How much string stretch?

[wildschwein]

#3708

Hullo folks. My question is this. Does a dacron string continue to stretch throughout its life span or does it eventually stop? I ask because the string that came with my bow was originally set to a brace height of 7 1/4 inches, and has now stretched out to 6 1/2. I presume that this is normal and that eventually it will stop. Am I wrong?

[hrhodes]

#22842

I am no expert, but I have a 60″ recurve with a B-50 string on it that was braced at about 7 1/2″ and it stretched till the brace height was just under 6″ after a thousand shots or so…. I just twisted the string up some and brought the brace height back to about 7″ which I found I liked better anyway. I have shot another thousand or so arrows through that recurve on the same string with no ill effects. I don’t know when they stop stretching…:?:

[wildschwein]

#22876

Thanks for the reply hrhodes. Has your string stretched again since you twisted it back up to 7″?

[David Petersen]

#23541

Wildschwein — My experience is that all strings will stop stretching eventually, assuming the bow is kept strung and/or shot regularly. So far as stretchiness I rank them Dacron, B50, and FastFlight in that order. If you keep your bow strung all the time and/or shoot it regularly, even Dacron will quit stretching. But if you leave a bow unstrung for long periods of time, esp. with Dacron, you may encounter another round of stretching. I presume this is because much of the stretching is in fact the thightening of the twisted strands under pressure. When a bow is left unstrung, the strands and twists can loosen. This is the way I’ve always viewed it, anyhow. I for one will never use Dacron again. It’s too fat, and B50 can be used on any bow and is all-around better. And even for primitive folk, how primitive is Dacron? IMHO

[hrhodes]

#23755

Wildschwein, I haven’t noticed any appreciable change in the B-50 string since the adjustment. I do like the simplicity of the B-50 strings…a little slower maybe, but I don’t have to research a bows capabilities to use them.

[Stephen Graf]

#24422

I had a string once that I had to twist up all the time, for at least 6 months. I could swear that the twists must have been slipping, but I could find no evidence of it other than having to keep twisting it up.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. What I do is check the brace height AFTER I am done shooting. Then when I unstring the bow for the day, I can twist the string up a bit in preparation for the next session. Saves a little effort.

[strait-aero]

#24616

hrhodes wrote: Wildschwein, I haven’t noticed any appreciable change in the B-50 string since the adjustment. I do like the simplicity of the B-50 strings…a little slower maybe, but I don’t have to research a bows capabilities to use them.

You hit the nail on the head,Howard….Same reasons I use it. AND it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to twist up a new string for yourself or a buddy.:) Wayne

[George Tsoukalas]

#25685

I think it will stop. Just to add and particularly if you twist your own, the best scenario is to have 1-3 twist per inch. The more twists the more stretching. Jawge

[wildschwein]

#26092

Thanks for all the info folks.

[Author]

Posts