Non Fastflite looses poundage?

[flinthead]

Was reading a thread and a guy was selling a longbow because the poundage was too great. One person said if you use non fastflite string you loose 3-4 pounds of draw weight. Can not see how this works , could understand loosing arrow speed. Need some advice here. Thanks , Roy

[cyred4d]

I would not think you would lose any draw weight since the force necessary to draw to a given length would not change with the type of string.

I would agree that the arrow speed should be lower. Maybe someone who is more knowledgeable than me will chime in.

[Whip]

I think he is mixing up his numbers.  Switching to non-fast flight might lose some feet per second.  But not poundage.  
Might have gotten confused because some have said that shooting fast flight strings allows you to shoot a bow that is 3-4# lighter to get the same speed.  But you would need a new bow to change poundage.

[JRY309]

I haven't heard that one using a different type string material.It still requires the same amount of force to draw the limbs.With dacron you will loose alittle in performance and may increase handshock and may feel springy.

[Night Wing]

All the above statements are true. If using non fast flight string, one loses speed, not poundage.

[flinthead]

Thanks , was my thinking also. The only way to lower poundage is to actually lower poundage on bow or draw shorter. Thanks , Roy

[Reaper TN]

I remember reading a thread on one of the trad forums once, it said that a ff string stretches less when the bow is drawn, so with a ff string you are drawing slightly more length, hence more poundage. Flinthead, you must have read the same thread as me. I just can't imagine a dacron string stretching that much though!

[Crash]

Maybe he was using a bungee cord for a string and lost poundage.  

[bigbadjon]

There is a bit more to it than it seems. Just adding a fast flight string does not increase performance. Would a bow be faster without reinforced tips and dacron? Many a time it will be. Dacron typically is quieter at the low end of the brace. By the time you crank up the bows brace to quiet the FF do you actually gain any perfomance? No always. Non stretch materials have a lot of hype and the fact is that some bows perform best with them, others don't, and by the time you tweak it makes no difference in others still. My advice is to try both and test which actually works better rather than go by generalizations about a products superiority.

[Jedimaster]

Maybe he was attempting to say the bow "felt" lighter. I have shot bows with FF materials and then switched to dacron and it felt as though there was a perceived drop in weight.  I rationalized it as being due to the differences in the string makeup.  I don't know if others notice but even though I shoot low-stretch strings, I like the "feel" of dacron.

[flinthead]

Thanks bigbadjohn and Jedimaster. There is always more depth to archery than it look like at first glance. There is always tradeoffs with any change in length of bow , bowstring , or brace heigth. For a simple sport there is certainly a lot of little details to archery.Thanks , Roy

[bigbadjon]

These are the type of details you need to try and get every bit of performance out of your equipment. You surely don't have to go through so much trouble to enjoy and thrive at archery. Many bows will perform admireably with no special consideration. I was wasn't trying to worry you with technical mumbo, just trying to get everyone thinking.

[Shawn Leonard]

bigbadjon, sorry but FF is quieter than dacron on most bows I have shot and yes switching to FF does increase performance over dacron due to less stretch and diameter of string. Shawn

[bigbadjon]

Most of the bows you have shot perhaps. I don't want to get into an argument about it without detailed chrono figures so we'll have to settle on having differing opinions. If you want to look up Jack Howards findings on this you can get a well tested investigation on this issue.

[Shawn Leonard]

Well have chrono'ed a bunch and with FF strings the speed gain was no less than 5-6 fps. The difference between a 14-16 strand dacron and an 8 strand FF is very noticeable, sorry no argument. Shawn

[last arrow]

Refresh my memory on Jack Howards testing.  I thought he was comparing the polyester string material he sold to dacron. I also thought his testing was done in the 1970s, before fast flight was available.  

His material came unwaxed and is lighter and thiner than dacron, and yes it makes a faster bowstring. It does stretch more than dacron and takes more effort to maintain brace height. I bought a 2 lb spool from him in about 1984 and still use it on some of my non-fast flight bows.

That being said, if a bow is FF compatible, I will use it for the reasons Shawn said.  FF also makes the bow quieter and have less handshock in my opinion.

I also agree with whip as to the answer to the original question.

[bigbadjon]

Jack Howard did the same testing with FF. What I am saying is that you do not gain performance on all bows because to reinforce a bow tip you have to add a heavy material right at the tip of a bow limb. What I was trying to say is that a bow with light enencumbered tips and a normal string can be faster than a bow with FF. I am building strings and getting input on a method to put this to the test and I'll fill everybody in on my findings. I do agree with Sean in that if your bow has a block of micarta or antler on each tip then it will need FF and it makes sense that a string with no stretch would transfer more energy. I'm just not convinced that building up the bow for the string conceives a higher performance bow. As far as quietness goes I have never experienced a FF string to be quieter than dacron at a lower brace height. If you guys have some input on the best way to test it let me know as I'm happy for any input.