Skinny Strings Chronograph Results, on Video you may be surprised

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Al Dean:
I have found on D-97 that 10 strand is the peak and 8 strand or 12 strand start to loose performance.

change to a less stretch fiber like f8125, 8 strands.

[MSwickard]

Essentially, each string shot the same.

28" draw was 168 fps
30" draw was 183 fps

Can't remember exactly, but I believe the 12 strand D97 @ 30" went a whopping 184 fps!

[James on laptop]

Must have been shooting some heavy arrows.

I don't consider any of those skinny strings either.I see some build a smaller string and then double serve a whopping 9" of serving on it.If that is the case you add more serving weight than you lost in string weight and put it in the worst possible place on the string.You can't expect much change when that happens.Part of building a performance string is not just reducing strand numbers but reducing serving weight as well.Never seen a skinny that was not faster and quieter than a larger string.Some so much so you don't  need a crony to tell it either. jmo

[Rob DiStefano]

yes, 9" of doubled center serving negates some of the advantage of a low strand count string.  so, don't do that.  there is no need for any string to have a center serving more than 6", and never a need to double serve it ... mine are 4" or less, i have no arm string slap.  

[James Wrenn]

Mine are around 4" as well.Never needed any more than that.  

[Predator Man]

I havent read everyone's response to this point but I cant really say that you told me anything that I didnt already know.  YOu were shooting an arrow well over 10gpp.  Skinny strings do nothing for heavy draw weights or heavy arrow setups. You have a really heavy arrow there. Second, what kind of silencers are you using. I dont want to make accusations but they look like cat wiskers. I would challenge you to replace those with something lighter like beaver balls or a little yarn from walmart.  

The point I am trying to make is that we did not test the skinny string in the environment in which it can benifit us.  Its benifit comes in when your using a light poundage bow like yours with a light arrow.  Get a 7 gpp arrow and take those cat wiskers off if thats what you were using, replace with some 3 dollar a roll yarn from walmart, and watch that 10 strand 8125 take off from the pack.

Very interesting to see the speed change at 30"

Shame your using a widow though cause most of my bows run a 6.75 to 7.25 brace. I would like to see what if any change that makes. Widow's just have a high brace.

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by LC:
Well not to contradict but I've did tests myself, first off I think to qualify as a "skinny" string your talking a maximum of 8 strands but more likely 6 to 4 strands. I've been making my own recurves and endless loop strings for about 12 years now. With my own chrono set up on the same day switching from a 50lb recurve with a 12 strand B50 string and then changing to a 8 strand D97 I gained 10fps shooting the exact same arrow combo(500grain), the bow just "felt" better shooting and atleast to me was way more quiet. Originally the arrow bareshaft tuned PERFECT with B50 but with a "skinny" D97 string showed weak spine. Your mileage may vary though.I've since switched to Ultra Cam though.

I agree with LC. There is a speed increase when going from a thick to a skinny string. I realize this thread is a test of speed but to me that's not the best benefit to going "Skinny". To me the benefit is the padded loops on the skinny strings allowing us to increase performance while making our bows actually quieter. Before padded loops were widely know of a skinnier string meant an increase in bow noise.

[LBR]

Seems to me some folks are getting caught up on speed, period, rather than the comparison itself.

Maybe you don't consider 10 strands of 8125 to be "skinny", but compared to 14 strands of TCD 150 it is.  Of the three string weights shown at the beginning, the heaviest is 197.5 grains, the lightest is 138.9 grains.  The lightest weighs over 40% less than the heaviest.  That is a HUGE difference--but the speed is identical.

Also, the TCD 150 is a very low stretch/creep material.  It is similar to Ultra Cam.

Anyhow, point being that in the test shown he didn't gain anything as far as speed/performance go with a material that has practically no stretch (TCD) vs. a material than has a tiny bit (8125) vs. a material that has just a little more (Dynaflight '97), or a string that weighed over 40% less than another.

Honestly I was a little suprised.  I expected the lighter weight string(s) to show slight increases vs. the heavier ones.  I didn't expect any earth-shattering differences, and don't expect any when the next round of tests are performed.

OS, reckon you could come up with a decimeter to gauge the noise difference?  From what I can gather, there is a noticeable difference there.

Chad

[scottm]

Thanks for your time making the vidio.It was very interesting.I enjoyed it.

[Mudd]

Can someone tell me in country yokel what I've missed because I can't view the video and don't understand most of whats being written. Just plain old country boy english might work...lol

God bless,Mudd
"Ain't no point in being ignorant if you don't show it!" Papa.

[MSwickard]

Mudd

All the strings tested, shot the same speed at a draw length of 28 (168 feet/second) and 30 inches (184 FPS) with the same arrow.  This is intersting since the strings masses were different and the amount of strand were different.

Mike

[gilf]

Originally posted by Rob DiStefano:
yes, 9" of doubled center serving negates some of the advantage of a low strand count string.  so, don't do that.  there is no need for any string to have a center serving more than 6", and never a need to double serve it ... mine are 4" or less, i have no arm string slap.      

That's always been my take on skinny strings, part of the benefit is overall less mass, but this is just put back on via padding on the serving.

But it goes further than that, to me it seems there is way too much serving on a string as it is, I like your idea of a 4" serving Rob.

[Rob DiStefano]

you didn't miss much of anything, mudd,

[Mudd]

Thank you MSwickard, I understand that!!

So you basically can save money by using less material if you trust the string to stand up under your bows draw weight.
The overall weight of the string can be kept lower by keeping the serving shorter(4")..

Did I understand correctly?
Thanks!
God bless,Mudd

[wtpops]

Here is a note off of the A&H archery web site. They sell two kinds of string for their bows this is the skinny one made by SBD strings.

"In testing on our bows we have found the SBD Ultra string up to a 6.3 fps gain with a 30" draw on light weight limbs and a 2.8 fps gain at a 28" draw. Heavier limbs will show less of a performance gain. These strings should not be used on bows above 53lbs."

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by wtpops:
Here is a note off of the A&H archery web site. They sell two kinds of string for their bows this is the skinny one made by SBD strings.

"In testing on our bows we have found the SBD Ultra string up to a 6.3 fps gain with a 30" draw on light weight limbs and a 2.8 fps gain at a 28" draw. Heavier limbs will show less of a performance gain. These strings should not be used on bows above 53lbs."

interesting ... not 50# ... not 55# ... but 53#    

[wtpops]

Originally posted by Rob DiStefano:
 

Originally posted by wtpops:
Here is a note off of the A&H archery web site. They sell two kinds of string for their bows this is the skinny one made by SBD strings.

"In testing on our bows we have found the SBD Ultra string up to a 6.3 fps gain with a 30" draw on light weight limbs and a 2.8 fps gain at a 28" draw. Heavier limbs will show less of a performance gain. These strings should not be used on bows above 53lbs."

interesting ... not 50# ... not 55# ... but 53#      [/b]

Yup there the ones that have to warranty the bows so i guess they have to draw the line some where.

[Bjorn]

OL originally turned us on to skinny strings when he made one for my son. We shoot 50# ACS bows with 12 GPP woodies and 6 strand D97 strings down from 12. We went to small wool silencers and no more rubber whiskers.
Our experience has been that the bows are even quieter-though not noisy before either.
We have always used 5-6" of serving and fairly small nocks.
After the change we both needed stiffer arrows-we cut almost an inch off to get the same bareshafting as before.
Speed increase was 4 FPS for us, and that's free!
Have not tried lighter gpp set ups, and we don't shoot them anyway.
D97 has too much creep-so we have now got Chad making 6 strand 8125 strings with less creep.
For us skinny strings have been a definite plus.

[George D. Stout]

LBR said, "Seems to me some folks are getting caught up on speed, period, rather than the comparison itself."

Well the speed is the focal point of the testing, regarding the different strings.  And I'm sure 4 less strands will be significant from 10 strands....maybe another 60 grains....who knows without a complete test.

It is interesting, but not all-inclusive until the real skinny strings are included.

[Robert Honaker]

JMHO, but I aint never gonna bet my hunt on six strands.

That's why I gave up the CB. Got tried of messin with my equipment all the time and wondering if there was something I could do to the bow to make it faster/quieter.

Shoot one bow, get it tuned, shoot alot and stop changin stuff all the time.
It will pay off.