Twisting a string too much?

[oxnam]

I have a new Martin Hunter with the factory string.  I have it twisted A LOT just to get to their recommended starting brace height of 7"  Can twisting a string this much be bad for the bow?  If I recall correctly, the flemish string was actually 59" for the 62" bow.  I think I could have easily started with a 58" and that is not even factoring in the stretch yet.
oxnam

[McDave]

I was curious about this myself, so I looked it up on the internet and found that the most common recommendation was to have at least 20 twists in the string, but no more than 1 twist per inch.  Just looking at my bowstrings, they looked like some were already twisted more than that.  But if I carefully measure one full twist, I find that none of my bowstrings actually have more than 1 twist per inch.

Clearly, this is not meant as a firm rule, but more of a guideline.

[Bobby Urban]

It's not going to hurt your bow but if you have it twisted so much that it knots up or spins up onto itself when you take it off the bow it is going to hurt performance.  Not a lot but a bit.  If nothing more there is way more mass in that string than need be and that alone will slow the bow a bit.  I would make another string a little shorter to start with.  

I have one like that on my fishing bow and it will shoot ok - but I would not hunt with it(for big game)

Bob Urban

[katman]

A string with a lot of twists will shorten up when left unstrung for a while and after restringing takes maybe 20 shots or so to properly lengthen. At least this happened when I first started with skinny strings and had to twist them to much, don't do that anymore, I just make them skinny's the correct length now. So if you use it for hunting don't just string it and go to the woods, brace will be to high. Best to get or make a shorter string imo.

[Van/TX]

Gosh who knows.  I've been hearing for years that they don't know how to measure draw weight correctly.  I still don't believe that.  Maybe they don't know how to measure AMO bow length either ;-)...Van

[s_mcflurry]

I'm not sure about the bow as long as the brace height isn't way beyond what's recommended. Over-twisting a string would introduce internal stress on the string itself, though, and could cause it to "age" faster (ie, break sooner).

[Jon Stewart]

I think the rule of thumb for string length is 3" less for a longbow and 4" less for a recurve.

Example 58" recurve takes a string 54" long and a 58" long bow takes a string 55" long.

[Jon Stewart]

Derrick, PM sent

[Mike Vines]

I always thought that you measured the longbow from nock to nock unstrung to get your length.  I just started twisting them, so I should probably find out before I get going to much in it.

[vermonster13]

AMO is string length is equal to 3" less than marked bow length to bring the bow to proper brace regardless of whether it is a recurve or longbow. If a bow isn't marked AMO then it is whatever the bowyer designed it as for string length and it varies greatly among bowyers.

[Jack Whitmire Jr]

Twist it to the correct brace height and shoot it, keep it simple , don't over think something that simple. Been doing it that way for 20+ years and don't worry about it .Have I said to not worry about it yet  

[swamp donkey]

I make my strings not to have many twists in order to get the brace I want. I dunno if its true or not but I was told years ago that too many twists shorten the strings life.


    Ammo length is as vermonster13 said 3 inches shorter than the marked ammo length while under tension from weights no matter what type stickbow. But that varies slightly sometime because as weird as it sounds the bows were made so that they got the brace height they wanted at the ammo string lengths. In other words the bows were made to fit the strings. Thats why if ya measure, some bows are slightly longer or shorter than others but marked the same length so that they got the higher or lower brace heights they wanted. Heres the ammo standard....http://www.texasarchery.org/Documents/AMO/AMOStandards.pdf

[Lee Robinson .]

I prefer a twist every 2 inches or so, but I will use a string that has a twist every 1-3 inches. Although I personally wouldn't use a string that has more than 2 twists per inch, an old timer informed me that a string should have at least 1 twist every 3 inches and no more than a MAXIMUM of 3 twists per inch. If a string ever "bound" up when unstrung, I would either trash it if it was old, but if new I would take the flemish apart and reflemish one end shorter.

[DesertDude]

Ok I guess I'm a Little different. After 20+ of making strings, I twist the untill I have the proper brace height, if the string starts to knot up then I use a shorter one. I have some with alot of twists and some with less, I have never had a problem with a string with alot of twists. Just as long as it's NOT knotting up before I string it up.... Just me.....

[Bill Tell]

I use string leaches and if I get too many twists it cuts them in half.  So I try to stick to the one twist per inch rule.

[oxnam]

I'll have to measure tonight, but it looks like a full twist every 3/8".  I also need to check what the actual lenght of the string.

Is it hard to "reflemish" the string to remove some extra material?  Also, would it damage the string to hang a 150# dumbell from it to help stretch it out?

[McDave]

It's easy enough to untwist one end and re-twist it so the string is a little shorter, but I don't know that I would want to do that if I didn't already know how to make flemmish strings.  So hang onto the string that is a little too long, and after you are comfortable making strings, you can shorten it if you want to.  Otherwise, strings are not that expensive, probably $10-20, so you might just want to get a new one.

If they sent you a string that was too long, or stretched too much, with a new bow, they should be willing to replace it with one that is the correct length.

[s_mcflurry]

If it's a typical 14+ strand string, they're supposedly stretched under 100lbs of tension when they're measured, so I'd try 100lbs to try and stretch it out...not sure if 150lbs would be too much.  Better safe than sorry.

[James Wrenn]

Darn wish I had never read this thread.   :(  Now I got to start counting twist in my string.   :rolleyes:

It the string does not try and twist up on itself when you unstring the bow I have never worried about it or counted any twist.My shooting can't tell how many twist are in it and if it don't knot up it is all good.  

[dpowers311]

If the brace height is 7 then twisting the string to make it 7 the bow should be ok, the string on the other hand could start breaking strands and then the string. Most string manufactures have a twist per inch rating.

Dave