Modern strings

[DC]

I have run across statements like this many times

Most older bows with wood or wood/glass limbs are not designed to take the performance strings such as Fast Flight, BCY 450, etc and Dacron is the preferred choice for these older or lightly constructed recurve bows.

What do they mean by"designed to take"? I've always(except for the first) used Fast Flight without a second thought. Didn't like the stretch of B50. What can go wrong using "modern strings"?

[JW_Halverson]

When I first got started futzing with these primitive bows, this was on par with the holiest of sacred texts. You just couldn't use this material with wood bows at all, blah blah blah.

Yeah, can't make good bows from hickory, too. Or boards. Kiln dried wood explodes. Yew explodes if shot below 32 degrees F, or in a dry climate. So many things that are just so wrong.

[willie]

there might be more than this to it, but a wood string nock can split easier with a smaller diameter string that comes home harder. serve loops appropriately

[SLIMBOB]

Been using almost nothing but FF since the 90s.  I was told it would break a self bow.  Being one who has to pee on the electric fence, I used FF on the first bow I ever made.  25 years later it's still shooting....with a FF string.  Someone said it was so, and it got repeated often enough that it was accepted as fact.  Kinda like JW's examples.  All proven to be not so.  Except for the belief that Osage is The King Of All Woods.  That has been borne out as absolute.

[Stick Bender]

I have never had a problem with using FF plus or D97 with wood bows but I have freyed a few loops with glass & carbon bows due to hidden edges but I alwas pad loops with B50 I know guys that use artificial sinew for padding some glass manufacturers dont recomend FF but mostly HH type bows !

[Woodely]

I have seen older bow tips fail becasue of the using FF and such.  I have an abundance of B-50 and will stick with it.  Switched to B-50 on my FG longbow in the hopes of reducing draw weight.  It seems to help the bow is measured accurately at 45#.  So I'm thinking the B-50 will bring it down a couple notches.  The stretch does not seem to bother me.  On the safe side I use 14 strands. At the end of the day all I'm concerned about is Accuracy and I think this is what most of us are aiming for for.  No pun...

[bjrogg]

Slimbob. I watched somebody else pee on the electric fence.lol. I also watched guys liking FF and I gave it a try. I like it.
Bjrogg
A lot better than peeing on the electric fence

[Del the cat]

I use FF all the time only damage I've seen is on a high poundage crossbow prod shooting light bolts at about 240 fps. It split down the limb. Decent reinforced nocks prevented it on the next attempt, so I figure it was the my poor design rather than the materia .
Del

[bradsmith2010]

I think the small diameter can be harsh,,,overlay or padding loops can resolve that,..I shoot both

[SLIMBOB]

Yeah, I pad the loops since most of my strings are 8 strands. I used to make them 12, but only because the diameter of the string felt better. On the softer woods I use overlays, but with Osage, no problem with self knocks, so long as you fatten up the loop.
BJ...the need to pee on that metaphorical electric fence is a curse and a blessing. My 13 year old son suffers from the malady. It’s painful to watch sometimes😫. But it comes with its benefits.

[IrishJay]

Any time I see a manufacturer advertise a bow as FF compatible I always assumed the the lack of stretch in the FF compared to the dacron was a factor in that. In terms of self bows it seems to me that if you tiller a bow out to 28" with a dacron string, and then later switch to FF it's stressing the wood in much the same way as a slight overdraw. Since the FF string won't stretch like the dacron, the limbs are going to have to move a bit more to reach the same draw length.

[SLIMBOB]

I’m not sure that is the real problem. If you have ever watched the videos of bows being Dry Fired, it’s brutal the amount of vibration in the limbs. With some stretch, I would figure that at the moment of impact, the stretch acts as a shock absorber. The absence of stretch, like hitting a concrete wall and all of that energy is absorbed by the bow. With an arrow knocked, much of that energy is spent propelling the arrow. This is just my thoughts on the matter.

[IrishJay]

Yeah I assume any difference in the stretch is actually of minimal impact, but as an engineer I can see why manufacturers recommend one or the other. Say they develop and test a particular model of bow with dacron, that's what they're going to recommend. The bow may work just fine with FF, but they didn't test it with FF, so they won't list it as FF compatible.

As for selfbows I think you're safe with either or, especially if you tiller the bow with the same string material you plan to shoot it with.

[ohma2]

Always used the non strech strings and never a problem .i do think the super thin strings should be padded at the nocks.

[DC]

I guess I wasn't thinking about the thinness of the strings. I can see that as being a problem now. As I said I've always used FF but I originallyused 10 strands. When I dropped to 8 strands I started padding the loops. I usually use overlays unless it's a very hard wood. I guess I may have just dodged the bullet by good luck more than good management