Compound Bow String Components

A compound bow is a precision engineered piece of equipment which many years of research and refinement have gone into. People new to the sport tend to focus on the cams, wheels or limbs of the bow as being the most crucial to its performance, but experienced archers know that every component has to be designed, installed and maintained correctly for the bow to deliver its optimum performance.

  1. Serving and Nocking Point

    • The serving is perhaps the most important component of the string, though also the simplest. The serving is a wrapping of special thread around the string at the point where the nock of the arrow clips onto the string. This not only provides the string with extra width, holding the nock more securely, but protects the strings from wear caused by repeatedly nocking the arrow and guides the archer to the correct point for nocking the arrow. The serving is positioned so the arrow is at right angles to the string when the head of the arrow is on the arrow rest and the bow is not drawn.

    String Silencers

    • Made of either yarn or rubber-like materials, silencers can applied singly or in pairs, clipping to the bow string roughly six inches from the cams. By absorbing the vibration of the string, they deaden the noise the bow makes when shot. This makes for a more pleasant shooting experience generally, but is especially important when hunting as the sudden sound of the bow being released can cause an animal to flinch, putting the shot off target.

    Peep Sight

    • A peep sight is ring inserted between the threads of the bow string at eye level to the archer. At full draw, the archer can sight through the ring to the target. This helps to ensure correct alignment. Many varieties of peep sights exist, with very fine modifications being made to cope with conditions such as low light or to fulfill additional functions such as silencing the bow string. A peep sight can also be combined with a pin sight which is positioned on the bow's handle or riser: The archer lines up the peep sight, the appropriate pin for a given distance and the target, thereby ensuring correct vertical and horizontal alignment.

    Kisser Button

    • The kisser button is a small disk of plastic inserted into the string of the bow so that it will touch the archer's lips when they are at full draw. This provides the archer with an extra reference point to ensure that alignment of the bow is correct.

    D-Loop

    • The D-loop is an additional, D-shaped loop of bowstring around an inch long which attaches to the bow string above and below the knocking point. An archer using a release aid can clip it into the D-loop rather than directly onto the string. This means that the tension on the string above and below the nock of the arrow is equal when at full draw, giving a smoother release. It also eliminates pinching between a metal knocking point and the jaw of the release aid, which can upset the release of the arrow.