number of strands

AndyS

Supporter
Supporter
Unfortunately colour can throw things out, I found that 16 strands of Red (very waxy) 8190 gave me the same nock fit as 20 strands of White (hardly any excess wax) 8190. Both were burnished to remove excess wax under 120kg of tension, and served using the same serving material.

"a thicker string should feel softer in the fingers where as a thinner string may feel like a wire cutting you "

I've heard this opinion from several sources and never understood it. Surely unless you are using a larger nock groove with a thicker string, the bit under your fingers is served to a diameter that fits the nocks, so however many strands in the string, the bit under your fingers will be the same diameter, so why would it feel different?
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
OR possibly an extreme case such as.... a very thin string with a thick but soft serving, The serving compresses under the pressure from the very thin string and causes the fingers to feel the thinner string "cutting" through that softness.
 

dottorfoggy

Member
BTW the bowstring dimension pdf is good enough to confirm that my serving is too big, I have to order the 0.15, because the 0.18 work perfect on the 16 strands, I have tried yesterday.
 

imelrose

New member
To answer and quantify the original question. Each strand of 8125 has a tensile strength of approx 100lb. This is reduced to approx 60lb around the nocks due to the bend. Therefore you would have no issue reducing the number of strands in your string. Over the 48 years I’ve been involved in this great sport I’ve found that all the theory is all well and good but the only way to truly find out if it works for you is to try it. The intangible bit that you can’t measure is how it feels to you and whether you believe it works or not. Once you’ve got past the basics, archery is more in the mind than about equipment. Most of our equipment is far more capable than we will ever be so these small differences are more about whether they make us feel better about using them rather than the tangible, measurable change.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Imelrose. I like the ideas that it is in the mind once you get past beginner stage. One thing that I feel goes hand in hand with how the equipment makes you feel; is knowing you are making progress, or have discovered an issue and found a solution to work on.
 

imelrose

New member
That’s my experience anyway and as I was 8 years on the British Field Archery Squad it certainly proved to be the case for me. Most archery kit out there is considerably more capable than any archer will ever be. The key to success is to find kit that works for you and that you have confidence in and that is rarely the newest or most expensive available. I see so many people buying the most expensive kit available and worrying about tiny details when they will never know if it makes a difference or not instead of concentrating on good form and building confidence. It’s the same in every sport and something perpetuated by the kit manufacturers as you would expect.
 

Andy!

Active member
I wouldn't bother about investigating the natural frequency of the string. It's a product of length, weight and tension. And one of those properties is changing at all times of the power stroke. The only time that tension is the same is at rest, which is pretty much brace height, with no arrow on it.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Hi Andy! I see what you are getting at, but I didn't explain very well. The string travel on the whole of the power stroke, if left to its own devices, will have a "pattern" to it. Each time it is shot. the pattern would be the same unless the archer did something odd. I am just guessing, obviously, but increasing the string weight would give a different pattern compared to the lighter string. Put the same arrow on each string and test to see if the arrow responds better to one or the other. It might give results similar to those given by arrows with heavier nocks. Changing the timing of the power stroke would change the position/attitude the arrow was in when leaving the string.
 
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