FF strings on wood bows?

[Keenan]

Been using FF on mine with no problems but I do antler or horn overlays on everything. Juniper Junky just had a FF string cut right through the tip of a yew bow. Said it looked like it had been cut with a saw.  They perform much better due to the no stretch factor.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Keenan isnt Yew a softer wood though? I have never touched it or seen it in person.

[Pappy]

I would say with yew you would need overlays,it is pretty soft, Never tried any FF but know a lot that use it with no problem,I still use b50,hadn't seen any real reason to change,and have plenty of it. :)With all the folks going to FF ,b50 was never really that high but now it's even cheaper when you find it at the right places.
   Pappy

[Bullitt]

Yep been shootin it since 1990, on my selfbows and bbo. Built strings for Black Widow Bow Co at the time and had to try it.
Good Stuff!

Spent this last weekend at Cloverdale shootin all 3 days with Gary Davis. He's fnely shootin it, D97, on his bows! After all the years I preached him to try it, even sent him a string to try a couple years ago. After shootin his DVD, Darryl,  had told him the difference it made on his selfbow!  Took a camera man to convince him, not the Movie Star!

[Weylin]

I've got a yew bow with a FF string and no overlays. All this talk makes me a little nervous. I'd hate to cut through my tips. It's the bow I made with John Strunk, he didn't seem worried about it when we made it, so I don't know... Am I really asking for trouble? the bow's about 50#. Can I put overlays on retroactively? I have 6 layers of Tru-oil on it already.

[Bullitt]

Weylin, what is the strand count in the loops!  If the loops are padded well, I personally don't think you need any overlays! They are just protecting the small string from cutting or splitting the wood.

You can either reinforce the tips or reinforce the loops, not a whole lot of difference IMO.

Shooting an arrow with proper mass weigth is  critical , also!

[Weylin]

Ok, if I remember correctly... It's a flemish loop with 16 strands of each color so 32 total. does that sound right? If that sounds like way too many then it was 8 for each color for a total of 16. Ugh, my memory is not what it used to be. 

[Gordon]

I've got a yew bow with a FF string and no overlays. All this talk makes me a little nervous. I'd hate to cut through my tips.

Weylin, a lot has to do with how the groves are cut. If the string groves are cut at too much of an angle right where they come off the back that will create narrow shoulders that are prone to shearing. I've spent a good deal of time examining the nocks on John's bows and what he does is start the grove at a low angle and then curve toward the belly. It's unlikely that the nocks on John's bow are going to give you any trouble. That said, it's not difficult to put on overlays after the fact - I've done that many times.

[Weylin]

ok, thanks Gordon. That makes me feel better.