Number Of Twists

[Quackor]

Being very new in Olympic recurve shooting, I do pretty much everything a person from a local range/shop tells me.
In my constant strive to reduce this unhealthy dependency on people of questionable expertease I have another question for you my archery forum mates.
Something that completely blew my mind - number of twists on my fastflyte string. I'm shooting a long Eclipse riser with Epic limbs which makes it a 70" bow.
Being a good boy I read what string length Hoyt recommends for this set, and asked for it at the store. The guy gave me a 1/4'' shorter string and told me it'll be better than Hoyt's recommendation. In no position to question his authority I took it and quietly coughed up $30.
I got no info about twists whatsoever, and was shooting my string mostly untwisted for a good while. Then I read that hoyt recommends 20 te wists :/

What does that mean? 180 deg? 360deg twists? Should I do 20 with my 1/4" shorter string?

Finally, how do I preserve the "twistage" taking my bow down after every shooting. Do I have to untwist it and make that 20 twists every time to be sure my arrows fly the same? How big of a difference does it make anyway?

[Progen]

You twist a string so that the strands are wrapped together. This gives you a faster string because the strands then travel together. You also twist a string to get to the right brace height which is a range actually, rather than a fixed distance. You can twist in any direction. It doesn't matter BUT of course you have to twist in the same direction. 20 twists clockwise and 10 twists anti-clockwise will only give you 10 twists. Simple logic?

As for keeping the string twisted, simply put a safety pin through the loops when packing the bow.

[Leighton]

$30 for a fast flite string, wow. Wish I could charge that much...


Yes, you should put 20 twists into the string. The length of the string will depend upon your brace height which depends upon your setup. You have to experiment to see which brace height works best for you. Stop listening to the local shop, they just want your money, and spend more time here. :)

[frommy]

And instead of a safety pin, use a clothesline peg to hold the ends of the string together to preserve the twists in the string when you take it off the bow.

[Quackor]

Wow thx the safety pin/clothpin tip is awesome.
I do understand I need to twist the same direction -.- but is is 180 deg a twist or do I need a whole 360 deg twist to count it as 1?

[frommy]

360

[hoyt for life 2]

$30 for a fast flite string, wow. Wish I could charge that much...


Yes, you should put 20 twists into the string. The length of the string will depend upon your brace height which depends upon your setup. You have to experiment to see which brace height works best for you. Stop listening to the local shop, they just want your money, and spend more time here. :)
Over here they charge 40, but if you convert that into usd its about 30

[Progen]

Over here they charge 40, but if you convert that into usd its about 30

Is that for FastFlight? I'd be making tonnes of money shipping them to you folks then. :-D

It's only going for like AUD 10 in Malaysia. That was my first string.

[Archangel]

I don't think $30-40 is bad for a string - they take 40 minutes to an hour to make (longer for me, I don't get much practice) and you have materials. Plus the cost of a jig, at least at first.
Most of it really comes down to the fact that it's just not economic to buy all the gear required for making just one or two strings.

[Leighton]

I'm obviously selling strings in the wrong country. :(

back on topic... Just don't take the string off your limbs and you'll have no need for clothespins, twisting of the string, etc.

[Quackor]

I'm obviously selling strings in the wrong country. :(

back on topic... Just don't take the string off your limbs and you'll have no need for clothespins, twisting of the string, etc.

Agreed that would be best, but I do need to take down my bow... At 70" it's a bi*** to carry around.

[Progen]

Agreed that would be best, but I do need to take down my bow... At 70" it's a bi*** to carry around.

I've almost never unstrung my bow. Perhaps only when shooting in a string and I need to twist it after every few ends as it settles in. When I go out, I simply put the front seat back, rest the entire bow on it and tie a string from the headrest post to one of the cutouts on the riser to prevent it from moving around. You have to remember to have the plunger facing away from the seat, ie. facing upwards. Wouldn't want any movement to mess up all that hard work tuning.

[slick]

It was mentioned above that the direction of the twists is irrelevant

[Leighton]

Agreed that would be best, but I do need to take down my bow... At 70" it's a bi*** to carry around.

You just stick the limbs in the limb cases or slots in your bow case and off you go. No need to take the string off.

All this is in the link to articles I wrote found in my sig.

[Magnascan]

I've almost never unstrung my bow. Perhaps only when shooting in a string and I need to twist it after every few ends as it settles in. When I go out, I simply put the front seat back, rest the entire bow on it and tie a string from the headrest post to one of the cutouts on the riser to prevent it from moving around. You have to remember to have the plunger facing away from the seat, ie. facing upwards. Wouldn't want any movement to mess up all that hard work tuning.
Newbee question. I had always thought it was bad to keep your recurve strung, thinking it would weaken the limbs and/or stretch the string prematurely. Does it matter???

[Progen]

You just stick the limbs in the limb cases or slots in your bow case and off you go. No need to take the string off.

All this is in the link to articles I wrote found in my sig.

Yes Leighton, but sometimes when you remove or put the limbs on, you do tend to turn them a round or two and if you're a daily shooter who's too lazy to check with a bowsquare or doesn't have one, the brace height will start taking a vacation soon enough. I used to do that too, just leave them on, unstring, put the limbs side by side.

Newbee question. I had always thought it was bad to keep your recurve strung, thinking it would weaken the limbs and/or stretch the string prematurely. Does it matter???

With today's synthetic materials, a lot of folks, not just myself, have found that it does no harm to leave a bow strung up fulltime. Some folks who leave their bows strung, do shoot through chronographs every now and then and have reported no loss of speed, nor a change in sightmarks or braceheight. Pretty much says that there's no difference. Not recommended for that longbow left behind by your great grandfather though. :-D

[Leighton]

I never have that problem and neither do at least 10 other people I know who do the same thing. But mileage varies.

[Jay.G]

Mm the thing i would be worrying about wouldn't be with the losing of speed but in your case it alright progen i mean its all pretty much in fixed position in the car but sometimes if its not fixed and bounces around well one rough turn limbs gets knocked the tension on the string would twist the limbs. Not a very good idea. so i always kept in my case while im traveling but always unstrung. Just precautions you know. Limbs are made from good materials but also expensive.

with the serving yes it does matter i agree with slick it does make a difference with the serving. its more necessarily the direction in which you served the string.

and as mentioned above 30 bucks for a string, damn... that alot. Got mine from lancaster for 10 bucks lol.

[Drummo]

Over here they charge 40, but if you convert that into usd its about 30
you're a nut if you pay that much for a fast-flite string!

the most expensive i've seen them in melbourne is $23

[hoyt for life 2]

you're a nut if you pay that much for a fast-flite string!

the most expensive i've seen them in melbourne is $23
Ive never paid that much, I used to get them shiped over from perth which was only like $20 a string but now I make my own.

[Progen]

Ive never paid that much, I used to get them shiped over from perth which was only like $20 a string but now I make my own.


And are you charging people 40 bucks for them? :-D

[puddin]

i used to pay liek 30 bucks and didnt think that was bad.
now i just make my own and find them way better. also make strings for hoyt for life but dontcharge him really. just borrow gear and materials sometimes.

i dont worry about the number of twist really just twist it till i have a good tune.
and looping the ends thru eachother when unstrung is the easiest way of keeping thm from untwisting