Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
Fast Flight on warbow
bow-toxo:
--- Quote from: Davepim on June 01, 2009, 05:21:25 am ---
I agree with you adb, I always use a string that has more strands than necessary, simply to feel thick enough. I have always used fastflight or fastflight plus - never seen any problems. Linen and hemp also have virtually no stretch or elasticity.
Cheers, Dave
--- End quote ---
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Apparently you folks no longer serve your strings, the traditional way to increase finger comfort and get a proper fit for the arrow nock as well as preventing wear on the string without increasing the total thickness of the string which was thought to reduce cast.
Davepim:
--- Quote from: bow-toxo on June 17, 2009, 11:37:00 pm ---
--- Quote from: Davepim on June 01, 2009, 05:21:25 am ---
I agree with you adb, I always use a string that has more strands than necessary, simply to feel thick enough. I have always used fastflight or fastflight plus - never seen any problems. Linen and hemp also have virtually no stretch or elasticity.
Cheers, Dave
--- End quote ---
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Apparently you folks no longer serve your strings, the traditional way to increase finger comfort and get a proper fit for the arrow nock as well as preventing wear on the string without increasing the total thickness of the string which was thought to reduce cast.
--- End quote ---
I always serve the string. How can you shoot with an unserved string? The strands will start to separate and wear through! When I serve a string the serving compresses the strands to a tight cylinder that is, on the whole, thinner than the unserved string; the only solution is to add extra strands just at that point or to have a thicker overall string. If you force me to be blunt about it, I'd say that by making strings thinner (by use of modern materials) than the originals would have been, we are gaining an advantage in bow performance that would have been unavailable to archers 500 years ago! If we want to keep bow performance roughly equivalent to what it would have been with a medieval bow, whilst still using modern materials, then we need to make strings thicker, even if this results in a loss of arrow cast.
Dave
bow-toxo:
--- Quote from: Davepim on June 18, 2009, 04:28:16 am ---
--- Quote from: bow-toxo on June 17, 2009, 11:37:00 pm ---
--- Quote from: Davepim on June 01, 2009, 05:21:25 am ---
I agree with you adb, I always use a string that has more strands than necessary, simply to feel thick enough. I have always used fastflight or fastflight plus - never seen any problems. Linen and hemp also have virtually no stretch or elasticity.
Cheers, Dave
--- End quote ---
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apparently you folks no longer serve your strings, the traditional way to increase finger comfort and get a proper fit for the arrow nock as well as preventing wear on the string without increasing the total thickness of the string which was thought to reduce cast.
--- End quote ---
I always serve the string. How can you shoot with an unserved string? The strands will start to separate and wear through! When I serve a string the serving compresses the strands to a tight cylinder that is, on the whole, thinner than the unserved string; the only solution is to add extra strands just at that point or to have a thicker overall string. If you force me to be blunt about it, I'd say that by making strings thinner (by use of modern materials) than the originals would have been, we are gaining an advantage in bow performance that would have been unavailable to archers 500 years ago! If we want to keep bow performance roughly equivalent to what it would have been with a medieval bow, whilst still using modern materials, then we need to make strings thicker, even if this results in a loss of arrow cast.
Dave
--- End quote ---
Sorry, I mistakenly understood that you were making the whole string thicker for finger comfort. To have a string the thickness of those on the MR bows, it would be a 1/8" thick at the serving if the width of MR arrow nocks has been correctly reported. Isn't that pretty much the thickness of bowstrings on more modern longbows and worldwide bows in general ? Also, archers of 500 years ago already had access to silk strings. The Book of Roi Modus states;" it will drive an arrow or bolt farther, and strike a heavier blow than any string made of flax or hemp: because it can be made of whatever strength and thickness the shooter pleaseth", so maybe you could have a thinner string in good conscience.
Davepim:
Quite so Bow-toxo, quite so. It is indeed possible that some of the the strings aboard the Mary Rose were silk and therefore thinner, but built up under the serving at the nocking point - we only have the internal width of the arrow nocks to guide us. I believe that something resembling a (linen?) bow string was found but its construction was unidentifiable due to degradation. I do not build up the centre of my fastflight strings, I merely use a thicker string for the draw weight of my bows than most people consider necessary, for the reasons that I've already stated, assuming most strings were originally hemp or linen and therefore thicker than we are accustomed to.
Dave
Rod:
Thick strings are not uncommon in primitive styles of bow where either the materials dictate or where cast is not the deciding factor.
Every culture makes it's own choice within the context of common usage.
One way of dealing with finger discomfort is to make a thicker string, but being aware of the trade-off involved.
I use serving to protect the string and if necessary to make a minor adjustment to nock fit.
The string is made intially to fit the standard nock when served.
With a self nock, it can be cut to be slightly tight and each shaft then finessed to give best fit when worn in through repeated shooting.
On an unused shaft I prefer a slightly stiff fit.
If one gets too loose through heavy use I sometimes line the nock with a layer of glued on tissue paper.
Rod.
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