Which Bowstring Material?

[mmattockx]

Newb question of the day - Which material do I want for a bowstring? B50, B55, fast flight, something else?

I am part way through my first board bow and will need a string in a few days. It is a Mollegabet style made from maple with a stiff handle made from laminated maple and walnut. 68" NTN, target draw weight is 30lb @ 28". I made tip overlays from laminated walnut and maple to match the handle, the maple is where the string will bear against the wood. I would like to use fast flight if I can, but I don't know if the maple will be hard enough for that.

All advice/experience/thoughts are welcome.


Mark

[bassman]

You can use FF or low stretch string on your bow. To be safe pad the loops so you have a nice nock fit. You could also put a bone tip over lay on your tips. Either will work. Been shooting FF on self bow, and backed bows for quite a while.10 strands with good results.

[DC]

+1

[mmattockx]

Excellent, FF it is. The way the overlays are it would be hard to put a bone overlay on top of them once I have cut grooves for the tillering string. I have deer antler laying around and will plan to use some on the next bow. How do I pad the loops?

Thanks for the replies,
Mark

[Weylin]

Another vote for fastflight. I use 12 strands of D97. I don't pad my loops. It's fine. It does well even on yew self nocks.

[bentstick54]

I’ve been using D97 12 strands on my Osage selfbows with no tip overlays with no issues. I do not pad the loops and have had no problems.

[simk]

 I,m doin my strings with 8 strands of bcy452x

[HighEagle]

With the fast flight and low strand counts do you have to pad your serving? If you do how?

Chuck

[simk]

Chuck, on the ears I just put another 2 short pieces of B50 each side and on the middle serving I do it as suggested here by Simon:
http://primitive-bows.com/about-strings/