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Trad String Making - B55

I

Iron_llama

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Location
NW MN
Traveling down the rabbit hole... I've got a spool of B55 and a Flemish jig, and parts to make a 1-arm endless loop jig. I've got a small but growing collection of bows between 30# and 55# that will eventually need new strings if they don't already.

Where my research is failing me is serving material. I'm seeing a lot of references to using monofilament, and also see a bunch of braided material on 3Rivers. I've seen some people discuss using various fishing lines as serving materials. I've read other information suggesting that I experiment with a variety of materials until I find one that my nocks like. I like the idea of being able to grab a spool of something at a local bait shop rather than paying shipping and waiting patiently, and I'm not super excited to order a bunch of different fibers with the expectation that only one will actually work for me.

Anyone ever use fishing mono to serve endless end loops, or as center serving? What about braided lines? Is it better to use a heavier-poundage mono or a thinner and lighter one? Why wouldn't it work? Experimenting seems relatively harmless, but I'm operating from ignorance here and don't want to make any assumptions that could damage my bow (or my face).

Thanks in advance!
 
What prompted getting the B55? Older bows?

I have not served a string with mono but had a string years ago that was made with it. The serving broke a couple hundred shots in. I wouldnt go that route for serving.
 
BTaylor said:
What prompted getting the B55? Older bows?

I have not served a string with mono but had a string years ago that was made with it. The serving broke a couple hundred shots in. I wouldnt go that route for serving.
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That's what was in stock at the bow shop. And, I've got a couple of old bows that can't take FastFlight; a couple extra FPS on my newer bows doesn't seem worth buying a bunch of extra material on hand I can't use on my older bows. I might change my mind later.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, I'll order a few spools of something from 3Rivers.
 
Just made my first string a couple weeks ago, a two bundle Flemish twist. With two exceptions all my bows are old so I think I’m going to stick to the B55 I ordered. I’m with you on servings, but I splurged and bought a few different sizes of Halo so I could fine tune nock fit. I got a Maddog Archery long bow this fall that he used D10 on so I might try some D97 on that in the future.

Just noting, a spool of Halo is going to last me quite some time I can already tell. So unless you’re going to be making many, many strings the shipping and wait time likely isn’t going to be much of an issue.
 
TheBlindCat said:
Just made my first string a couple weeks ago, a two bundle Flemish twist. With two exceptions all my bows are old so I think I’m going to stick to the B55 I ordered. I’m with you on servings, but I splurged and bought a few different sizes of Halo so I could fine tune nock fit. I got a Maddog Archery long bow this fall that he used D10 on so I might try some D97 on that in the future.

Just noting, a spool of Halo is going to last me quite some time I can already tell. So unless you’re going to be making many, many strings the shipping and wait time likely isn’t going to be much of an issue.
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Thanks!

Would Halo also work for endless end loops? Some people use the same material for serving everything, and some use different materials for center and end loops. Selecting center serving to accommodate nock size makes sensd to me but what makes that material unsuited to end loops?
 
Good question that I don’t know the answer to, I’ve just spent a lot of time reading about making Flemish twists as that is what I prefer.
 
I like nylon serving. I also use Fast Flight serving on occasion. I used Diamondback for years. Pretty abrasive stuff but durable.

Nylon is cheap and hard to beat.
 
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