Padded loop ?

[NIGEL01]

So I have an old Bear Halloween bow I’m going to refinish.  Was wondering if I should beef up the tips, or just have a FF padded loop string made.  Will the old tips hold up.  What string maker would you guys recommend?

[hitman]

I would doubt if the tips on it would hold up to the fast flight strings.

[NIGEL01]

Found an old thread, looks to be a can of worms I shouldn’t open for a couple of feet per second!  Just thought maybe I could build up the limb tips with micarta, and pad the loops and be ok.  But why take the chance on a 60 year old bow?

[nineworlds9]

There are guys who have done what you described, but I agree with your assessment, on a nice vintage bow there's no point. A well made B50 string can be made skinny enough to yield decent performance.  No need to use ropes.

[LBR]

If it were my bow, I wouldn't risk it.  

However, I will point out that a couple of fps. isn't the main advantage to using low stretch materials.  I'd use them if they were slower.  The main benefits are stability, durability, consistency, and reduced vibration.

[SteveB]

Check the angle of the string nocks as well. Angle tends to be as much or more of an issue.

[DarrinG]

I have one recurve that is not "FF Rated". Even with a well-made Flemish B50 string, it just lacked "umph", if you know what I mean. I tried a couple different strings but the bow just wasn't a performer like I thought it should have been. So it hung on the rack and it didn't get shot very much. Then after conversing with a couple fellas about modern material strings on non-FF rated bows, I put a 18 strand Fast Flight Plus Flemish twist string on it, set it up and gave it a new whirl. I figured I wasn't shooting it much anyhow so if something broke, well, at least it broke being shot. The change in that bow with the FF Plus string was amazing. The new modern material string really woke up a sleeping dog. The bow suddenly was much more pleasurable to shoot, and the cast/trajectory (speed) was MUCH better. Not sure how much better as in fps (no chrono) but the cast/trajectory really improved and the "feel" of the bow being shot really improved. So much so that I now shoot that bow more than any of the rest of my bows. The bow has beefy limbs and tips and upon inspections, see no damage at all, so far, from using the modern string material string on it. Maybe the 18 strand thickness helps ease the load on the tips? I don't know for sure. It might crack or break tomorrow....but could also from using a B50 string. In any event, the gains from using the FF Plus string over the B50 outweigh the risks, for me and for this bow. It went from being on the sideline to now being shot almost daily. Time will tell I suppose if the FF Plus string damages it or not. To this point, after a month of shooting, all is well.

[Stumpkiller]

I have found better "energy transfer" with the older recurves using a B-50 endless loop rather than a Flemish Twist.  

If you think about it - that's what they were designed to use by some pretty savvy bowyers at the time.

[Butch Speer]

Before b50 linen strings were used. Linen has very little to no strech. Don't remember reading​ about strings breaking bows being a problem. Just saying. I use 10 strand d97 on two Necedahs and a DH Highspeed. Have had no problems at all. All of them behave much better. I guess they shoot faster. Never checked them but, they're much quieter and have much less vibration. Just my take on it.

[Butch Speer]

Before b50 linen strings were used. Linen has very little to no strech. Don't remember reading​ about strings breaking bows being a problem. Just saying. I use 10 strand d97 on two Necedahs and a DH Highspeed. Have had no problems at all. All of them behave much better. I guess they shoot faster. Never checked them but, they're much quieter and have much less vibration. Just my take on it.

[Dan Jones]

Nigel01:

I'm glad to see that you thought better of it in your second post. I haven't tried all of the fastflight materials available, but in my experience the new materials are much ado about practically nothing. Save your old bow - and your money.

'Nice old' is a variable sometimes.  I know of a couple of 'nice old' maple cored longbows that are  not fast flight capable or rated, but they are not worth shooting with out a padded modern string.  One was very difficult to load for the owner, lot of back set, he needed a bow loader, once that was done, he shot it.  I normally do not feel hand shock, this thing was a life changing event for me, it hurt.  I gave him a string off one of my bows, day and night difference.  Even though it has no wedge or  tip lams, it is still going strong with its thick maple core. On the other side, I saw a really nice Herters, lots of them around here, get split right down the limb with a D97.