. a rubber band.  The rubber band is much more elastic, so it vibrates a lot more.  Dacron is much more elastic, so you get more vibration.

Oh man, going from B50 to low stretch on my old 100% fiberglass bows turned them from "kids toys" to pretty sweet shooting sticks.

[M60gunner]

I am with Chad on this as well. B-55  on one bow, the rest have the BCY X strings he made me. I moved on from B-50 years ago. When I put a D-97 string on my ASL I gave the B-50 repelling rope that was on bow to wife for tying up plants.
But to each his own. What works for me will not work for the other guy. One of Murphs laws.

[30coupe]

Originally posted by Bisch:
Well, I don't own an ASL or any vintage bows that require dacron, so I'm in LBR's camp on this issue. I use D97 on all my bows, even my selfbows. I read that there are some newer, "better" materials out there to choose from now, but I have the recipe all figured out with the D97, so I stick with it.

Bisch

I agree. I make my own strings and have both B50 and D97 on hand. I can't say that I've found B50 to be quieter on any bow I've tried with both materials. It is fatter, stretches more, and wears out way faster though. My supply has pretty much been relegated to use in padding loops, although I mostly use D97 for that anymore as well. I know there are newer, maybe better materials out there now, but I'm getting old, so I probably have enough D97 to last as long as I do.

I do know that B50 will add significant hand shock to some bows. I had a Mahaska longbow that just about wore out my left elbow because I was using B50 per the recommendation of the bowyer. I finally made up a D97 string with padded loops, and it was like a whole new bow! And it was just as quiet as before!

B50 will work, but there are better alternatives available.