Change Recurve String (How Often?)

TRG

Member
I shoot with a KAP Winstar 66"/28# recurve and have been using a fast flight string (16 strands) for about a year.

Question is...I would like to know how often do I change the string?

My string isn't frayed as I have been waxing it quite often but I have noticed that the string feels not quite right.....there's some squeaking sound from it (though the sound may be coming from somewhere else) and the string feels stiff and maybe a bit stretched out??

I also feel when I draw it, it feels like I am pulling back on piano wire (???)....maybe that's just me....I really dunno. But overall, I don't feel comfortable and am afraid that it would snap in my face.
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
I shoot with a KAP Winstar 66"/28# recurve and have been using a fast flight string (16 strands) for about a year.

Question is...I would like to know how often do I change the string?

My string isn't frayed as I have been waxing it quite often but I have noticed that the string feels not quite right.....there's some squeaking sound from it (though the sound may be coming from somewhere else) and the string feels stiff and maybe a bit stretched out??

I also feel when I draw it, it feels like I am pulling back on piano wire (???)....maybe that's just me....I really dunno. But overall, I don't feel comfortable and am afraid that it would snap in my face.
If it hasn't started creeping (getting longer and not recovering) then it should be okay.
Strings break (if they do, it's never happened to me), at the point of greatest stress. After you've let go, and the limbs have moved all the way forward.

Fastflight and similar materials can last a long time. Years even. They can get a little grubby looking after a while, but that doesn't seem to harm. I tend to make a new one every couple of years or so... more to remind myself how to do it than anything else.

But that doesn't mean you should ignore it if you think something may be wrong. By all means buy another string, then shoot it in and you've got a spare, just in case. And get a second opinion from someone in person, in case the symptoms you see are for something else.
 

TRG

Member
Thanks for replying, I've ordered a new string just in case as I don't have a spare string anyway. I might have a shoot on Sunday morning so I'll get a second opinion on it as well.
 

ThomVis

Active member
If you use modern materials (ff, 81xx, etc) and don't shoot outside you don't need to wax your string that often. To much wax will harm the performance of the string through the added weight. The strings I use indoor I only wax when they start to fray a little or when I apply a new serving.
 

BillM

Member
I use my INNO outdoors and make 2 new strings each year. The latest ones are 452-X (not BCY-X as I indicated in another post but might have to rethink after what WHiteheart said) and are still O.K., but this is something I've done for many years regardless. Indoors I shoot my Infinite and am currently using a FF string I made about 12 years ago and is now just showing a bit of fraying. As an aside, over the winter I go to the sports centre twice a week and recently have been shooting about 300 arrows per session. With the club at the weekend that makes it to be about 670 arrows a week for, say, 15 weeks. I also shoot my longbow and a little fibreglass bow (back-to-basics) occassionally so the string shoots lots of arrows and doesn't appear to have degredated much in that time. Just keep an eye on it because after it has settled in and starts to creep it will be obvious.

BillM
 

TRG

Member
If you use modern materials (ff, 81xx, etc) and don't shoot outside you don't need to wax your string that often. To much wax will harm the performance of the string through the added weight. The strings I use indoor I only wax when they start to fray a little or when I apply a new serving.
What you had said about using too much wax makes sense as I am guilty as charged. I have been going a little bit mad with the wax and over the last few weeks (I only shoot once or twice every week) I have noticed that the string seems like "spaghetti" and feels stiff and is like pulling a wire. Almost like it has lost its "twanginess"....sorry to sound stupid there as I can't think of any other word or a description.

But I guess it wouldn't hurt to have a spare just in case.
 

Tuck

New member
Modern materials tend to fail in a benign manner ie usually a single strand will fray and break and the rest will still be ok, so plenty of warning of replacement. Usually bracing height or arrow velocity changes will pre-indicate failure. Back in the day Kevlar strings would last 1000-1500 shots and fail dramatically.
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
Modern materials tend to fail in a benign manner ie usually a single strand will fray and break and the rest will still be ok, so plenty of warning of replacement. Usually bracing height or arrow velocity changes will pre-indicate failure. Back in the day Kevlar strings would last 1000-1500 shots and fail dramatically.
1500? More like 500!
 

buzz lite beer

Well-known member
I think I recall correctly that original fast flight came with a good for 50,000 arrows claim, in real terms you can get a couple of years out of a well made well maintained bowstring :)
 
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