Howard was right and I missed it!

[Ric O'Shay]

I was asked a question they other day by one of the TG members regarding my Union Jack longbow. Since the UJ is a string follow, I decided to quote Howard Hill as to what he said regarding the straight end string follow longbow. So I pulled "Hunting the Hard Way" off the shelf and started thumbing through the pages. On page 86 I found what I was looking for. Actually, I found MORE than what I was looking for.
"A straight-end longbow that follows the string slightly, with good cast, carries a heavy string, is pleasing to draw, and is comfortable in the hand........Wait a minute! Wait just a minute! Many times I had read not only this book, but also this very page and I had completely overlooked "CARRIES A HEAVY STRING". How had I missed that?
For years I had built and played with the high performance string material. I built the "skinny" string. I built every kind of string that has been widely touted. But I had overlooked what Howard called a heavy string.
Now then, I did not have any No. 13 Barber's flax linen, but I did have just enough B55. Now Howard called for 40 strands of No. 13 to make a string for a 40 pound draw bow. I figured 40 strands of B55 would be like a 1/4" rope and with nylon serving, 5/16" nocks just would not fit. So I settled on 18 strands of B55 and twisted up a string for my Union Jack.
I was thrilled the way the bow performed. Easy on the drawing fingers, smooth, durable and quiet. The 5/16" nocks are still a little tight, but I can live with that. I may jump up to 20-22 strands if I can just find my 11/32 or 23/64 arrows with the appropriate sized nocks.

[Grey Taylor]

Careful, Danny. You just may start an anti-skinny string movement!

Guy

[bsv]

Danny I made a b-50 for a wesley I just acquired,Huge difference in the shot and noise level (there is none).Burt

[Rossco7002]

I too am a fan of fat B50 strings n the Hill styles!

[two4hooking]

Yup, I figured this out recently as well.  I like at least 15 stands of B50.  Another thing that will help quiet it down is very small loops....just big enough to slide down the top limb and barely enough to get it on the bottom.  

I am all in for the anti-skinny string movement!

 

[Mudd]

I am really happy that you re-found this detail.

I certainly like the feel of a bigger string.

My life will be easier now....lol because I know how to make a heavy fat string...lol

God bless,Mudd

[2treks]

"Anti-skinny String Movement"
That's funny Grey!

Danny, I Haven't tried it yet but lookey what I found earlier this year. Not sure what size it is but I also have some No.18, and it is smaller than that.

 

One thing that I never found was that having the minimum number of strands of modern material really did all that much for my longbows performance, other than helping to tolerate a slightly stiffer arrow. As far as hand shock and vibration, a thicker fast flight seems to cover that ground and still has the advantages of a thicker string without any stretch. That linen that Hill used had very little stretch in it, perhaps less than the B55.

[Bladepeek]

I don't understand why a heavy string would be easier on the fingers. Seems that would be a functiion of the serving, which could be as thick as you want to make it. I do know a heavy string on my 66" Abbott (admitedly not a string follow bow) was heavy enough to bounce back and forth quite a few times, slapping me on the arm each and every time. A skinny string stopped after one bounce.

[Ric O'Shay]

Chuck -
If you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it works out.

Danny

[longbowray]

I like a 16 to 18 of B-50 work for me . Try some other and always go back B-50 and 95% of my bows are hill

[Green]

Danny - thanks for the research and the testing.    

I'm not a fan of the skinny's, but Dacron doesn't perform for me as well as D10.  When I get my hands on a string follow bow, then I'll probably give it another chance.

[WildmanSC]

Originally posted by Grey Taylor:
Careful, Danny. You just may start an anti-skinny string movement!

Guy

Guy,

I'll join that movement.  Skinny strings exacerbate the pain in my arthritic fingers.

Bill