test.three.tree.strings.html

Tony & Tracy Cochran

223 W. Angelica St.

Rensselaer, IN 47978

(219) 866-9502

stringmaker@3treestrings.com

Business Hours

Monday - Friday: 9AM - 6PM

Saturdays: 9AM- 12 Noon

Closed on Sundays and holidays

The Flemish twist strings made for this review by Tony at Three Tree Strings have a very neat apearance and have some of the nicest loops I have seen. The braids are tapered smooth and tight , and have no loose ends sticking out.There is sufficient twists in them to allow for a strong tight bundle, but still have lots of length adjustment in either direction. Initial stretch is normal ,and expected,however after a bit of shooting the strings have stabilized and remain constant.

The loop sizes are good, and not excessively large or small. The strings were all waxed well without excess, and each string arrived in it's own envelope ,labeled with material, size and strand count.

The serving length's and positions I asked for were exactly as I wanted them . I don't believe in extra long servings that rob your performance .

While on this subject I see that Tony serves his strings in the oposite direction to the twists in the string. My preference is to serve in the same direction as the string twist, but to date the serving on these strings has remained tight.

The strings supplied for this review were ordered to fit 4 diferent bows of totaly diferent designs. In some cases I gave detailed instructions, and in other cases I only provided minimum information. I was curious as to how Tony would react and build them.

When I asked for a string to be made to AMO length for a longbow it came exactly as expected, 3" shorter than the AMO longbow. When I gave a specific string length for a bow it was also exactly as ordered , however we do have an issue with Recurve String length's.

It is not to surprising that Tony made these strings 4" shorter than the AMO length of the bow. To many this is a normal and standard practice,however it is not right. The problem lies with the fact that many bows are labeled AMO and are not built to AMO specs. For years this has created problems as many of the bows were not marked properly. String makers just followed suit and the wrong lengths were becoming almost standard. Today most bowyers that mark a bow AMO do so corectly, and this will take a string 3" shorter than marked. The bow I wanted the string for is a bow made to AMO, so I had to do some twisting to get to the right brace height .

I pointed this out to Tony and noted to him that the string measuring directions for recurves at AMO are in need of correction on his website. I expect that he is adressing this as I write . The best way to avoid this is to take your string off the bow and measure it, them mark it down where you will not loose it. Actual string length's are always the best way to order a string. It avoids confusion.

Here is a link to the AMO specification page . We can not fault the string maker when your bow is not labeled properly. It is up to us to ensure we know what we need. Tony asked me about the actual string length for this bow, and I did not provide it. If you order AMO recurve, expect a string that may not fit, from any string maker. It is not his fault if the bowyer does not follow AMO standards that state all strings are 3" shorter than the AMO length of the bow at proper brace height. He is in a no win situation. You need to provide the correct length or be prepared for a string that does not fit.

I have seen longbows that take a string 1" shorter than the bows AMO. length and recurves that take 3" and 5" shorter strings. Don't blame the string maker.

To sum up this review I think that the Three Tree Strings are a very good string, they are well made , very neat and they perform very well. Tony is diligent in asking the right questions when we order a string , and if we provide the correct information we will get the exact string we need .