Hope this is not a dumb question. I got some otter fur string silencers for my 59'er. What is the general opinion on where to locate them on the string? should I measure down from the tips, and if so, how far?
On my longbows its about 11" from the string groove and on a recurve I have its 9". distance can vary for others.
general school of thought is to divide the string into quarters, one quarter of the way down the string place your silencers at either end. You can adjust from their up to one third of the total string length from each tip to find the spot where the bow is quietest. Good luck.
I like mine 5" down from where the string contacts the bow limb.
This works on all of my bows.
John
Try to keep them evenly spaced from the limb tips. Most of the time I measure the distance from limb tip to limb tip when strung divide by 4 and then place silencer that distance from the tip. Honestly it just looks better that way to me. While very marginal, the closer you place the silencer to the limb tip the less effect the silencer will have on speed, but this is really splitting hairs.
Try putting them on so you can adjust. Move up and down until you find the sweet spot then tie them in. As wood and shooter both have different characters what works for one may not work for others. Same with nock and brace height.
I agree with black velvet. You tune your silencers like everything else--there's no "one size fits all" if you want them to work at their peak. I've seen bows where moving the silencers an inch up or down the string made a huge difference in noise.
Unfortunately I don't know of an easy way to adjust fur silencers.
Chad
Good question, I will b interested to see some different tips
I've always measured from where the string contacts the limb and divided that by 1/4 and 1/3 and placed 2 small silencers at both locations.
I use wool and cat whiskers both trimmed very small.
Ken place the silencers on the string!
Then send me your bow! :readit: :p
I tend to put them at the 1/4's.
Good luck!
Terry G.said in a similar thread that there was once a study that said the 1/3 spacing was best. Most recommend the 1/4. Cat whiskers allow for the fine tuning (maybe) necessary. I have a rather noisy Super KMag that I'm just about to try the same 1/4 1/3 method MikeW uses. We'll see.
The way I was taught was to take the bow by the grip and hold the limb next to your ear and pluck the string. You will notice that there will be one spot where the string will change tone, it will almost jump an octave. This is the harmonic point of the string. If bow is balanced and timed correct other end will be the same.
This does good to dampen sound have not played with it to check speed.
Of course this could be like the time a well know bass pro told me if I looked at the eyes of the bass as soon as I landed it I could see if he was looking up or down, that would tell me if I needed to fish deeper or shallower. Fishing partner asked me after a couple of trips what I was doing staring at the fishes face....Thats when I figured out I had been dooped. lol
But seriously the string pluck works
Mine are pretty much on the 1/3rd's for a start. Might move one way or other just for looks.
Thanks guys for the input. I am going to try the 1/4 idea and see how it goes.
Charlie-for some reason I get the feeling if my bow goes missing I'll know where to look fist!
On recurves I put them at the fadeouts, longbows at around 1/4.
I like to put those fur ones in my pocket to keep my hands warm, and use the rubber ones on my string. :bigsmyl:
I like the look of the fur silencers but with the way you have to install them it's time consuming to move them around on the string to different locations, you just can't slide them up and down the string so it's a little work to find the "sweet spot". On my McCullough Fiftyniner they work the the best starting 11" from the end of the string, wrapped in the same direction of the twist of the string, towards the center serving. I untwist the string some, wrap them on, then twist the string back to brace to tighten them up.
To each his own but I tried one set of fur silencers. I probably didn't affix them properly but they don't stay put as well as the whisker arrangement I use.
My recurves are 56-62". I vary placement depending upon vibration noise which is usually 13-15" from the limb tip.
I learned here on Trad Gang (video from the fellows in Hawaii) how to put whiskers on much better than the way I've been doing it for years. They method in the video doesn't involve splitting the string strands, zip ties or tying knots with the whiskers. It works terrific and it is possible to move them a bit on the string to tune the sound.
1/4 method for me. works perty good!
Jason
QuoteOriginally posted by black velvet:
Try putting them on so you can adjust. Move up and down until you find the sweet spot then tie them in. As wood and shooter both have different characters what works for one may not work for others. Same with nock and brace height.
I agree with this, silencers are dampners, but they also perform a tuning function.
Move them till the bow shoots well and quietly, and that's where they go. :archer2:
After a lot of "fiddlin" with this, what I have on all my bows are two small sets (like MikeW up above) of wool puffs, but I put mine at the 1/4 and 1/6 points from where the string touches.
The 1/3 placement goofs me up visually because my eye picks them up too much for my liking. In theory, 1/3 and 1/4 are harmonic "peaks" of the string oscillation. And dividing those measurements in half gives secondary peaks. Is that so? I don't know but my bows are quiet at 1/4 and 1/6!
Hawkeye, you're correct. A string, be it bow string, piano or guitar, has nodes along the length of the string that emit sound the most. These are at intervals of 1/2 the string length (being the loudest), 1/3, 1/4, etc. decreasing in sound level as you move out. The best dampening will be at those nodes as measured from the point where the string touches the limb. I prefer the 1/4 distance as 1/3 gets the yarn puffs I prefer a bit too far down the string for my liking.
I put them on this morning, went with the 1/4's more or less. Ended up around 13". Have yet to shoot, but looks good so far.
Hopewell Tom - "I'm just about to try the same 1/4 1/3 method MikeW uses."
Curious, I assume you're say 1/4 on top and 1/3 on bottom? ...or visa versa?
Thanx
QuoteA string, be it bow string, piano or guitar, has nodes along the length of the string that emit sound the most. These are at intervals of 1/2 the string length (being the loudest), 1/3, 1/4, etc. decreasing in sound level as you move out. The best dampening will be at those nodes as measured from the point where the string touches the limb. I prefer the 1/4 distance as 1/3 gets the yarn puffs I prefer a bit too far down the string for my liking.
I won't pretend I can explain it, because I can't...but I know from experience that it can vary.
A fellow I know brought a bow to my shop that he was having fits with--couldn't get it quiet. Tried the 1/3 points, the 1/4 points, and both at the same time (two sets of silencers). I thought he must be doing something wrong.
Removed the old silencers, tied on some rubber silencers so they could be adjusted, and went out back to shoot.
Shoot, adjust, shoot, adjust, scratch head, measure, shoot, adjust. What the?????? I had gotten frustrated and gone inside to cool off. He stayed out back shooting. In a few minutes he hollered--he'd found the spot. That bow went from very loud to a whisper. He'd moved the silencers out to maybe 5-6" from each end--where, by all accounts, they shouldn't have been very effective. For whatever reason--maybe the way the bow was tillered?--that's where they worked.
I've also seen bows where moving the silencers about an inch made the difference in noisy and hunting quiet. Dunno why, but I do know that there's no "one size fits all" answer. Like most everything else in this sport, you have to tinker and experiment to get the best results for your personal equipment.
Years ago in the stoneage of the Interwebs, somebody on here made a post just like this one...
Bakc when we had TVs and Brain Vacuums that had a picture tube and low refresh rate, we used to hold the bow out in front of us, with "The Blue Screen of Death" on it and pluck the string...
It works just like a timing light, and you can SEE where the string is moving most (you will see several nodes) Put the silencers there :D I usually put them on the 2nd and 5th node on a recurve (I usually split cat whiskers in half and use them as 4 silencers on the same string.) I have a chronograph... It doesnt rob as much speed as you think, and until recurves go supersonic, I always want mine quieter than faster.
Zbone
I'll have 4 small whiskers on - 2 at the 1/4 mark and 2 at the 1/3 mark. This is a test run only. Always had 2 on at the 1/4 mark, but this shorty superkmag isn't quiet enough at that point.
Look at the prototype Zipstik Bill Dunn posted for our viewing pleasure. The whiskers on it look like what I'm talking about.
I start around 10" from the nocks on strings and then start moving them either up or down until it is the quietest.
10" from either end for all my longbows.
Bisch
Thanx Tom
Randy Gustefson, owner of Northwoods Outfitters in the UP, tunes the quietest bow I know of. He claims....and I believe it....that because the sound travels in an S pattern, that placing the silencers UNEVENLY from the tips, and experimenting with placement, will dampen sound at the high AND the low end of the curve. Works for me.
Sorry to bring this back up, but wouldn't it make more sense to put the silencers on the antinodes of the waves rather than the nodes, since the antinodes are doing the most movement and the nodes are by definition already stationary?
In that case, 1/4 down from each end would make more sense because those spots represent the antinodes in the 2nd harmonic, and would still dampen some in the 3rd and 5th harmonics. The 1/3 locations don't become antinodes until the 5th harmonic, though they will still cause some dampening in the 2nd and 4th harmonics, just not ideal.
I agree with black velvet and LBR. Sometimes you have to move the silencers around a bit to find the best location for a given bow.
I generally start @25% of bow length in from the the grooves and move towards the grooves 1/4" at a time. As noicw starts to get louder I move bak 1/8", that go back and fourth at decreasing amounts until it sounds "best" to me.
bowhunter15, you have the right of it.
Incidentally, I've never had a string noise stop me from getting my target. The Turks had a saying-a heavy string is a quiet one. I've certainly found this to be true. The string material itself becomes a dampener.
A lot of great info here. Looks like I need a refresher course in Physics though!