The skinny.. on skinny strings?

[BillW]

I have had a SBD string with the silencers and loop wraps on my PSA3 for about a year now and it has done great. I like skinny strings and since buying the SBD I have started making my own. This SBD string is still good but it will be replaced with one of my skinny strings only because I like making strings and now I know how to do it. I would say, if you don't make your own strings, the SBD strings are an excellent product well worth the money. And to address your compatability question on a BW I say YES they work great and are quieter.

Bill

[mec lineman]

I like the skinny string on my A&H,only problem I'm having is my new nocks are too loose.thinking of wraping dental floss on serving to snug my nocks a bit.Has anyone had to do this and will the floss hold up?

[Bowwild]

Is Oliverstacey the same as SBD?  

Are these skinny strings (SBD?)as durable as say 12-strand Astro FF?

[LC]

IF you have a properly made skinny string made for your bow, chances are better than not the bow will outprefrom in all aspects as compared to before. But it has to be made correctly and it's not a one size fits all. Thats why alot of string makers hate it IMHO.

[Oliverstacy]

Originally posted by Bowwild:
Is Oliverstacey the same as SBD?

 

Nope we’re different people…never me the people from SBD but I’m sure they’re nice people!

I like skinny strings on certain bows of mine but not all…I have several longbows and they all have “low” strand count strings, but they’re still somewhat larger in diameter.  What I mean with that is they’re 8-strand padded to 12 BCY 450+ strings…the individual stands of 450+ are .019” in diameter compared to .016” for D-10 and D-97.  You can make a low strand count string and still have it larger in diameter…I will not shoot anything else on a longbow, simply amazing material in my eyes!  

I’ve made several of the above strings for recurve shooters and they all have given me great feedback on them…they all seem to really like the feel and the sound associated with them.  I have a couple recurves and I’m going to test the material on my 60” Kota Kill-um and 62” WhisperStik Mojo in the next month as one of these will be my turkey set-up.

If you make a 6 or 8 strand padded D-10/D-97 string I recommend double serving them with a combo of .018 braided 62XS first and then either another layer of the .018/.021 62XS or .019/.021 Halo depending on desired nock fit.  I can single serve an 8 strand padded 450+ string and people find that a plus…not all but most.

I guess it’s a thing a person needs to try and see if they like the feel and sound of the finished string.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

Josh

[LimBender]

I just got SBD's (6) on a 43 recurve and 49 lb - they are nice workmanship. It does take a little getting used to looking at, and if you bump the string it makes a higher pitched twang, but it is at least as quiet at the shot (especially on my recurve with yarn wrap), and to my untrained self seemed a bit faster and crisper.  The serving and loops (built up) are about the same size as my old 14 strand.

[Rooselk]

Several weeks ago I purchased a skinny string for my recurve. Let me first say that the string is of excellent quality and the SBD customer service is outstanding. However, having said that, let me also add that I am still not convinced. My bow is rather loud and has a very noticeable "twang" when I shoot with that string. Even so, I am not yet ready to give up on it and go back to my old "fat" string. I'm going to first play with the brace height a bit to see if I can get rid of that annoying "twang".

[Southern Sam]

Yep, cant have the string twang goin on!! It drives me crazy.  This is very good info guys, I really appreciate the responses given.  I'm taking all this into consideration.  Seems more good than bad as of now.

[Arwin]

I had the same "twang" from a FF string I bought from a local archery shop.
 Josh's strings don't have that twang, must be due to the padded loops?? Add some cat whiskers for silencers and my St. Joe is dead quiet.

[Bowwild]

This is a useful thread. I almost ordered two "skinny" strings last night, but held off, for now.  

Untill recently I wasn't even willing to shoot fast flight "fat" strings. However, when a bowyer advised shooting a FF model bow with FF strings would add 5-8 FPS, which is like adding 5 pounds to my draw weight (without the risk of over-bow form issues)I became very interested. I shoot recurves in the 45-48# range. If I can get a little performance boost out of the bow by my choice in strings I'm interested IF:

1. I don't increase the risk of a dry-fire.
2. The bow doesn't become distractingly loud.

A lot of thoughtful people here believe in the value of these skinny strings so I'm going to pay attention.

[Rob DiStefano]

i've been using padded endless low strand count hmpe strings for decades.  no, not for 'speed', for consistency.

'skinny strings' require the use of hmpe (you know, 'fast flight', 'dyneema', '450+', etc) and not polyester (you know, 'dacron', 'b50', etc.) simply because the typical hmpe strand will exceed 100# of tensile strength and the best dacron will be 50# (but usually less).

at most, a good and way overly safe tensile strength bowstring formula is 12 x the bow's holding weight.  some folks go down to 10 or even 5 x the holding weight.

a 43# bow (12sx43# = 516#) needs a minimum of 12 strands of dacron polyester (12Sx45# = 540#).  that holding weight would also be fine at 10 dacron strands (10Sx45# = 450#).  or 6 strands of hmpe polyethylene (6Sx100# = 600#).  add to the mix the durability factor, so low count hmpe strings might be better served by adding two more strands to the count (8Sx100# = 800#).

for my 55# longbows i use my own 8 strand d'02 endless strings exclusively.  each loop is padded with 4 strands of dacron and i use #4 nylon for the loop padding and .019" halo spectra center serving (man, is that stuff tuff!).  12sx55# = 660# (the tensile strength that needs to be met). 8Sx100# = 800# (the tensile strength of 8 strands of d'02).  800#!  even with only 8 strands that's a heckuva strong bowstring!  

i just replaced a nearly 3 year old skinny string on one of my longbows.  it was used for 5 hunts, drug through the bush and swamps, three dead hogs, and many many hundreds of arrows pushed by it.  save for a slight unravel of the halo center serving, the string is in great shape and i'll save it for a back up.  

imo, a side benefit of low strand count hmpe bowstrings is that you do get some 'string spring' simply because yer cutting down the typical mega high tensile strength strand count down by 50% (8 strands versus 12 strands). however, the creep and continued stretch of hmpe is severely limited.  

so, to recap - i believe that 'skinny strings' offer the following benefits ...
 
* consistent low to no stretch/creep
* some measure of elasticity on release that's good for the bow
* low noise on release

try one, give it a good workout.

[JL]

I recently ordered a 8 strand SBD string from Braveheart for my 64" 48# Blacktail. I installed the string last weekend and saw a increase in horsepower right away. The bow was quick before but now it just may well be the fastest bow I have ever owned. Up to this point, a Border Black Douglas TD wore that crown for a long time. I don't notice any increase in noise, rather a slightly different pitch on the loose. I installed 1/2 of one hush puppy at the two 1/4 marks on the string. Seems like a good combo. Arrow nocks fit great on the serving. I have yet to find a flaw with making the switch to skinny strings.

JL

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by JL:
... I installed 1/2 of one hush puppy at the two 1/4 marks on the string. Seems like a good combo. ...

that's what i do, too - just one hush puppy for the entire string.  don't need a whole lotta silencing with low strand count strings, and the less silencer weight lowers the string mass weight a bunch.

i don't wanna get into the business of 'string speed', but for the very most part there is typically an increase of somewhere between 1 and 5 fps with skinny strings.  whether or not that's perceived is another matter, and speed is not really why you wanna use a skinny string.

[Bowwild]

YES! Now I'm getting fired up!  I've learned more about this "skinny" thing this morning than I ever hoped to know.  Great, objective iformation.

[bigugly1]

After reading all this I think I'm going to order two of them form my takedown. One for my 45 and 55 but think I'll get 8 strand for both.

[Crash]

I have an 8 strand D-10 SBD on my Widow CHX and it went from a loud, I need to sell this bow, recurve to a "Holy Crap" this thing is quiet as most longbows recurve.  Night and day difference.  Don't know if the speed went up or not and don't care, silence was what I was after and I found it and it is sweet.

[Southern Sam]

My PSA V is fairly quiet, but gaining a few FPS and silencing it more cant hurt nothin!!  I'm not really concerned about the speed as Rob stated, more the stability of the string and quietness is what I'm lookin for.  Very educational post Rob, thanks!

[Southern Sam]

I just ordered mine from SBD.  I ended up with a 6 strand string with the acrylic silencers. I didnt get the recurve wraps since everybody has been saying they are so quiet to begin with. Now the waiting begins!!

[huntingarcher]

I also ordered one from SBD for my 50# psax.We shall see.

[bswear]

Has anyone shot through a chrono and documented faster speed?