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Wanting advice, tips on bow string.....

wartigerwartiger Member Posts: 3,861
I have been bow hunting for only a few years now and finally stepped up to a quality bow. I have a Diamond (Bowtech) Triumph bow that is pretty much brand new, bought last year, did not hunt with it but have shot it ALOT practicing for this year. My question is this....with the string being new, how often should it be waxed or should it be? I have had guys tell me that they wax thier strings as often as every week and then a few tell me that they don't wax, just replace the string every three years or so. I can't seem to get a consistent answer. And, this may be a stupid question, but WHAT EXACTLY does the wax do? I have had differing answers to this as well.

Comments

  • bigfoot_4bigfoot_4 Member Posts: 310 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hi Wartiger,
    A good rule of thumb is if you shoot allot once a week. Wax is very cheep compared to a new string and cables plus the fee for replacing them,serving in your peep and renocking. Plus your time to resight your bow in. But to be honest must guys wax when they see the string start to get a fuzzy look to it. As a guy that works on bows I could never understand why someone would not take care of there string. Good quality wax around 5 bucks compared to 30 to 120 bucks for replacing strings and cables plus extras, depending on the brand of strings and cables. And it only takes five minutes to wax a string and cables.
    Just so you know the rest of this was copied and pasted for the simple reason I hate to type.
    Waxing the bowstring is necessary for a number of reasons. First, under high magnification, the fiber make-up of the string is visually different from what you may think. Millions of extremely fine fibers going in many directions make up a single strand. The general flow is unidirectional lengthwise with a clockwise twist. All those millions of fibers need a lubricant between each other in order to not create friction or any other force to compromise their integrity. The more unidirectional fiber flow, the better the string. Regardless, the lubricant must be present. That is the reason for the wax. A barrier between fibers is always present yet also holds them together and their total strength is enhanced. With our high-tech world, wax is still the best material for this purpose.

    Secondly, for much the same reasons, wax protects the string from the environment. Dirt, rain, clothing or any number of contaminants come into daily contact with the string. The wax forms an effective barrier protecting the string from these outside forces. If there is not enough wax present, the string may be receiving damage from many areas. These are internal as well as external.

    Good luck and shoot Straight!!
    Bigfoot [8D]
  • shoff14shoff14 Member Posts: 11,994 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I would wax and clean my strings about every 2 weeks or so. You say clean? How do you clean? Well, you see all the dirt that gets in the wax, it turns your strings brown. Take a piece of paper about 2 inches wide x 5 inches long, fold it, now put the the string inside the fold and hold the paper on the string with your thumb and index finger. Rub your string with the paper. Feel the heat? Repeat up the whole box string, you will use several pieces. See all the dirty wax that gets on your paper. Then give it a fresh wax job.

    I think the "replace your string every three years or so" comment is a joke. When I had the time and was shooting 100-150 shots a day, there wouldn't have been a string in 3 years. Strings stretch, you can't stop physics. The better quality of string, the less stretch. You need to replace your bow string when the stretch becomes too great to adjust that you can't keep your bow in tune. With the Diamond, you have one of the better manufactured strings on it.
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