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String materials (again?)

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Marc St Louis:
I've used dacron on bows up to 110# @ 32" and they are okay once you get them stretched but you need at least 18 strands

Ruddy Darter:
I use XS2 (Brownell and co.), 16 strands with two 6" length  strands added at each loop to thicken out and strenghen. I found it pretty good and comes out much the same thickness as f.f.

        Ruddy.

loon:
I'm sold on the cheapest HMPE, which so far is D97 (though all I have so far is brown D10... foolishly spent extra for barely better), all the different ones I've seen in that web store are significantly more expensive and I don't buy that they're too much better, though I haven't tried them. The composite vectran/HMPE materials are apparently a little bit 'better performing' (so harder on the bow?) but also less durable, or at least more prone to fray.

Some people say the difference between dacron and D97 equals the difference between D97 and BCY-X or whatever. wat. I so don't believe this.

For Dacron I think you'd have to make a thick string with as little twisting as possible (without allowing for ballooning).

why not ask Joe Gibbs about his super thin hemp string in his 180lb bow, if I remember right.. O_o

mikekeswick:
All these 'different' 'fastflight' strings use a material called dyneema. 'Fastflight' is just a marketing name. You have dyneema and dacron. B50 etc is dacron.
If you can't get your bow to brace height with dacron you simply need to shorten it more, there will come a point where the stretched string is the right length after stretching to brace your bow....but that is scary right!?! Once you get it braced you can pretty much get rid of the stretch by getting a piece of thick leather, folding it in half then rub the string like a madman until it is hot.
Natural materials like flax, hemp etc will work just fine IF you can source good enough quality raw materials. Most linen you can buy is pretty much junk for bowstrings (without having to massively overbuild them) because the fibers are all machine processed. This results in short fibers rather than long fibers. These short fibers need more twisting to make a string and aren't anywhere near as strong. I suspect that Joe's string is made from full length fibers off a homegrown plant.
I'll warn you now though....learning to make natural material strings is a long road of trial and error :)

Lucasade:
I found a reel of superb linen, but it stretches like crazy when you pull 100 pounds with it - I had to move the bottom knot about an inch so far and it's only been up on the tree twice...

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