Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Gordy on March 28, 2008, 11:21:00 AM
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Looking to reconfigure my CM and BW recurves.
I love beaver balls for the longbows. Have liked the yarn balls on the recurve but they aren't too attractive.
The cat whiskers don't seem to do the trick.
Has anyone tried the musk ox silencers ?
Looking for something attractive but more importantly something that really works.
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Good question...wondering the same.
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On recurves I've always had the best luck with the whiskers. Longbows pretty much anything will work.
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My favorite is the woolly wisps. Much easier to put on the the beaverballs and much lighter. I usually trim them down a little after I put them on. They seem to last a good long time also.
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Bow Hush and Hush Puppies on a recurve - nothing better IMHO.
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3 Rivers installed Musk Ox silencers on my Tomahawk when I bought it. Seams to the job quite well.
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Cat whiskers work as well or better at silencing than anything I've tried. One thing a lot of folks overlook is the silencers can be tuned just like anything else. I've seen bows that, by moving the silencer up or down the string as little as an inch, made a world of difference.
Chad
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Wooly whisperers and bow hush for me.
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I like the string leeches but there are a lot I have not tried.
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I prefer the Bow Hush and Hush Puppy combination on my recurves. :thumbsup:
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Yeah I second the string leeches been using them for years. Meijer's sell's all their hunting stuff half off in january I usually buy A couple set's at A reasonable price.
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Yarn string puffs. They are the ONLY think I've had any luck with.
Steve
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I've been told by several reliable sources that soaking the string loops in laquor thinner can also make a significant difference in quieting a bow. Has anyone tried this?
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never tried one, but how about a Mountain Muffler string?
I'm a fan of Bow Hush & Hush Puppies, but I shoot longbows. have a 'curve that needs something, but I haven't gotten around to playing much with it. Likely try Terry's stuff when I do.
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Hush Puppy's!!!
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Gordy,
I'm using catwhiskers and Bowhush on my Robertson Vision Falcon. Quieter than my Widow PL's. BUT, when using the Bowhush I take it apart and only use two strands unstead of the three that it comes with. Quiets them right down.
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I know some don't look on them as very traditional, but I really like the string leeches as well.
For almost dead silent I go with B50 dacron, Bow Hush, Hush Puppies at the 1/4 marks and string leeches at the 1/3 marks. I'm sure I am robbing several feet/sec with all that hanging on the string, but my 55# Fox recurve bow will still spit a pretty fast heavy arrow and I don't think you can get a bow any quieter.
Burnsie
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Yeah I like the double silencers too. Had never thought of string leeches !
I already wrap the string ends with wool yarn. Works great and much better than limb pads for me.
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I have Musk Ox slincers on my widow and my bear t-d, they work very well. The best I have ever used.
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Bow Hush and Hush Puppies.
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My own homemade srting puffs. Nothing I have ever used works better.
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The farmers property I hunt has these huge belgian sheep, the wool is the best I have found for silencing my bows. It is very water resistant as well. I will be getting a supply in a few weeks, when they shear them in late spring. PM me and I willsend ya some!! Shawn
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I'm a curve shooter and anal about having a quiet bow. If I get a bow that is loud, one of two things happen. I will work on the bow and use everything I have learned to quiet it down. If it gets to the point where I have run everything on the bow and it still is too loud for my taste, it's gone. With that said, I have only had a couple bows that I couldn't quiet up. I have tried it all and here is what I found. Bowhush/Hushpuppies will work well on 95% of the bows out there. I also have a couple MM strings on a couple bows and they are good strings but they are expensive and can take some time to get them after you order them. I just placed a order for Bowhush/Hushpuppies reinforcements tonight. Got several bows that I need to docter up. My advise is to give Bowhush/Hushpuppies a try. They are very reasonably priced and I'd bet they will take care of business for ya.
JL
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Originally posted by SpankyNeal:
Bow Hush and Hush Puppies on a recurve - nothing better IMHO.
DITTO
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I use a similar set-up to the bow hush on 'curves, lambs wool yarn for the string wraps as well as the puff-ball silencers. I sold a bow to a friend in Iowa and he immediately removed them and installed cat-whiskers because the woolies load up with burrs, etc. in his neck of the woods.
I agree with some of the above posts on LBs, near anything will work.
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I use the musk ox silencers sold by 3 rivers, I think they work great, and they last well. I would recommend them.
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Hi Gordy,
You might find this link handy for your BlackWidows...
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=056415;p=1
Regards,
AK.
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String Harmonics is the vibrations on the string when plucked or in the case of a bow when the string is released. Using String Harmonics we are able to predict in strings where the most vibrations will occur by simply dividing the length of the unobstructed string by multiples of 2’s and 3’s.
Unobstructed String is found where the string last touches/contacts the upper and lower limbs of the bow. Lets just say that this length is 50”. Now we divide by multiples of 2’s and 3’s to find out where the most harmonics/vibrations will occur.
50”/2 = 25” or 1/2 point.
50”/3 = 16.66” or 1/3 points
50”/4 = 12.5” or ¼ points
50”/6 = 8.33” or 1/6 points
50”/8 = 6.25” or 1/8 points
50”/9 = 5.55” or 1/9 points
This continues 1/10, 1/12, 1/14, 1/15, etc…
Most people find out that the ¼ points are a good starting point. Now the string will have it’s greatest vibrations at the ½ point and next the 1/3 points but your not going to have a silencer placed in the ½ point of your string. The 1/3 points may be distracting as the silencer on the upper limb might be close to your eye when you draw.
Now by placing your silencers in the parts of the string where the most vibrations occur will greatly reduce the noise and vibrations of your bow. It is also important to note that there are places in your string where there is little or no movement or vibrations as the string resonates, these are called dead zones and when we place silencers in these areas we are definitely robbing our bows of speed and energy. The opposite might occur by properly placed silencers. When shooting a compound bow thru a chronograph I actually lost 5 fps in speed once I removed the silencers…. Go figure…
Rubber is the best material for reducing vibrations. You won't see any limb savors made of wool or beaver balls...
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Rubber whiskers and a heavy arrow that is the correct spine.
SL
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I like cat whisker material...in colors that match my string ...looks cool and works the best in rainy conditions or dry...2nd would be otter more waterproof than beaver!! :thumbsup:
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:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: For the Hush Puppies.
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Mountain Muffler strings are the best recurve silencing method I've found, and they don't detract much speed at all. Very well made and great customer service!
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One of the best but seldom considered, is a little more arrow weight. I just finished fine tuneing a bareshaft. At 585 grains she shot very good and the bow was quiet. I increased to 610 grains just for the heck of it. Now there's just a light thunk. All the difference in the world!
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I've always used rubber catwhiskers- and I still prefer them over any wet hairballs. I have been wanting to try a Mountain Muffler string or some BowHush, especially on my Fastflight bow. Can you still get them?
-Charlie
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Charlie, I can PM you the contact info for Mountain Mufflers if you want. They're still taking orders.
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Please. I'd sure appreciate it.
Thanks,
-Charlie
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You could always try shooting handguns without hearing protection in the off season. Over the years I've met several guys who have done this and they say the don't hear anything. :knothead:
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I use one pair of Wooly Whispers and that's all that is needed. Try to get the bow as quiet as you can through fistmele adjustment first, then add silencers.
If you silencers get wet, just snap the sting a few times at about a 3 inch draw and the water will be mostly gone. Excessive noise may be a tiller issue as well.
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You'll get the Bow Hush much quicker. 8 weeks for a MM string last I knew.
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I prefer the Bow Hush and Hush Puppy combination on my recurves. I have ordered several sets for friens after they witness how much more quiet my bow is.
They will work for you.
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About soaking your string in laquor thinner, I started dong that with my d-97 and ts1 strings since talking with Rob Lee and it has made a great difference in the level of noise and I have not had any string failures. It sounds crazy but it works.
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I just took some wool yarn and wrapped the string starting at the loop and ending where the bowstring doesn't touch the limb and then tucking it into the string. Did a good job of quieting it down.
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I've gotta know - what exactly does soaking a string in lacquer thinner do to make a string more quiet? I'm not trying to be cute here, I honestly don't know.
I know lacquer thinner is good for removing stuff like glue, wrap residue, etc from arrows. I know that if you leave an aluminum arrow sitting nock first in a bottle of lacquer thinner for a while, it will totally melt the nock and any plastic fletching. What exactly does it do to the string?
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I've had good results with the Musk Ox string silencers on my recurves, but now I may try the hush puppies.
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The lacquer will dissolve all of the wax in the ends of the strings (about 8 inches from the loop) if the ends are left in the laquer long enough. 15 - 20 minutes ! According to Rob Lee, any less time doesn't help. Now I agree. After 2-5 minutes the lacquer will turn the wax to slime but has no real effect of the string because the wax is still there. After 20 minutes and a good wiping of the string, the ends will actually be bleached out and devoid of wax. The ends of the string will look like kite string as versus a weighty waxed cord. I have relunctly tried this with both my widow and bob lee and each bow has been much quieter and I haven't had to hassle with applying calf hair or moleskin to my limb tips. Now I'm no expert. All of this information came directly from Rob Lee.
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It hit me last night after I wrote my last act of babble, you need to know the following: 1. The lacquer will dissolve plastic. I'm anal about my brace height and when I remove a string from my bow, I will tie the loops together with tape to prevent the string from unwinding. When ( and if ) you try this, tie your loops together with a trash bag tie or something with metal wire in it so it won't be dissolved and let your string unravel. 2. After you wipe your string off, let it sit for some time so that no lacquer gets on your bow finish. I usually wait a day. 3. Your ends will look bleached out and scraggly if thats a word. The wax helps to keep the string appear clean and without frays. Once you take the wax out of the ends of your strings, you will tons of little frays that the wax was hiding. These frays actually act like a bowhush or other silencing material without clogging up your string groove with additional material. According to Rob Lee, its very important to keep the string grooves clear so that the string can always go into it.
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Brent-I'm gonna try it-I was told to keep the string in the lacquer until the loop ends turned white and limp. I'll let you know how it works.
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bow hush and hush puppies
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BD, that sounds about right. My loops get close to white but still have a slight shade of their original color. I've considered redipping my string loops a little longer to get them white. Look forward to hearing from you.
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Originally posted by scriv:
You could always try shooting handguns without hearing protection in the off season. Over the years I've met several guys who have done this and they say the don't hear anything. :knothead:
What? :p