A few weeks ago I was looking at a photo of a recurve bow with not 2, but 4, fur string silencers. Too much of a good thing? Or, was the bow really that noisy? I think there were also fur strips on the limbs.
Perusing some old photos I found nary a string or bow silencer used by bowhunters of the past. This included the Thompson brothers, the Wilhelm brothers, Howard Hill, Ben Pearson, Hugh Rich, etc. I didn't include Fred Bear because he did use something on his string, although the main purpose was to keep brush, leaves and other debris from getting caught between the end of the limb and the string. He used brush buttons. Being made of soft rubber, they also act as a vibration damper.
So, the question is, do our modern bows, be they longbow or recurve, make that much more noise then bows of the past?
Before Dacron came along bowstrings were made of linen and later Fortisan. Both of those required more strands than we use today. A linen string for a 50 pound bow could have 30 or more strands. Did that bulk help to keep vibrations to the minimum?
I think the answer is to try the Decibel X Pro dBA Noise Meter and APP for my iPad when I have time to test a few bows, and arrow combinations. It does come at a monthly cost and probably should wait for the weather to improve, or setup to test it in the garage. Maybe I will find out what works best, and stick with it, and sell the bows that are "offenders". Here is the link, if you are interested.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/decibel-x-db-sound-level-meter/id448155923
Longbows rarely need much silencing anyway since there is either no, or limited contact with the string/limb. When you add a recurve, you have the string making contact with the limb and then it's a more critical timing issue than anything else. But still, we are tinkerers by nature I believe, and even though the bows may pass muster as "quiet enough", we seem to think we need to add half a raccoon to take them further down the decibel line.
Linen, though, was not 'elastic' like Fortisan and then Dacron were/are, so maybe that's a thing, Likely then, .like modern low stretch material....more power was going to the arrow anyway. Linen would break though, and rather unpleasantly at times; a reason that Cliff Zwickey invented a bow hinge back in the early days to allow the bow to fold when a string broke, versus just break itself.
But I digress. Some bows seem to be fine without silencers, some others not so much, and then there is that cool factor too. Wool or fur silencers can look very neat on a bow string so we can't discard "the look" aspect. :) I just try to tune my bows to the best effect with a bare string and then add what I feel is necessary...or not. Yet I do notice that my bows are much quieter each year, and at age 75 they seem to have gotten even more quiet on the shot. Don't tell me it's a hearing problem. :)
No I believe you are on the right track, assuming two one piece bows of the same design the louder one is likely retaining more energy in the limbs vs imparting it to the arrow, that energy is then released and felt as hand shock and heard as bow noise. I would bet they would not chrono the same. I could be wrong as Im just an amateur but from what Ive read and what makes sense it seems like that is the case. Of course there are other factors contributing to bow noise as well such as release, string contact with the limb as in recurves, moving parts/joints in takedowns etc. Thats at least how I understand it. Maybe someone smarter can chime in.
I don't know much about physics, so bear with me. Is a naturally loud bow just inefficient? It seems to me that any energy not imparted to the arrow will result in more noise. Increased arrow weight can only be taken so far. Being a long bow guy, I don't shoot bows that are especially loud. With that being said, I still put silencers on them. Am I just off base?
A good glove promotes good form. And good form results in a quiet shot.
Believe it or not you can lower your bow noise by changing to a different shooting glove. I have found the BW Stick-tite to be far and away the quietest.
Zaccai King stole my thunder! I was going to mention that podcast. It is one of The Push podcasts. Not really sure how scientific the testing was as it was outside and a human was doing the shooting. That being said he mentioned several things that have stuck with me. Number was, as mentioned above, put the weight in the arrow, not the string silencer. He mentioned the weight of some of these yarn puffs, wool, fur silencers and how they rob the bow of performance.
He suggested a silencer be no more than 10 grains in weight. So, I make my own and weigh them. Now, I'm sure some of you are shaking your head at my OCD. But, that's what it is, OCD. I'm at peace knowing I weighed them, so back off, lol.
He also suggested the spacing of the silencers. 1/4 of the string length and 1/3 of the string length. This has something to do with heterodynamsomethingorother. This is where I start and move accordingly. I recently went back to fur, rabbit specifically. I was using synthetic material and didn't like the results. That was another minus to fur, it collects moisture making them heavier. Synthetics don't.
Lastly he mentions how the sound of the bow is perceived by the vibration of the shooter. He suggests the more vibration, the louder we "think/feel" the bow is. He suggested having a buddy stand next to you and listen.
All in all, my ASL is slower than most reflex/deflex and recurve bows. If I lose another foot or two per second but gain mental confidence I consider it a win/win. I say do what you want and don't over think it. Like I do, lol!
-Jeremy
Cody Greenwood at Trad Lab did and episode on a podcast (don't remember if it was the push, or kifarucast) about this and basically said that best way to silence a bow is with a heavier arrow. I know most of the people here already shoot decently heavy arrows tho. I still put them on mine to help keep it a little quieter when I pluck the string or do other goofy stuff with my release. And I like the look of them. I just use yarn, Im using a wool synthetic blend, because I like the color and it shipped the next day on amazon. Super technical decision.
When I take my hearing device off my bow is silent. I hope for deer with hearing loss. One little "silencer" seems ok, but a big one or a bunch of them takes away from the aesthetics of the bow for me.
Chuck, yes there have been folks claiming that putting silencers at different lengths from the ends dampens different frequencies. While it may be theoretically plausible, I don't really put much stock in that.
I find that where you put the string silencers has more effect on arrow flight than sound. Back when I used them, I adjusted them up and down to make sure they didn't mess up my arrow flight. Once I had good bare shaft flight, the silencers stayed put.
MJ, there are several articles about strings in "Archery, The Technical Side, but, as you suspected, they are about bow performance not sound damping.
Nice article IB. I will have to look up in Archery The Technical Side. I believe Hickman or Klopsted may have wrote something on the bowstring, but I want to believe it was on how the weight of the string affected the performance of the bow. I will be in touch.
I have read....no idea if true, that placing a set on string at differing locations, like at 1/4 and 1/3 string length, from ends, covers several vibrational waves. Steve....?
I've not gone crazy over string silencers, and prefer to use a heavier string, and/or different arrows. Like Steve my hearing isn't what it use to be, and haven't noticed animals jumping arrows at the sound of the string. I read, that Fred Bear used a heavier string in case a strand broke. Obviously, he was not concerned about arrow speed. I would suggest that a different spacing will reduce vibration and harmonic sound, more than the size or number of silencers. If I needed to use silencers, I might put them on temporarily at 4" and 6" from the string nocks and change them after a few arrows and see if it makes a difference.
I think it is hard to say that any number of silencers is over the top if an archer believes they help. You nor I may feel it is not necessary, but it is not our call to make. For a long time I did not realize that certain aspects of tuning can actually improve the noise situation. I shoot Hill style bows, bit I still use silencers, though. As far as detracting from the bow's peformance, I'd suggest that an increase in confidence provided by "plenty" of noise control would outweigh the loss of speed. Again, to each his own.
I only see things going overboard on recurves. I’ve seen as many as four string silencers, padded string loops and limbsaver pads and a short stabilizer all on one bow. All to cut down vibration and noise. Other than the stabilizer, I can’t imagine how much all these things cut down on the bows performance. Seems like it would rob the bow of several pounds.
As as far as a bow being quiet, the best I’ve been around have been selfbows or all wood bows with dacron strings. Jmho
If a bow requires more than one set of cat whiskers I change string material. Went down that rabbit hole with my Bear TD and D-97 string many years ago. I tried fur, yarn, cat whiskers, super heavy arrows. Finally after I was ready to toss the bow in the creek I put on an old Bear B-50 string, noise gone. I do have one bow I can’t get quiet and that is my Vintage Works 62 Bear Kodiak reproduction. But it’s not a huntin bow so I have not started a new rabbit hole. I have endless loop BCY X strings on my recurves. I have Chad at Champion Bowstrings make them. BCY X doesn’t stretch in our summer heat which is a plus for me. I also had good luck with “skinny “ strings. As for weird pictures I once saw one of a man with his kill and his Black Widow bow which had multiple sets of silencers on the string. I have mentioned this somewhere before, I donot like a bunch of stuff on my bowstrings, no fur balls, no yarn balls, no spider legs, no felt in limb grooves.
I use zero string silencers and limb paddings on my Howard Hill Archery Tembos and Legend Sticks. This is also true for my Bear Montana longbows. There is no need for silencing. Those bows are very quiet. I do not use string silencers or limb paddings on any of my longbows, although while acceptably quiet, some are not as dead silent as my ASLs and Bear Montanas.
Among my 14 bows, I currently only possess two recurves. My Ben Pearson recurve is acceptably quiet without silencers or padding while not being completely silent. On the other hand, my Bear Super Kodiak even with string silencers and limb padding is annoyingly LOUD! I have tried many different types of string silencers and I have tried using four silencers. I have tried different paddings at different positions on the limb. I have used very heavy arrows. For some reason that bow just seems to be a loud bow to me, although it could be a sound pitch to which my ears are sensitive because my friend does not find my Bear Super Kodiak to be annoying loud. The Bear Super Kodiak is otherwise a very nice accurate bow.
Just my personal experiences and opinions.
I think Chuck nailed that one.
I would add that string silencers can also be used to fine-tune the bow/arrow machine. This is especially useful when shooting carbon arrows. Moving the silencers towards the limb tips helps if the arrow is a bit weak. Moving the silencers towards the middle helps if the arrow is a bit stiff.
When I switched to wood arrows, I found silencers less important. Being that wood absorbs energy better than carbon (a positive way of saying they are less efficient), my bow is naturally more quiet when shooting them.
Add to that my attenuated auditory system (a positive way of saying I am deaf as a door nail) and silencers are unnecessary. I'm like a ninja in the woods these days. I can walk through knee-deep leaves and not make a sound. It's amazing how quiet I've become since shedding my good hearing.
I wonder where all the deer went? 😜
I think some bows always twanged. I think we learned how to change that and it altered expectations and what each of us allowed.