I got to lookin in the basement today and I've got 5 or 6 recurves that all need string silencers on em. Now I've been down the path on string silencers. I mean I've tried em all. Fox fur, beaver, muskrat, dead cat (well, not yet), woolie whispers, jig skirts, eventually ending up using the Quiveeute Musk Ox wool from 3 Rivers. But #$@% the bed Fred....at $10 a pop, that's $60 for string silencers.
Nah Bubba Nah......
So we went to town tonight to eat dinner and I asked Momma where to buy some wool yarn. So we drives to the fabric shop and I hop out & head inside. I axes the gal behind the counter where the wool yarn is. She points out a rack and my eyeballs zero in on a dark grey wad of Merino Wool. Now that's what my Ulfrotte long undies is made from, so it's gotta be primo stuff.
So we git back home and I commenced to doublin up and cuttin wool yarn till I got about 25 or so strands, maybe 1 & 3/4 long. I tied em into a bundle, wrapped em into the string and voila!!!! I never had a bow so quiet. This was one of my SA III Widders. I mean it sounded like a longbow. It was THAT quiet.
So for all you guys who already knew this...ya shoulda told me earlier. For all you guys who've never tried this but wanted to...git on it. There ain't NUTHIN better at quietin down a bow.
Quivete is awesome. Coyote fur is the nice choice. Got some from a fly tieing place. Wool yarn is third.
Beaver fur has worked fine on my lighter draw bow, but for my heavier bow I have to use rubber type silencers. The fur just doesn't do it. I use a couple sets of string leaches
Wudstix
I've used the Quivete on a couple of bows. It was better than fur. But the merino wool ones I made tonight make the Quivete sound like a .22 going off.
Maybe Texas wool ain't thick enough!!! :)
make the outta yarn like i do. they work almorst as well as my string leaches, just by a roll of any color for like bucks, and u can have hundreds of fuzzy balls to be shot!!!
3 dollars a roll
You boys have taken up knitting hain't cha? :)
I just use rubber cat whiskers there cheap, waterproof and they work.
Yep, been there and done that. I'm not sure I've tried them all but I've gone thru a bunch. I agree that yarn works better than anything else I've tried so far. It does have two down sides over some types of material. One is when it gets wet it looks like a wet rat. It will dry but this has to effect sound ans speed. Next is the more you shoot it the more it frays. Even though that makes it work even better it helps it pick up hitch hikers, burs and such in the woods.
Otto, you said,
QuoteI tied em into a bundle, wrapped em into the string and voila!!!!
I wonder if the way you tied the bundle and wrapped them into the string was a contributing factor to the silence. Could you explain in detail or show some pictures please? Thanks.
pics,pics,pics,pics..........
It's a shame a guy hasta go thru all this to make a Widow quiet :bigsmyl:
Now where did I put my knitting basket??? :biglaugh:
I have been making mine out of merino wool for the last couple of years.I have black,gray and brown.Works great plus I have enough to last a long long time.
You guys are killin me.
You say pics? ok here are mine.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f196/jjeffer/bows.jpg
Pictures deleted...over 600 pixels wide.
I'm getting mercilessly whipsawed in another thread about bow noise. If 50 people tell me I'm drunk, maybe I should sit down?
In the universe of string/bow silencers has any been tested on elk or deer at, let's say 35 yards or less? By tested, I mean shooting, preferably at the same animal, with no intent to kill but to verify that the silencer renders the shooter undetectable/not heard?
Or is the function of these silencers analogous to sound suppressors on rifles -- noise occurs, but from where is very difficult to identify?
Oh, you said dead cat! My arms are all scratched up trying to tie a bobcat to my bowstring!
LOL Dano, you know what they say.
If they don't shoot well then just dress em up pretty with wool. :bigsmyl:
Naphtali, are you like a scientist or some thing?
Roy,I'm just jealous :rolleyes:
Steve know's I'm kiddin, I hope :saywhat:
The next road kill Kitty is in serious jeopardy of loosin his hide. :D
Ya know Dano, just about every picture I see of a Widow is all dressed up with purty silencers hanging on a bow rack. Do these guys actualy ever hunt with Widows? :biglaugh:
Ray
Dano will tell ya that 4 of mine are nuthin but fancy wall hangers. But I do hunt with my trusty beat up battle scarred SA III!!!! :archer:
I use COYOTE fur, enuff to make about 100 sets off ebay for like $3.00 plus shipping, BEAT THAT!
I just got a couple of sets of Hush Puppy silencers made from New Zeland wool, and they are without doubt the best silencers I have ever used on a longbow. At $6.00 per set they are affordable and they seem like they will last forever. Also got the Bow Hush and Hush Puppys for my recurve, but haven't installed them yet. That is today's project!
Steve can shoot his "Wall hangers" pretty good too. ;)
Okay, here's a pic...
On the right is the Quivette musk ox silencer, and on the left is my Super Deadly Quiet Merino Wool silencer.
(http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o232/Ottodude/PICT1010.jpg)
Try some out and see if it makes a difference in how your bow sounds.
Racoon tails were my choice this year,,, it worked great!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/Osagetree/Stringsilencecoontail4.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/Osagetree/sscoontail5.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/Osagetree/ssscoontail.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/Osagetree/ssscoontail2.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/Osagetree/ssscoontail4.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/Osagetree/ssscoontail5.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/Osagetree/Homegrowngearfinished.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/Osagetree/Homegrowngearfinished1.jpg)
Nice buck Otto, no silencer pics though...LOL
Big Dog
Heh heh...had to do a quick edit there!!!!
I like the one on the right Otto:)
pics!!
imma make a video for u guys that dont know how to make the yarn silencers.
for real i am. back in a few.
but its gonna look ghetto, but they r effective!!!!
I gotta say hands down Bow Hush and Hush Puppy's :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Easy and ya don't gotta go to no "SEWING STORE"
Plus did ya ever get a look at the CEO and CFO of Bow Hush "WOW" :goldtooth: :goldtooth:
Vance are you shooting for a free set or what? LOL
Well Archery on the CHEAP :biglaugh: :biglaugh:
Vance is prolly on the Board of Directors or the Directors' Advisory Board or sumtin, wouldn't you think????? :D :campfire:
Does it work?
:bigsmyl:
Oh Terry............ROTFL
Jerry:
I edit manuscripts and design books. Because of what I do, or as a result of it, I strongly prefer claims to be verifiable -- and verified.
What this means in reality is I get people's backs up when I enter a room.
***
Remember,
-- Never eat at a place called Mom's.
-- Anyone who uses words, such as "frankly" and "honestly" to preface a remark has been lying, and is lying as he speaks.
AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER
-- Never trust a man who sips his beer.
Double hit. Delete, please
Otto, where does one get this Merino Wool? Is it available at Wally World, or a fabric shop?
Naphtali:
As to testing, as far as I know, there has been one at least semi-scientific test of quieting bow noise. Is wasn't where arrows were shot in the presence of deer or elk, but a test with sound monitors in frequencies for both human and animal ranges. The latter is important as what we think may be quiet, what deer think may be two different things. All other tests that I have read or heard about, are just a one or a couple of guys standing around comparing bows.
BTW, even Asbell in the newest Traditional Bowhunter shows using a high tech sound meter in an attached pic.
Denny Sturgis has an article about quieting bows in the mag as well.
I have a couple sets of Bowhush on order right now, as I don't know if what I'm using right now is the final answer. I have used beaver fur, mink fur, several types of wool, bow jacks, cat whiskers, etc. In a recurve it is important to cushion the string grooves as well.
waterone
Mint Hill Mule
You can get it anywhere they sell yarn. Fabric shops, craft stores etc....
I've been making my own silencers out of merino wool yarn too. I use colors to match the string. I had so much yarn left over I started making these arrow cleaning tassels.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/faabala/Archery/Tassel2.jpg
42 arrow cleaning tassles?can you explain never heard of em.they look cool,whats the bone on the end?
They are a part of the traditonal Victorian archery tackle. They are mentioned in Witchery of Archery, The Archer's Guide, and other 19th century books.
Hang them off your belt (or the end of your back quiver) and use them to wipe the mud, dirt, and moisture from arrows that miss the target.
I use antler tips ends and latigo leather turksheads for the knot.
Otto, how did you wrap those into the string? Are they just attached like the rubber cat whiskers or threaded through the string like beaver balls? Just trying to get a handle on these yarn silencers, got a few bows that need to be quieter.
Hey 42WLA...those tassels are sweet! I want one! :thumbsup:
I'm with Otto on the craft store yarn. Cheap, quiets the bow and doesn't have the effect on bow performance that other string silencers have.
QuoteOriginally posted by Deer Slayer:
Hey 42WLA...those tassels are sweet! I want one! :thumbsup:
E-mail sent. :)
Naphtali, Very interesting job you have. I'm a scientist, but I gotta tell ya. The only animal I have had duck my arrows is a squirrel. Those are some fast critter. I do appreciate your scrutiny.
Naphtali,
there has been a study, as mentioned above, using scientific sound measuring devices whatever that is , that determined rubber cat whiskers were the quietest material tested.
They did not test bow hush, however.
Is that verifiable? It is if you read the article in Traditional Bowhunter.
This is a cinch. just be glad you don't tie flies too.
Rusty <><
Lone Wolf
I wrapped them into the string just like you would a set of woolie whispers.
I use yarn. I tie it on with artificial sinew. It stays put, but I can move it on the string to tune it so to speak. It is quiet, looks good and doesn't add much weight to the string.
We spin our own wool and I have been using it as string silencers for the past 25 years. If it gets to bad of shape I just put on some new. Quiets about any bow and doesn't slow it down to speak of. That's my $.02 worth.
OSAGE,
Thats gotta have a BIG affect on arrow perfromance.