Recurve vibration - tuning question???

[Jedimaster]

Trying to type this out on a phone - forgive me if there are typos. I traded for a one piece recurve & it arrived today - just in time to shoot a few arrows. The bow shoots where I look and my carbons fly great. Only problem is there is a lot of vibration at the shot. Actually, it may be better described as oscillation - the limbs continue to move for approximately 2 seconds after the shot. This is a heavy risered bow FWIW.

For one thing, the string is a rope & I don't know what material it's made of. For another the brace is only about 7" currently (I'm used to bracing curves a little higher). My plan is to order a new string & raise the brace. I'm in the vicinity of 11.5 gpp already. Am I on the right track? Is there anything I'm overlooking? Any suggestions?

[Wapiti Chaser]

You are doing just what I would with the string and higher brace.

[onewhohasfun]

Yep, brace height too low.

[elk nailer]

Shoot wood!!!!

[Three Finger]

Put some cat wiskers on your string. I have done that and any vibration will stop.

[Thare1774]

I overkill on my vibration absorbers. I run beaver balls, limb savers, and a felt pad under the string on each limb tip. If you're still having more vibration than you want after new string andbrace change try some limbsavers and really any type of string suppressor like beaver balls, spider legs, puff balls etc.

[Jedimaster]

Thanks guys! Guess I needed some reassurance as well. Just never shot one that was quite like this - even before they had been tuned properly.

I have been shooting nothing but r/d longbows for a while now and it kind of surprised me for a curve to bounce around like that. I really have no doubt that it's a fine bow & can be brought under subjection    

[jess stuart]

Arrows that are to light could cause some vibration, as light arrows don't get all of the bows energy as easily as heavier arrows. Lost energy can be dissapated as noise or vibration.

[Bladepeek]

He said he's already up to 11.5gpp. That's not a light arrow. I think that heavy string may be part of the problem. I had a string like a hay rope on a long bow and it would bounce back and forth until it managed to slap me at least twice on each shot. I realize longbows and recurves are apples and oranges, but changing the brace height and putting on a different string would be the first two things I would do too.

[Gordon martiniuk]

Try a 10 strand string 452x or 8125 ,, put some beaver balls on her ,, don't worry about the 7" brace hight ,, get rid of the rope of a string

[Jedimaster]

Thanks everyone! Hopefully in a few days I'll post a status report here to let you guys know how it works.

[ibehiking]

I've had some success with higher brace heights. One thing I read was that the increased brace height results in an increase tension on the string at brace.

For example, a 7 inch brace height might have an initial draw weight of 5#, while a brace height of 8" will have an initial draw of 8#. The theory was that the higher tension helped stop the string movement at the end of the shot.

Sounded plausible to me. Good luck with your tuning efforts.

[Jedimaster]

Good info ibehiking!

Update time: I installed an 8 strand SBD string this morning (which I received in record time from Braveheart Archery) and increased the brace to 7.5".  

The difference is incredible! To say the improvement is dramatic is an understatement.  The bow now has no-after-the-shot vibration and is almost completely dead in the hand.  

As it is now (without any silencers) it shoots great but is way too loud. I am going to install some wool puffs today and shoot them in tomorrow - hopefully.  More to come ...