Bow strings

[hogmeister]

Hi all, I recently purchased an older recurve that came with a Flemish string made of both Dacron and Fast Flight strands.  The seller said he makes and uses these as a sort of compromise to maximize speed while (supposedly) sparing the tips not designed for FF strings.  So far, it's been a great shooter with no signs of tip wear/damage, but I'm still skeptical.

I'm an enthusiastic if not well-versed collector and shooter of vintage recurves, and was wondering what the more knowledgeable (i.e. everyone here!) thought of this practice.  If most of you think this is safe for the bow and shooter, I may gradually phase this combo idea in on other vintage bows.  

Thanks in advance, and btw, I've been a member for a while, but have been, as the kids say, "lurking" and learning.  I'm going to try to become more active to get specific answers to the many Qs I have, so be prepared and apologies in advance for a possible onslaught of what will likely be some pretty ridiculous Qs!!    

[RecurveRookie]

I'm not an authority, but I've always heard use dacron or B-50 strings for the older bows.  I wouldn't risk it.  But, if you're shooting heavy arrows, might be ok?  There's a guy who collects Shakespeare recurves (1960s).  Maybe he will chime in.

[Shawn Leonard]

Risky either way and to me, if you have a nice Vintage bow why risk it. I have shot some old recurves with fast-flight and padded the loops and wrapped the ends with bowhush and had no problems but these were beater bows. I feel for the few fps. why risk an old gem! Shawn

[hogmeister]

Thanks RR, I've heard the same.  Probably treading on dangerous ground here...

[hogmeister]

Thanks Shawn, and yeah, guess it's best not to tempt fate.  I'll save the FF stuff for when I finally buy a bow capable of handling it...if I can ever stop getting lured in by these vintage beauts!

[Rufus]

No expert either but it seems to me that the characteristics of the two strings would make them not compatible. It be OK to pad a fastflite string with Dacron but I wouldn't think using them in the main string would be to bueno. Dacron stretches whereas fastflite doesn't much.
 Just my 2¢, R2

[Bldtrailer]

older bows b50 or b55

[Bjorn]

Basically what Rufus was saying If you have say a 10 strand string made up of 5 dacron and 5 FF strands you have 2 five strand strings! And they are not working at all as a 10 strand string. Strings are cheap ditch it and buy one from a sponsor here, or make a new one of whatever material you choose.

[hogmeister]

Rufus, Bldtrailer and Bjorn, thanks all for the advice - well taken.  I hadn't even considered the static FF v. the dynamic Dacron aspect - great point!

Where's this level of expertise in all the knuckleheads I run into everywhere ELSE in my everyday life?!?

[Piratkey]

Originally posted by Rufus:
No expert either but it seems to me that the characteristics of the two strings would make them not compatible. It be OK to pad a fastflite string with Dacron but I wouldn't think using them in the main string would be to bueno. Dacron stretches whereas fastflite doesn't much.
 Just my 2¢, R2

+1

[Gordon Jabben]

I grew up shooting a 35#@28" Wing recurve.  When I started shooting 3D, my wife started shooting the old recurve.  After a couple years I thought a fast flight string wouldn't hurt it since it was such low poundage and would increase the speed a little.  On the second shot, the tip of the bow broke off.  I wouldn't take a chance.

[Overspined]

Tips will likely delam.   Just get a b50

[ermont]

Don't risk the damage to the bow or yourself.

[stujay]

Agree with the consenses here, what you have in the hybrid string, is a string that acts with FF characteristics.

[Burnsie]

I might try fast-flight on an older bow if it were a beater that I wouldn't be heart broken about loosing if something were to happen, but would avoid the unessasary risk with any older classic I wanted to keep in good shape.  
There are those that claim properly padded fast-flight strings won't hurt the old bows and have plenty of anecdotal evidence of bows they have shot with fast-flight for years with no issues.  But I'm in the camp of "why risk it?"