Eight strands of D97 here.  Loops are padded to 16, which is probably overkill.  My MOAB is a touch faster, and WAY quieter (if you MOAB owners can imagine that).

QuoteOriginally posted by Ladams:
Dont meen to sound stupid but when people talk about the creep in a string is that the same thing as stretch??

Yes.

As far as you sounding stupid, I can't hear you talk but I really doubt that you sound stupid! At least, the best I can tell by what you're asking, you don't seem stupid!

There are NO such things as stupid questions here.

No, stretch and creep are not the same, when we speak of modern fibers.

Another vote for Astro Flight by Brownell. I twisted up a 12 strand 3 bundle and loved it. Barely needed silencers the stuff is so naturally quite... and its FAST!

Stretch is how much a string will increase in length under tension and return to it's original length.  Creep is how far a string stretches under tension and stays there.  Stretch happens on every shot.  Creep happens over time in relatively very small amounts.

With the light poundage bows I shoot, I'll never put a 6 or 8 strand skinny string on either of my bows.

I been playing with 14 strands of D-10 with very good results.. Makes a nice string

Quote "The problem as I see it, is when we shifted from dacron to the newer much stronger material, we never redesigned how we build the strings and essentially just used the same number of strands. The result is we've all been shooting strings that are much stronger than necessary;"

I could not have said it any better! I finally switched to D97 and hated it. Bought some UC and absolutelty love it. The bow is quieter, better feeling and yes way faster, but I'm sure there will be some experts come along and tell ya it can't make that much difference in speed. I simply have a chrono and three years of testing to confirm my bows shoot better in all categories with skinnny UC strings hands down.

When it comes to skinny strings, I worry more about accidentally cutting 2 or 3 strands of a 6 strand skinny string. In my book, safety out weighs speed hands down....especially when one has a $1000 bow in their hands that takes 15 months to get one.

My questing is what type of sering and size do you use with the new string material. I have a hard time now getting my arrow nocks to fit tight now they are almost to loose now to fit with 16 strands FF. If I go tp 10 or 8 strands what type of serving do you use?

Blake, you can use the newer braided servings offered by the string manufactures.

Halo serving in .024 works pretty good with say 10 strands.  There is also crown serving in different dias.

Some folks double serve with different sizes, also. I prefer to add strands in the serving area, then serve over that!

i've got a goodly stockpile of bcy dyneema'02.  this is the same as their dynaflight'97, only with reduced wax.  i spin endless strings exclusively and don't need the added wax content that flemish strings require.

i prefer 8 strand d'02 strings with 4 strand padded loops.  loop serving is .017" #4 nylon for softness, and the center serving is .019" halo spectra.  i use this same string formula for all my longbows bows, from 50-55#.  8 strands of d'02 equates to at least 800# tensile strength.  you could easily use that with an 80# bow.  

though the resulting lighter mass weight bowstring probably is a tad faster than the same string at 12 strands, that's not why i use it.  it's quieter than a thicker string and, imho, i think the lesser strands afford some increased measure of "give" (stretch, not creep) over using more strands.

Thanks for all the input guys,
I will be ordering a sbd string to try,
This place is amazing when it comes to knowledge.
Larry

The "skinny string" debate went on pretty much the same some 15 or so years ago--it's nothing new.  

String building has changed somewhat over the years with the newer materials, but just like shooting a bow, the fundamentals don't change.

Just like any other compromise, there are trade-offs.  Do your homework and figure out what works best for you.

Chad

The new Astrofight material is really nice.
It is softer than most of the other FF materials, and really holds it's look well, but for me it has had more creep than Ultracam, and D10.

That said - I prefer the Ultracam, or D10 in that order of preference.

Because I shoot 68#, I have settled on a 10  strand Ultracam string with the loops padded to 16 strands for my best all around performance combined with longevity of the string. I use .024 Crown serving which gives me a great nock fit using GT nocks.

I've built quite a number of 6 - 8 strand Astroflight strings for folks shooting in the 55# range or less, and have had no complaints.

Rick, I build that same string for a very well known bowyer! He thinks the same!

What about the UCam do you notice, over the Astro Flight?

Do you also build endless strings?

Frank,

the Ultracam does not hold it's brilliance as well as the Astroflight does, but for my use it does not creep near as much, and that is why I use it.

Performance wise, they are almost identical.

The creep that I get with the Astroflight isn't really a problem, and I recommend it highly for anyone who wants to use it, but for me - I like to keep my strings at a maximum of 3/4 twist per inch after shot in, and I have to build the AF real short, to achieve that. The UC gets me at the twist count I want real quick, and it stays there.

I used to build endless strings all the time, but haven't built one in probably 10 years or more. Personally I think endless is a better performing string, but not by much, and I just like the look of flemish, so that's what I build for myself.