Relatively new to archery (About two months). I just had this feeling that I wanted to shoot archery. And I wanted to shoot traditional. So I did some research, went on eBay and bought a couple bows. One was a Dave Johnson cedar longbow. It's really nice and I like it better than the Bear recurve. It's noticeably light, and I shoot it pretty well, even though I am still figuring out my shot. Anyway, I brought it to the 3D shoot, and the guy there that is kind of showing me the ropes, never heard of Dave Johnson, and asked me if it is fast flight compatible. I didn't even know what that meant. He said it's important to know, so does anyone know if it is FF compatible? Or if it even matters?

I once owned a Dave Johnson LB and to this day I regret the day I traded it off. They are very nice bows. The term Fast Flight (FF) generally refers to the type of string material. FF is a high strength material that has little to no stretch or creep as opposed to a dacron string such as B-50 or B-55. There are many types of "fast flight" string materials such as Fast Flight itself, D-97, BCY-X, Astro Flight, Rhino, and many others. Dave generally used a tip wedge and I found it to be a solid bow quite capable of using high strength or FF type string materials. You should find quite a performance difference using a high strength string on that bow rather than a B-55 or B-50 string. Personally and just my opinion, I wouldn't hesitate to use a high strength string on that bow. Others may differ.

very nice bow you have

I shoot fast flight (a no streech string material) on all of my bows like that

have done so for years and no problems- your choice

have used fast flight on my John Schulz bow like that since the 1980's with no problem

I don't use a skiny string though

14 strands of D 97 or Rhino

I like how it makes the bow feel , it does give some speed increase- but the better feel is why I use it

Thanks for the responses guys. This is very helpful information. I'm sure I'll I'll have many more questions as I progress. Thanks again.

No clue on the bow, but great handle, lol!

Dave Johnson bows are excellent. Enjoy the journey and welcome!

Should be some threads on here I remember cedar under white glass

He used to post under the handle musicalguns

When I bought my Dave Johnson longbow, it came with a dacron string. So I asked Dave directly if it was safe to use a FF string on it and he said it was. I have used both types of strings on it. I find the dacron to be a little quieter but the FF give less string slap on my forearm with the low brace height that Dave recommends (5 3/4”)

Joe2Crow, I love the grip material your using! Looks great.

I wouldn't think twice to change to FF on my Dave Johnson, but the actual string is still in great shape. Enjoy your bow, it is a great longbow.

Jim, thanks. That was done by our own Ken Butler - 2bears

This site is great, I'm sure glad I stumbled across it. Those are some cool looking bows too guys. About my brace height; right now I'm at around 6 3/8", and that seems to be the best one for me so far. I haven't brought it to Dave's recommend 5 3/4" joe2crow said, as I didn't know of this reco. I've only gone to 6", and also went up to something like 7 5/8", with the advice from some of the guys at the 3D shoot. 7 5/8" was really no good, and it seemed like 6 3/8" was the way to go. So should I leave my brace height where it is, or keep messing with it? And also, when I shoot the Bear recurve I have no wrist slap, but when I shoot the longbow I have light to moderate amount, is this normal? Thanks for the help guys.

I shot my Dave J. Bow higher than he requmended boy I sure wish I never sold it.

Wes, Yes it is quite natural for you to get more string slap with a longbow (especially an ASL) than with a recurve. I don't get string slap with newer hybrids with FF strings usually. Nothing wrong with wearing an armguard to take the bite out. To be honest, I don't really like Dave's recommended brace height either and have moved it up to about 6.25" but still get string slap with my dacron string. I'd leave it at the bh you have if you feel the bow likes it and is performing well. Get an armguard and/or try a ff string. Have fun. They're good bows.

yea 6.25"

Always wanted to try one of his but didn’t think he’d go 68” but I could be wrong, pretty sure he didn’t wanna go over 50# , but a real nice bow from a custom bowyer ....

Take a picture of the tips (just one will do) and post it here, one glance will tell if it's fast flight compatible. If it's re- enforced with layers of wood and glass with a sturdy tip overlay you're fine. It tends to be older recurves with no re-enforcement that suffer catastrophic failure with modern string materials.

This is my tip

I would not run fast flight on that tip.

He musta changed his bows alot. Mine I ordered at the first cloverdale shoot was 70" 73lbs. His bows had a "softer" feel at the shot than others. But was still zippy for an asl.

WesManTooth,

Welcome to the site and the passion we all share. You will and appears you have already found out that there is a wealth of knowledge through the participants here. Glad to have you aboard. Best of days ahead with your new bow and enjoy every second of it. Stay Safe/Shoot Straight. MTQuiver

Bowyers do currantly build bows with no tip overlays and tip inserts like the bow pictured above and have no problem with using FF on their bows.

Just make sure the loops are built up for padding.

I am surprised to see that tip, it's not re-enforced in a manner consistent with most modern bow building techniques. You could use a fast-flight string and potentially have no problems...for a couple thousand shots. But there will be problems in the future, big problems that will ruin the bow.

That's a really nice bow, made by a great bowyer. I really like it and I bet it shoots well. Just stick to older style string materials because you're really not going to get THAT much more performance with fast flight.

BTW, I am not a professional bowyer. There are some on this site. If a professional bow builder tells you that fast flight would be safe then take that advice over mine. But I would hate to ruin a beautiful bow like that just to get a small increase in performance for a short period of time.

I stand corrected, I didn't realize that the first picture on this thread was not the original poster. Wes Mantooth's picture is the SECOND picture on this thread. THAT tip looks like it could handle fast flight. My apologies for not getting the people posting the pictures clear. But it's a good comparison of a two different types of tip builds.

Cool, thanks Red. Thanks to everyone else too. There is a lot more to this archery thing than expected. I didn't think it was just a point-and-click sport, but there is enough going on to be overwhelming at times. I am learning, but trying to take it slow. Like I said, I'm sure I'll have more questions to throw at you guys after I process more of the basics; get my form down, and find that shot that best suits me, things like that. This has all been very helpful, and I can't wait to pick your brains more in the future. Good stuff.

Nice bow, he’s got wedges in those tips, FF string is fine ....

That’s a beauty !!!

I would go with B 55 its good for older bows and any bow you would use B 50 on. Have it on all my old bows. It stretches' when used but reaches a point it stays the same. Might want to stay B 50. But then again its your bowm

I would go with B 55 its good for older bows and any bow you would use B 50 on. Have it on all my old bows. It stretches' when used but reaches a point it stays the same. Might want to stay B 50. But then again its your bow.

Thanks, I'll have to look further into b-50 and b-55, as I'm not familiar enough to understand these terms yet. Also, the bow I have said in the description on eBay that it was crafted in 2017.

Thanks, I'll have to look further into b-50 and b-55, as I'm not familiar enough to understand these terms yet. Also, the bow I have said in the description on eBay that it was crafted in 2017.

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