Silencers on the string

[Margly]

Hi!
I'm currently fiting a new SBD fastflite string to one of my recurves!

Earlier I`ve used the hush puppies but is out of puppies right now     :(    

So I`ve "borrowed" some wool from my wifes knitting bag and have a following question:

I`ve seen that some have two set of silencers on their string, and some have a long silencer +- 4-6" long and on and on.

What gives the best effect and how much speed do you loose?

With the mentioned HushPuppies I`ve lost close to zero in fps and would sure like to keep my speed and not to forget arrow spine.

So my fellow Tradgangers what is the recommandation          

Margly

[magnus]

I would try to match the size of the puppies. The longer ones I've seem like you described have been fur strips.

[Rob DiStefano]

this is somewhat subjective stuff in that you need to see what the bow wants and not what you want.  all my longbows work well with half of a hush puppy inserted on the top end bottom areas of the bowstring.  slide up/down on the string 'til you hit the sweet, most silent spots.  fwiw, new zealand wool (aka "hush puppy") is about the most durable, water resistant and lightweight stuff around for a string silencer (or a recurve limb slap silencer! = bow hush!).

[Margly]

I have a set left of the bow hush and think I`ll fit them to the string !

What I`m after regarding the silencers is pros and cons regarding the amount.

On my Firefly longbows I just use one set on each side and tey are dead quiet.

[PaddyMac]

The best success I've had is wool puff balls. But an odd thing happened on my last pair -- they only lasted about a month and then started disintegrating and never were very quiet. I put on a new pair and they're PD quiet. Better I think think than the muskrat, rubber or others I've tried.

[Bjorn]

I make 2 rolls of yarn-9 loops each over my fingers and pull through middle of the strands 1/4 distance from each end of the string. Then I string the bow and cut the loops of yarn. Shoot the bow a few times and done.
Hope that's clear. If there is some synthetic in the wool it will last longer.

[RobinHood1389]

I use yarn on all of mine. Small yarn puff balls approx 1.5"-2" round. Works wonderfully. My bows are silent! I also use b-50 dacron though. Hope this helped a little.