What's your take? Got much experience with them?

I've been involved in a discussion on a different site, and honestly it's been very frustrating. I'm not knocking them, just trying to present both sides of the coin. Some like 'em, some don't, but some of the comments and excuses make no sense, and some act offended because I pointed out the cons along with the pros.

As you know when we talked about this, I have been down this road. And from my experience, I don't like them. Mainly because its in my head and second because I had trouble getting decent nock fit. hense the reason I had you send me that 0.30" stuff. Which I had trouble serving small strings. I need to revisit.

Hello Chad,
I have had made, made myself the smaller strings. but to be honest, I don't like making the 6 strand strings, due to the padding and build up for the knocks. so when I do build a string, it may be 12 stand instead og 14 strand.

I have played with a lot of diferent strings and for me I like a skinny string, but not to the extreem. I normaly prefer 10 strands of DF97 and padded loops or 12 strands of 8125 for any bow under 60#. I don't shoot anything over that weight. For targets/3D with some of the light weight bows 40 to 45# I will go down to 8 strands of 8125, or DF97.I have one little bush bow that is 44# and it came with a 6 strand DF97 on it, and a 10 strand DF97 as a spare. I do like the way it is with the 6 strand on it over the 10 and hunted with the 6 this year..
My normal choice in the hunting bows is 10 strands of DF97 or 12 of 8125 with padded loops.
I do gain some FPS and silence over a 16 strand string, and still have a confidence factor crossing fences and brambles that it will survive.

Pete

The lower the string count and thinner the string ,you get less inertia. Which makes the limbs a tad more violent. If you have tip that can handle the extra speed, you are ok. If the bow does not have limb tips of the synthetic, bone, antler, etc. etc, nature,you can crack your tips. I have seen several bows that had the tips split and crack because they did not have the right kind of tips to handle a fast string. I have had no problem with fat dacron strings before, so I see no need to change. I do have a fastflight string on a recurve I built. I do not see enought difference in speed to justify a possible tip fracture.

Something else to consider. I have made bows for people that want fast endless loop strings. I build what they want. But do to the extra speed, I need to add a more hindering string silencer. When shooting the bow in, and after getting it set for hunting, I have noticed the added speed due to the skinny string is negated by the denser string silencers.

Just some of my observations.

Thats something I dont like as well. I dont like adding strands under my serving to get it built up to hold a arrow knock.

Just read a post on a different site where a guy is reccomending no more than 8 strands of 8125 for 49-73#, as little as 3 strands for draw weights under 37# (loops padded to 20). I asked how he came up with these "guidelines", no answer yet.

I haven't had a problem with what I call "tiny" strings--10-12 strands of 8125 or Dynaflight '97. I don't like to go any less than that except with super light draw weights.

It's rare that you get a big difference in speed. That's not why I like FF type materials (Dynaflight '97 and Formula 8125) anyway. I like the reduced stretch and creep, and the increased durability.

I don't have a problem getting my bows quiet with Dynaflight or 8125. One small set of rubber cat whiskers does the trick. I get comments from folks all the time about how quiet my bow is.

Something I haven't noticed, but plan to experiment with, is a lot of folks are reporting that tiny FF type strings are much quieter on their bows. Some are going with 6 strands of 8125, but I won't.

My two big problems with really small strings are: Too easy to cut--touch 4-6 strands with a sharp broadhead, you are liable to get slapped out of your stand by your bow when the string blows; and the lack of adjustability. Tiny strings just won't twist up or let out much. 1/4" is about all you can get either way.

I think the super tiny string thing is a fad myself. We'll see.

Almost forgot. To get a good nock fit without padding out under the serving, or double serving, is easy. Rod Jenkins told me this trick, and it's what he does. Just wrap dental floss at the nock point to get the fit you want, then apply "super glue" to the floss and it will last.

Chad

I like fat strings, have John (Gibblet) put two more strands on my strings for my compounds.