Strings

[Crooked Stic]

There was some mention of skinny strings on Kennys test bow thread. I have always used more strands because I did not like having the serving area too small and having to build it up with floss or something else.
So if you used say a 10 strand D97 string how do you guys get the serving big enough.I have twisted in extra stands in that area but that kind of a pain to.

[Pine]

I just insert short piecec of string material until I get the desired diameter when you get the serving on.
You can test by serving a little and check the nock fit.
If you need more, unwrap the serving and put more string inside.
Done this for years to get perfect nock fit.

[kennym]

They are a PITA , but on bro's bow before the kid bow  he shot last season, his arrows were borderline stiff, so I made him a 6 strand (gasp) D97 and it cured it and may be quieter.

More strands of string is the best way.  I figure out how many needed and tie a loop in one end of it and clamp it to the rest of string with a wooden clothespin and serve as always and then cut all hanging strands off later.

[Buggs]

If you use good quality monofilament, not the crappy old brittle stuff that was sold as serving, you can pick the diameter that gets you the desired thickness, depending on the number of strands in your string.

Maybe somebody can clue me in as to the advantage of a skinny string? Seems if you make a skinny string to decrease weight and increase speed and then put 4 pom poms on the string, you have neutralized any weight advantage and increased its wind resistance.

[kennym]

Advantage— little better performance and “maybe” quieter

Disadvantage— pain in the buttocks to get center serving right

[Crooked Stic]

The skinny no stre stuff usally gonna be quiter less vibration with low stretch. Although I like good manners to go with the quite so speed not a main thing. But if I can use a skinny string and achieve this so be it.

[Jeff Freeman]

I find 18 strands Flemish twist of the old BCYX to be a happy medium. .026 serving. Still pretty quiet on my longbows and a good fair amount of speed, better than D97. More expensive but quieter and faster. It's what I love like to use. JF

[Longcruise]

Quietest string i ever used was a 12 strand natural flax/linen on a 45# recurve.   However,  it did break when grandson accidentally dry fired it. 😳

[simk]

how do you guys get the serving big enough?

just double or triple it - as described towards the end of this article ............... https://primitive-bows.com/about-strings/

I'm using 6 strands for bows below 40# / 8 strands between 40-50# / and 14 strands on a 100+# warbow. it's holding together, so why using more of that expensive material?... only slows down the bow....
I'm using 0.018 serving thread. Using D97 a second layer of serving usually is needed for 6 and 8 strands only,.... using the thin bcy452x a second layer is recommended up to 12 strands. 

cheers

[Crooked Stic]

That a pretty good article.

[Bryan Adolphe]

 Yes real good article 

[DesM8]

Agreed!  Liked it so I read some more of his stuff... Check out this one as well, that guy is doing some crazy stuff!

https://primitive-bows.com/hld-a-new-progressive-design-for-selfbows/

[Mad Max]

Agreed!  Liked it so I read some more of his stuff... Check out this one as well, that guy is doing some crazy stuff!

https://primitive-bows.com/hld-a-new-progressive-design-for-selfbows/

Yes he is awesome, he has been doing the hollow limb design for a while and he love doing static recurves and side nock.

[Kirkll]

Man I’ll bet he made a lot of wood stove kindling getting that hollow bow design down… talk about a nightmare to tiller.    I can’t imagine building someone like that that would hold up well….

I don’t care for skinny strings myself… if you build the performance into your limb design, those skinny strings are not needed anyway.

When I played with them years ago, I used to double wrap the center serving with appropriate size serving rather than adding extra string…. Pain in the arse is right…


 Kirk

[Mad Max]

Man I’ll bet he made a lot of wood stove kindling getting that hollow bow design down… talk about a nightmare to tiller.    I can’t imagine building someone like that that would hold up well….

I don’t care for skinny strings myself… if you build the performance into your limb design, those skinny strings are not needed anyway.

When I played with them years ago, I used to double wrap the center serving with appropriate size serving rather than adding extra string…. Pain in the arse is right…


 Kirk

I'm pretty sure this was his first Hollow limb bow from a rotting stave, I think while he was removing the rotten core he got the idea. Maybe NOT

https://primitive-bows.com/buildalong-of-a-hld-bow-no-33/

[simk]

these hld-bows are awseome. somewhere on my bucket list for sure.

about the strings: why is almost everybody shooting the thicker sort of strings? I must have overlooked something  Some say they provide better shooting behaviour, better accurracy? Is that so? Just curious.

[DesM8]

I'd love to give the HLD a try in the future as well.  Need to get the basics more on lock first though lol...

It seems most strings are made a good bit thicker than they technically need to be, if the only goal is to avoid breakage.  With some modern material options you could really make a string thinner than regular household thread... but that wouldn't be very comfortable on your hands to shoot, and would definitely eat up the nocks without a ton of padding in those areas.  That's an extreme example obviously.  My guess is that stings usually have more strands than 'necessary' due to the fact that its just easier to overbuild the whole thing a little, than to go through the trouble of padding up the loops and fiddling with building up the serving area a ton.  A bit of extra material is also providing some long-term durability if some of the strands get damaged.  There's also a bit of a look and feel factor as well.  I definitely wouldn't like the look of a tiny thread size string on my bow, even if I knew it could handle the stress perfectly well. 

Most of the strings made from natural materials are very thick in comparison to 'thick' B55/FF strings.  I'd be willing to bet that when people first started transitioning from sinew/natural cordage strings to synthetic strings, they made the synthetic ones even thicker than we do now just because that's what they were used to.  There's definitely a happy medium somewhere between look/feel, ease of manufacture, and performance.  I'm sure a thiner, padded up string, gives a slight increase in FPS... but my shooting definitely isn't to the point where I'd need it or notice it 

[Old3Toe]

If the center serving is thinner and somewhat disagreeable to my finger’s preference I double-serve only the top half of the serving with a thinner serving thread. Here’s a picture to illlustrate.

It’d be interesting to somehow test to see if it positively affects harmonics and sound qualities. Humm…

[Kirkll]

I’ve been waiting for it, and someone finally came up with the operative word…..

“Harmonics”….. larger size string with more strands will always have a lower pitch tone, and less audible sound even using string silencers. Those 8 strand skinny strings have a tinny sound compared to a 12-14 strand string….

Durability and adjustability is another reason more strands are typically seen.
Taking 4-5 twists on a 14 strand string to adjust brace, is quite different than an 8 strand string…….

A few things to chew on…..   Kirk

[Longcruise]

“Harmonics”….. larger size string with more strands will always have a lower pitch tone, and less audible sound even using string silencers. Those 8 strand skinny strings have a tinny sound compared to a 12-14 strand string….

So true, and proven by examining any of the stringed instruments.