Yet another string question

[Greg Owen]

I just received a used bow that has a frayed string. The bow is an 1950s vintage Bear Cub. The string it has measures 56.5" not under tension. The bow is marked 62".  I assume that this string is a 58" string. This fits with all the recommendations I have seen in my searching of the other threads here. One question I have is this. How much can you effectively shorten a string by twisting it? If 58 inches turns out too long can I twist it to a 57 inch? I would suspect 1/2 inch would probably be about all you'd want to shorten by twisting but thats based on a guess. Anyone have a good idea how much you can shorten a string by twisting? Thanks

[AllenR]

Greg,

Hopefully someone will post the correct starting brace height for that bow.   I don't know it and that is key to tuning it.

First, be sure that the new string is not Fast Flight or one of the other newer fibers.  Use only Brownell's B-50 or BCY's B-500.  These two are made for the older bows and have the necessary "give".

The length of the string will be from 3" to 4" shorter than the length from nock to nock.  It will probably give you a brace height around 7 to 8 inches.  A new 66" bow that I got recently, required a 63" string to get brace height right.

Twisting will shorten the string significantly.  Usually you don't want start with more than 1 or 1 1/2 twists per inch of string, but when I was too lazy to build a new string, I've twisted up as much as 3/4".  That's probaly 5 or 6 twists per inch.  It worked, but not the best string I've ever had.

The B-50 and B-500 strings will stretch with use, so it's usually a little better to start with fewer twists, then add twists to keep your brace height adjusted.

Good luck with it,
Allen

[Big Dave]

You can twist it until it starts kinking

[Jeremy]

Just to add to the confusion, I've had 3 50's Cubs on my bow rack at one point or another (2 now) and all three have been different lengths even though they were all marked 62"      

The recommended brace on the old cubs was 6-1/2" to 7-1/4" (I think)  All three of mine seemed to like the 7-1/4" brace best.  Too much below that and they started getting pretty shocky (esp. the '57 Cub on my rack now).  I'll measure the strings on the bows when I get home tonight to give you a ball park number, but it should be around a 59" string.  Dacron is best measured under strain (on the bow or weighted with something heavy)

[Greg Owen]

Thanks for all the answers. This is a great place to learn. But I guess string length really doesn't matter until I get a bow stringer and some arrows.  Thanks again

[Greg Owen]

Ok, I found a string. Now another question. How long does it take for an older Dacron string to stretch and to be ready to tune the system?

[bentpole]

Gotta get Golden Hawk in here [LeRoy].He just built a b-50 for Gator1's old Bear Bow.

[Golden Hawk]

I'd give it a good 200 shots to be set in. JMHO

[Greg Owen]

Ok at the rate I am shooting, that will be about 10 years.  Thanks for the replies. Next time the weather and daylight cooperate I will get started. Soon days will get longer. These days with only 8 hours of daylight can get to a person.