Cat whiskers can be bad.....

[Pierre Lucas]

Cat whiskers can be bad for a string if not installed correctly...just recently it has been brought to our attention (thank you) a problem involving cat whiskers that some people prefer to tie themselves that can cause a string to wear prematurely at the tie on points.

 Hopefully you can see in picture the premature wear due to the rubber sliding to one side of the string because of the string's ocsillation.  The material used to tie the cat whisker on, was rubbing against the string each time it is shot fraying the string material. (I hope this makes sense) I took this picture before taking the string apart to further investigate.

   

Please make sure that when you tie cat whiskers on that the whiskers completely surround the string and protect it from abrasion and they are tied tightly but not too tight as to damage the string material.

Ryan (S2 Bowstrings) did a great video on how tie on cat whiskers.

I still prefer Hush Puppies or some kind of puffs (IMHO) to cat whiskers, they seem to be easier on the string, but to each their own.

Hope this helps everyone and in the future.

God Bless,  Pierre

[GANDGOLF]

I took the cat whiskers off one my strings and immediately gained 20fps. Reinstalled puffs and only lost 3fps. Quieter too.  

[Mudd]

One by one, I am relieving all of my Hill and Hill style bows of anything on the string except the nocking point.

I can't tell much difference.

God bless,Mudd

[Night Wing]

I used to use cat whiskers, but went to yarn wool puffs. The reason I switched is because the puffs made less bow noise than the cat whiskers upon arrow release.

[Froggy]

A big ditto to Night Wing's post above  

[BRITTMAN]

I use cat whiskers but I put the between the  string and tie a little serving or dental floss just for added hold but nothing like the photo  . Really I could just put them between the string and let it be like I do beaver balls .

[Three Finger]

I agree with Night Wing. And yarn is cheap. I got a spool of camo yarn at walmart for very little. It should last a lifetime.

[Thumper Dunker]

Yarn or some kind of hair balls. Nothing tied on.

Thanks for the heads up, Pierre. Sounds like it could cause a bad problem.
 :eek:

[joe skipp]

Never had a problem with my heavy duty Catwhiskers. I cut them 7", fold them over, tie a tight granny knot. Then I pull down each side and cut to my desired length.

[SERGIO VENNERI]

Been using catwhiskers forever....no problems.

[Don Stokes]

I bare-shaft matched a fellow once who had three sets of rubber spiders on his string. Everything we tried shot stiff until we got way low in spine. We took off the rubber and spine went up 20#!! Too much weight on the string can really rob performance from the bow. I use the lightest weight silencers I can get by with.

[JamesKerr]

I am glad I don't tie on my catwhiskers like this.

[maineac]

I use a combo of some whiskers inside an alpaca wool ball, inserted between the string with light wraps above and below to keep them from sliding when bow is unstrung.  I hope this won't cause and issue.  I could probably eliminate the whiskers, but they really quieted the bow I just put an SBD string on.  The old skinny string was still very noisy when I got the bow.  This morning I shot and the arrow slipping into a really beat up glen del buck vitals made more noise than the bow.

[LBR]

That's a new one on me--I've been using, selling, and installing cat whiskers for years and years and seen thousands of sets in use.  

I wonder if there was some super glue or something similar involved that got into the string?  I tie mine on as tight as I can get them, no wear whatsoever.  Something weird going on or this would have been noticed long ago.

Like anything else, they have to be used properly for them to work properly.  One small set, properly installed and tuned, can work wonders.  A great big set or multiple sets improperly installed won't do much good, and can even add to the noise if left too long--that's the #1 mistake I see made with them.

Chad

[Wapiti Chaser]

That was my string. Not sure where I went wrong I followed directions that I got from Ron LeClair I beleive. I folded the cat whiskers over and wrapped them around the string and tied them on with B-50 then cut them to make them nice little round balls. The cat whiskers on the right in the picture are about 1/2 gone. Thats what drew my attention to them problem. I do know that I will never use cat whiskers on a string again. Thanks to Pierre for his help on this.

[statedriller]

I wonder if the B50 was the cause here.  Might have stretched enough to loosen up causing the wear (just a guess).  I always tie mine on with serving thread and have never had any come loose...

[Reaper TN]

I just tie mine on the string in a knot like some others that have posted.  Doesn't look as good, but they work.

[ti-guy]

Good info

[Bowwild]

I've used catwhiskers for many years with no problems. I used to split the string and install them and tie them in a knot. Then I saw the S2 video here and have used that on the last three bows. I only use one catwhisker -- 1/2 on each end of the bow about 15" from the limb tip.

I am going to investigate the puff balls a bit though. We used them in the early 70's and they worked fine. I'm going to compare the weight first though.  

Now I'll do a search here and find out how best to make the puff balls because I probably wasn't doing it the best way 40 years ago!