Verdict of fast flight plus?

[Mesophilic]

Hey guys, what's the verdict on FF+ ?

Alot of the discussions I can find are pretty old...even here on PA when I searched "fast flight" the newes post was from '09

Some say you have to have reinforced tips, others that they use it just fine on self bows without any overlays at all.  Some say it just comes down to construction, how the limbs bend, and if they're timed right.

So for reference I found a Korean horn bow shipping with a fast flight string over on koreanbow dot com and the tips don't look anything special to me.

Is there a difinitive set of fact based guidelines?

[bownarra]

Use what ever string materrial you want Form your nocks/string grooves properly and you will have no issues at all. The fastflight and hornbow thing is just for the really heavy bows. It is fine on hornbows under around 70#

[bjrogg]

I do like to use overlays just to help with string wear. If I don’t use overlays I round tip on back side to help avoid string wear. I do like ff

Bjrogg

[bassman]

Because of Murphy's law when I use ff low stretch string I use buffalo horn tip over lays. I make my tips more like pin nocks. Not much their in the way of  mass. All the hours of hard work to get a good functional bow  is another incentive to add bone tip over lays. Would hate to destroy the bow, because of limb tip failure. Not that big a job ,and in the the end worth the effort. To me any how.

[Pat B]

I use B-50(55) on my bows. Only one I used FF on was a 90#@30" yew war bow I built a few years back only because the B-50 stretched to much to even get it braced.
 I do have 2 osage selfbows that were given to me with ff string with no tip overlays, not even padded loops.

[Yooper Bowyer]

I think it depends on the construction of the strings.  I haven't had much trouble with 8-9 ff strand strings on hhb.

[Mesophilic]

Thanks guys, weighing the risk vs reward.

Let me ask another question...what's the mode of destruction with FF+ ?  Is it that it saws through the tips?  Or is it the shock from not stretching?

[bassman]

Many different kinds of low stretch string. Some are pure Dynema like D97. D97 plus is a blend of Dynema,  85 percent, and Vectran 15 percent. Some are 70 30, and thinner diameter than others with more string count to get the same thickness, or a thinner string if you like. Fishing line is basically the same thing. I  have made strings  from 50 lb test. They end up at about 20 strands, and when waxed ,and burnished make a tough long lasting string. Dry fires with ff string has destroyed it's share of glass recurve bows. It tears through the over lays ,and wedges in the glass limb. I had one 8 strand ff string start to tear through a white Oak once with no over lays. Caught it in time,cleaned it up ,and put bone tip over lays on it. I put the same string back on the bow,and now it is fine. It is your choice ,but for me bone tip over lays when using ff string. Other guys will tell you they having been shooting  ff with no tip over lays with wood bows with no problems. Some guys are padding the loops ,and getting away with it. In the end it's your choice.