What a difference!

[Guru]

Never in my life did I think it would have been the string.....

Week before last while preparing for the Muzzy shoot,I finished up the skins on my lighter Kempf Kwyk Styk "Cy" and started shooting it. I had the GPP almost exact as my heavier bow("Timex"), the grip is a duplicate,length is the same,and the bow actually has more mass weight to it, so the switch should have been a piece of cake.....

But something just wasn't right, the bow felt different after shooting "Timex" for quite a while while getting the skins on this bow......I had the same feeling during turkey season...but I got it to the point that it was ok and killed my 2 birds with it....but now I felt the same way...something just wasn't right.....

 Arrow flight wasn't quite right, bow had a strange vibration and buzzing sound at release.
I tried everything I could think of. Brace Ht., nock point, silencer placement and more and less of them, point weight,nock orientation,everything......believe me this isn't at all like a Kwyk Styk!

  Not one to complain too much, when I got to the shoot, I told Shawn that something just wasn't quite right and I wasn't comfortable shooting,and my consistency just wasn't there.....He had already noticed my arrow flight at the warm up area before the shoot started........


I'll be back.....I feel I need to give a good back round to this story.....

[Huntrdfk]

Is this the story I've been waiting for about the newer KS?  Here I am about to go to bed and I won't have access to a computer till tomorrow night......figures......'night now.

David

[cjones]

Keep it coming bro!

[hormoan]

Are we getting strung Curt  :D  String what about the string?    

                    Brent

[Danny Rowan]

OH Curt, we is waiting for the "Rest of the Story" as Paul Harvey used to say. The man is turning in to a regular Charlie Lamb, not a bad thing, mind ya.

Danny

[bentpole]

SOOOOOO?????? Hey Guru what's the story?

[mcgroundstalker]

Hold The Phone... HOLD THE PHONE!... Is this gonna be one of those "I would have won if I only...Bla, bla, blaaaaa....."  

Only kidding Guru. You Are My Hero... This Week.

... mike ...  

[Osagetree]

Well??

[Jack Denbow]

Well, this is killing me.

[Shawn Leonard]

Yup, I caught something was not right from the get go, this should be good. Shawn

[Guru]

Sorry guys...

David,yes I'll back up a bit and let you know about the "near disaster"....

Danny, I just got jarred by your post....I need to send you a PM bud...I'm very sorry    


...So backing up a bit first...the evening before the shoot,while desperately trying to fix things. I unstrung my bow (remember, I had just finished skinning 2 days before) to change the brace height....Strung it back up and went back outside to shoot again to see if it would make a diff.

I drew back the first arrow...let it go and .....I hear and feel it at the same time...POW,and the bow flies out of my hand and in what I remember as slow motion...slams down on my blacktop driveway and clanks around, finally coming to rest!  I was mortified!!  

 For the first time in 22yrs of shooting trad...apparently I hadn't strung it right and the bottom loop wasn't in the groove...when I released....the bow shot the arrow...I hit my target..but when the string slammed forward it unstrung itself and the shock caused me to drop the bow because of my loose grip......

  I was lucky,and un-lucky.....Lucky because the skins were no worse for wear....but the bottom tip wasn't so fortunate....





 Needless to say I will never be so lax again while stringing my bow      

Besides the cosmetic damage the bow was fine....

So Muzzy went well,but I couldn't help but keep thinking why this bow just didn't feel right....

I didn't shoot for a few days,and finally on Saturday for some reason I figured I'd switch the string from my old KS "Timex", to my new one "Cy"....

.... I made both of these strings...both TS-1,but the one one "Cy" was padded with dacron and had 2 strands less.......I'm pretty sure 12 instead of the 14 strand I'd just put on it.......

...Now I really didn't expect much...but I took it outside(after very carefully stringing it,and getting the BH to 7 1/2" where I like it),in the DRIVEWAY....

The first shot was like magic!  I couldn't believe it!  No buzzing, no vibration, not hardly a sound, not a ripple in my arrow flight,instantly more accurate....just like my old friend "Timex"!!!

I'll be back.....

[Guru]

So all this leading up to my question...

How can a string make such a difference?

Could it possibly be the dacron padding in the loops(this is the first I've shot like that)?

Could it just be that adding 2 measly strands made that much of a diff.?


In 22 yrs. I've never seen such a change in how a bow acts from just a string...has anyone else had this happen?

I guess I have to make another string to make sure that the results will be the same......


Sorry for the long post,just felt the need to share and learn something from you guys.......

[Osagetree]

[LBR]

It can make a difference.  I've dropped and added strands tinkering around, and seen more of a difference with some materials than with others.  Padding out the loops helps too.

Chad

[DesertDude]

Ouch Curt...  So you found that less strands gives you better all around performance? I was reading a post from a FITA/Olympic archer stating that he found anything less than 18 st of a FF material made his groups larger.. He found the string more stable... Nice to see a positive view from the other side......Mark

[Danny Rowan]

No, Mark, he changed from a 12 strand string to a 14 strand string. The 14 strand string made the bow shoot better. Dang Curt, hope "CY" is ok that tip looks nasty.

Danny

[Carbon Caster]

Curt,

Try a 12 strand string with 4 extra strands in the loops (2 in each bundle end).  See how you like that.  BTW - I pad with 8125 the same as the main bundles.  I haven't found using dacron instead to make a difference to me noise wise.  The diameter of the loop strand is the main culprit for noise and vibration in my testing.  The recipe abouve is what I use with my 8125 strings and has become my prefered string.  Strings are a BIG factor in the shootability, speed and feel of a bow.  Not all strings are created equally either.  You already know that though.  LOL!!!  Have you broken the news to Jack yet about the tip?

[Littlefeather]

Great post Curt! Good to know there's still plenty to learn about this simple sport. For the record, I hate dacron. I only use it on selfbows that have known weak areas. I shoot FF on all my bows. Even some selfbows. You can take a sanding block and sand an angle through that tip and make a custom look. You'll never know that it's been damaged. Do both tips and become an instant owner of a Kustom Kwik Stik one of a kind. Thanks for the story. CK

[Charlie Lamb]

Curt... A long time ago (I'm talking pre B-50...B-43)when bowstrings only came in white and there were no "choices", I found that string composition and even construction could be critical to accuracy.

I often culled several strings (of my own making) to find/make ONE that performed the way I wanted it to.

What I made in those days were endless loop. They had to be exact in length to bring the bow to the exact brace height I wanted with absolutely no twist in the string.

I'm not so picky these days (don't shoot as well either...hmmmm!) but still prefer my endless loop strings to have 0 or minimal twist at proper brace height.

[eagle24]

Originally posted by Guru:
In 22 yrs. I've never seen such a change in how a bow acts from just a string...has anyone else had this happen?

I'm playing around with strings on my new Turkey Creek LB.  Big difference in how it shoots between the TS-1 string that came on the bow and the DF97 string I made for it.  I have'nt formed a good opinion yet, I'm still experimenting.