Without dishing out money on actual badminton strings in order to practise and get a feel for the whole stringing process, could fishing line be used to practise? I don't own a machine but am considering... I found some fishing line lying around and want to put it to good use. I guess the weaving, knot-tieing etc will be similar, apart from a significantly lower tension when finishing a job. Any risks using this as practise?
I don't see any problems with this - tension is tension no matter what kind of string is pulling it. The line might not behave like badminton string in terms of plyability, though.
When I bought my machine I ordered from Pro's Pro directly on their website, and they sell some B-400 string that is 12EUR for 100m, which works out to be about £1 per racket: http://www.pros-pro.com/default.aspx?PreKatNr=5 I was expecting to make mistakes and waste string but so far I haven't done that badly, and the string is actually better than I expected! I'm not really a string expert, having mostly used Yonex BG-65ti in the past, but I'd say this stuff is worth trying. At least if you string without hiccups you'll end up with a playable racket when you're done. Racket Depot also sell this stuff, price is slightly higher though: http://www.racquetdepot.co.uk/pros-pro-b-400-100m-badminton-reel/
