Fast flight string noise

[LPM]

Recently I made a change to carbon arrows.  Mostly because I like to shoot a relativly hevy bow....70lbs, and I have a long draw...31"

After bare shaft tunning was completed, I decided to make a new flemish string for my bow during the arrow building process.  

A long time ago I learned that a string twisted too tightly in the area of contact on the recurved portion of the limb will create alot of noise.  This was back when I only used B-50.  

I make my own bows.  When I started experimenting with fast flight I started making 16 strand strings with 8 extra strands of B-50 through the loops.  

I figured that added bearing surface in the string nocks would be an added margin of saftey.  Some time later I read about other guys doing the same thing, thus reinforcing what I believed to be the right thing to do.

These extra strands were long enough to pad the entire area of contact with the recurve as well.  I used the same old light twist method to ensure a soft string to contact the limb.  

Well.....I let my guard down when I made the new string before shooting my new carbon arrows. I decided to try shorter strands of B-50 in the loop area and not worry so much about extra padding on the recurved area of string contact.  

At first I was confused.  I blammed the carbon arrow's lighter weight for all the noise.  It was bad......Sounded like a loud tap on the limb with a piece of wood when I shot.  I even had a full set of cat wiskers instead of my normal half set.  Then I tried my old 700 grain aluminum arrows............Same noise!!!

I took the string off and built a new one.  16 strands, 8 extra B-50 strands through the loops and extending through the recurve string contact area, with a light twist, just enough to make the splice. The string won't unravel because you will twist it up to ajust length.  It's just that you don't create a hard thin rope in the contact area.

The result........Night and day!!  I barely need string silencers with a 525 grain carbon arow.

I had to re-learn my old lesson......Fix the string problem before adding the string silencer and limb padding band aids.

Sorry for the length of this post guys, but this string building tip is worth trying.

LPM

[Bjorn]

Not too long a post at all to make a great point! We look for that magic silencing material to cover up for the basic offender.  

[redfish]

So... are you saying that a looser twist on the ends and loops of the string will do more for quiet than padding the ends?

[Keefer]

Duane,  I have also been playing around with the padded loops and use B-50 dacron around 14 to 16 " long on the tails of my string lays and I've only used two extra strands of the B-50 to each end lay but I twist somewhat tight and haven't noticed much noise...I use Ts plus 14 strand with an accent of choice color to each lay making it a 16 strand then pad the loops with the 14 " pieces...Now only the loops are 20 strand if you add the two strands at each lay...I was wondering if the b-50 I use in my two main lays as accents are the reason I don't notice noise? My other question is does longer strands feathering past the string grooves using the padded method the reason for quieting the bow or keeping the twist loose is the trick?...God Bless, Keefers <")))><

[Orion]

Good info.  Keeping the string thicker through the groove on the belly side of the recurve will also reduce wear in that area.  I'm a little confused by "keeping the twist loose" though.  Once it's on the bow and strung, it will tighen up quite fast, won't it.  I suppose there would be less mass, though, than a string that was braided very tightly which would "stretch" less when put on the first time.

[swampthing]

500g arrow from 70# bow, was that for a test or is that what you shoot?

[JRY309]

I have alwys liked to use Bow Hush on recurves I've had,it works great for quieting a recurve.It does basically the same thing for where the string contacts the limb.

[James Wrenn]

Getting the wax out of the strings so they are softer helps as much as anything else I have done to help recurves.

[LPM]

Here I go again with my wordy responce..... When I first started archery, all I knew about was the endless fully served string loop type strings.  
were noisy but I was into brush buttons and those cool looking spiny rubber silencers of the day, and I guess these items cured the problem.  

My bows were less draw weight and I had the camo cloth tubes over the limbs.  All this quiets things.

Manny years later after ordering a Schafer Silvertip from Paul. I learned how to make flemmish twist strings.  

Of course I had to try everything, so I made a three bundle string from B-50.  When you first learn flemish twisting you tend to want to twist everything hard because you think that it will come apart and ruin your bow if you don't.  

So I twisted the heck out of it.  This string was very hard and round at the splice and banged that recurve groove so hard I thought my bow was damaged. No silencers would quiet it.  I decided that three bundle strings were for longbows only.

But I started thinking about my other flemish strings.  Up to this point I had not shot my bow with out first having tied on string silencers.

 I put my two bundle B-50 flemish string back on the bow,removed the silencers from the string and shot a few times.  The noise was not realy too bad but I knew that I had twisted the heck out of that string as well.

So I made a new string.  This time I used the same strand count "18" and the same B-50.

 I twisted the string loop potion tightly as usual, but I was careful not to twist a bundle too hard prior to crossing over the other bundle in the first three inches of splice.  

Then I finnished the string twisting tightly as usual for that last bit of the tapered bundles.

I found that I could easily hear the reduction in noise with this new string.  From that point on I made all my strings that way.

After I started makeing bows in 1992 I started using fast flight.  I padded the loops with B-50 to create the same size and bearing surface as my old B-50 strings.  My new strand cout is "16".

My original post describes how I let my "guard down" and deviated from my normal string makeing technique and "Bang!!! the noise was back".

Here are my thoughts as to why my method works.

I think the lighter twist in the splice allows the string to lay flatter in the groove.  I think the lighter twist is softer.  

I don't think the increase in diameter matters as much for direct noise reduction. Remember the three bundle string I described above was every bit as large in diameter and entirely made of B-50 and It was very noisy.

The increase in diameter probably helps the string stay wrapped because of the increased friction between the strands even with a lighter twist.

The increase in diameter greatly increases the bearing surface of the string in the string nocks and alignment groove.  This is a good thing to help the limbs deal with the tremendous pressure applied to these areas.

Here is the bottom line............ I suppose a "string engineer", (if they have those kind of people), could not only tear me up on my spelling but describe some reason as to why my method works or can't possibly work.

I know from my experience that it works..... You guys out there that make your own strings should give this a try and see if your recurve's design likes one method better than another.  It could change your whole attitude about your bow and simplify the silencing task.  

Thanks for reading my misspelled ramblings.

[LPM]

Smampthing,

Yes this arrow bow combination is what I'm shooting right now. A bit light on arrow weight I know but I probably don't quite get all of that 70LBS and my arrows are finally stiff enough to add a little more point weight so I'm satisfied that I can shoot them safley, quickly and for sure "quietly"