Ok, so LDB got me thinking yesterday. He said a curve can be quieted down to a "thump". I've never been able to do it in 40 years and that's why I quit them. So I'm doing something wrong. What do you recurve guys do to quiet your bows down, and I mean longbow quiet. What materials do you use and where. What is the process? Thanks ahead of time for the help.

I am not the most experienced, but I followed the information here on the wall and have been VERY pleased. First, I installed cat whiskers at 18.3% of distance from each end where yhe string leaves the last contact point. Second, I put the soft side of velcro on the limb and covered the entire string groove area under the string. Thirdly, I added Bowjax brand limb silencers called slimjax. Do not follow directions on the package...place them about 2 inches out on the limb past the fades. This produced a bow that with a sloppy oops release gives that thump. On a good release I get almost NOTHING. The wall guys were excellent teachers is all I can say.

Some I can get super quiet using the things Yellah described above. I have not used the slimjax, but the cat whiskers and velcro for sure. I have a super k that is just loud. I got it quietened down a bit, but went to yarn puffs that look like cheerleader pom poms on it!!!

Most guys that I encounter seem to use a low brace height which exacerbates limb noise, especially when the tiller isn't doing well for their style. I took a note from old Papa Bear who was noted for using a high brace and it helps considerably. You don't need to utilize ever enth of limb surface to eke out the most performance; especially if it creates more noise that kinda negates any advantage anyway.

A quick example: I recently put a D-97 endless loop (of my own making) on my old Shakespeare Sierra. At 7 1/2 it looked right but was barking too loud for my taste. I worked it up to 8" exactly and it went to that "bump" or "thump" that people seem to relate to. I don't have a yard skein wrapped around the string or on the limbs either, or half a raccoon on the string either...just a set of Monkeyball's wooly whiskers. That string, just FYI, is a 10 strand endless loop and the bow is 45#.

Well, I called my congressman for help cause I think it takes an act of congress to get a recurve to shut up ,but he denied my request (I only asked for $200,000.00 to be put in the infrastructure bill for me) but I did go buy some velcro, I'd heard of using moleskin so we'll see how it does.

We're heading to PCB with the grandkids now so it will be late next week before I can give a report on my progress. Y'all have a good week.

Some curves evidently just aren't quiet from what I found with the Super K anyway. Believe me, I used every 1/4" of the 8-9" brace height of that bow, it just won't shut up!!!! It is as quiet as she can get I think, just not as quiet as my others.

Common causes of post-shot noise are.....

Type of bow

Bow limb material and design

String material used

Brace height

Arrow type and total weight

Poor release (strumming the string)

I once read an article reporting the results of testing various types of string silencers. 100% wool won the testing.

As for installing silencing pads in the string groove, a renown bow maker said that the practice was a no-no. Don't recall the specific reason why, but vaguely recall that it had something to do with causing the string to misalign with the string groove.

In the end, it seems that some bows just cannot be made acceptably quiet.

You're headed to polychlorinated biphenyl? Holy cow....be careful. :)

George, that is exactly what I thought!!! LOL

I found the culprit to be the string material at least with my Bear TD. I do have one bow which makes way to much noise but it’s not a huntin bow anyway. I use one set of cat whiskers, if I can’t get the bow quiet I look for issues with arrows or the bow especially a TD. I was actually surprised how quiet my Rambo Warf is with just one set of whiskers. Maybe the heavier riser has something to do with it?

Besides changing out strings I have wood arrows that I try. If the bow quiets down I look for arrow issues. A process of elimination if you will.

Philadelphia College of the Bible?

I switch from a "Dacron" material string to a Fast Flight string on my Great Plains recurve. Now I get more string noise. I have cat whiskers and Velcro as stated above but I get more noise "twang", that when using the Dacron material.

Panama City Beach! Y'all gotta get out more often....

Others have already provided all the tried and true methods for reducing string noise on a recurve. However, regardless of the methods used, they will almost never be as quiet as a longbow because the string still slaps the limb tips on a recurve, and it doesn't on a longbow. Regardless, most can get them acceptably quiet. Can't say as I've ever lost a critter because of bow noise.

I just read where some dude in Georgia sprayed the lower limbs and limb pockets with cooking spray then put silicon all in the limb pockets then put the bow back together and tightened it down/let it dry and said it did wonders. ???

3 things cause a noisy bow. Plucking the string, ultra light arrows ,and poorly designed bows with limbs outa time. You can help limb timing by raising the brace height way above what the maker intended, especially with recurves because of the imb slap from poor timing. The best cure if if 1 set of good silencers don't work sell the bow. My bear td has a 7 3/8 brace, no silencers and its quiet with just a swishhhh. Widow is a forward handle so it's 8 1/4 and is quiet. Caribow longbow is 7 1/8 and quiet as a mouse. All with no or minimal silencers. Poor limb timing /design is usually it tho. So raise the brace till the strings barely touching or buy a good bow. Sometime from the same bowmaker even works.

I only shoot long target recurves; metal riser TD's, one piece wood. Some are noisy, others not. I want all of them to have the best (fastest) cast I can get, therefore I use the least number of strands in the string (B50, B55, fast flights)and set the brace at the lowest point that still gives me good performance. Any bow that ends up being noisy gets strips of fur (usually mink) woven into the string at about 3 inches toward the riser from where the string touches the recurve. They are not big puffy things. I see other archers put big stuff anywhere along the string. Mine work every time.

blacktail bows, heavy arrows

Like most of you I have tried various methods on many top end recurves over the past 50 years with similar results as mentioned here. But then I remember that Jack Howard Game Master Jet that I sure wish I still owned. Absolutely quiet with nothing on the string and/or on the limbs to quiet it down. What a masterpiece that was. Sure wish someone could/would reproduce Jack's amazing Gamemaster Jet.

Flemish string with catwhiskers quiets down my Super Kodiaks...though I do prefer endless strings on them...with the old brush buttons.

These are what I use, with a proper brace height.

Make sure your arrow nocks aren’t too tight on the string.

My secret sauce is one part cat whiskers, one part heavy arrows (10-12 gpp), and one part split finger release. Use padding where the string contacts the limb if you like. I’m not sure if it helps or not, but it doesn’t hurt. Even my loud bow goes “thump” if I release cleanly.

George knows what he's talking about. If you have a noisy bow, the first thing you do is raise the brace height. That will always quiet down a bow. If you're using light arrows, say, in the 8 grains per pound of pull range, up arrow weight. If you need quieter, try wool puffs and a ff string. My Bear TD, with a factory ff string and wool puffs was the quietest bow I've ever shot. I turned it into a loud bow by buying a thinner ff string. One day, I took the puffs off the thin string and put on a pair of experimental brush buttons I made. The bow was so quiet, no longbow or bow with a thump sound could compare! I test at night, when noise is amplified. If I start producing those brush buttons, they, along with raising brace height, will eliminate now noise forever.

Joe

bow noise

Frisky my Bear TD is super quiet with no silencers and a 7 3/8 brace. Oh and 10 gpp. Its my quietest bow.

PCB's.... Humans are mainly exposed to it via food, air, and drinking water. Old people have been exposed to it for a longer time. Maybe breathing to many mold spores in that dingy cellar also.

I am with George- 90% of silencing is getting the right brace height. There are usually two that work pretty well, one low in range and the second high in range.

As long as your arrow is in a pretty good match/tune to your bow, a heavier arrow makes a huge difference. See the work the tradlab guys did, they suggested that putting more weight in arrow was better than putting it into string silencers.

Material, etc has not mattered much to my bows compared to above. I have quiet old bows on B50 and quiet new bows on FF. I dont try any of the super new stuff, just those two.

I suspect some bows/limbs maybe louder than others, but on my ~40 bows/limbs it is seldom noticeable once tuned. I had one bow/arrow/brace combination on a Damon Howatt Ventura that was amazing though, the sound of the feathers was louder than the sound of the bow for folks with ~28" draw. For me it was a noisy bow at 31.5"... But I did not work on it for myself much as it was too short for me to comfortably shoot, its new owner remains greatly pleased with the bow.

LOL, you have not met my Super K. I have used all of the 8-9" brace height, shooting 11/32" 80-85 spine doug fir arrows, FF D97 16 strand string and now have cheerleader pom poms on it and it still is louder than my other bows.

Live2Hunt, one of the things that may be affecting your Super K is your draw length. Don't you have a considerably longer than average draw length?

Have you tried raising the brace height more? The brace height that is suggested is based on AVERAGE draw length which is typically at 28". At 28" you are getting a particular length of string travel from full draw, which produces a particular power stroke. When draw length increases substantially, that power stroke is lengthened which causes different dynamics in the limbs as they return to brace.

Tembo -

Here's what some folks won't tell you: the lower the bow's efficiency, the less noise it makes. That's why most long bows will be quieter than most recurves. There's more to it than that, but as a blanket statement, it's pretty solid. Limb slap on recurves is always do to a poor limb design or poor tuning.

Think about it.

Dacron strings are usually quieter than any FF type materials.

String (and limb) silencers rob energy that should go into the arrow.

Heavier arrows "might" be quieter than lighter ones. Stiffer arrows MAY be louder, IF the arrow is so stiff, it slaps the riser.

Short drawing a bow should make it quieter.

The caveats there are that usually better from equals a quieter bow, as does a better tune (brace height, center shot, etc), but without the former, the latter ain't gonna happen.

Viper out.

fdp, yes, I have as 31" draw. I have thought that this is an issue with any of the shorter bows I have (60"). My wallace is 64" and the limbs were made for my 31" draw. That thing is very quiet. I have two bows that are 60" and they are both loud in comparison. My thought as yours was that extra length of travel is just snapping that string more creating the louder sound. I will have to try and go above the 9" max and see, but it seemed to me it got louder when I was at 9" compared to the 8-1/4 I have now. BTW, I hate the pom poms on the string, LOL.

Stix, I wonder if Tom Clum would share his secret on this forum (?).

All these noise problems with recurves. I've had several from different bowyers over the years and never had a noisy one. I shoot cedars in the 550gr range. There's nothing wrong with heavy arrows. Everyone seems bent on light arrows. Shoot heavier arrows and your problems will go away. Frank

If you need heavy arrows ( 10 gpp and up) to quiet a recurve then your bow is not properly tuned.

Using a “ heavier arrow” means you substitute an arrow with stiffer static spine and then add more head weight to adjust the dynamic spine for tune. If you don’t do step two then the arrow is not tuned and flight is poor.

Most people do not fine tune the brace height and that’s step one in quieting a bow. They say they do, but don’t because it takes time and patience.

I never put ANYTHING in the string grooves. The bowyer spent a great deal of time and care to file them because they serve a purpose…they provide a consistent place for the string to settle in line with the limb.

Filling those grooves totally defeats their purpose, plus those moleskin and Velcro patches look coyote ugly on a bow! Almost as bad as antler burr knobs on a TD!

Better to wrap the string below the loops with very fine wool to about 1/2” past the contact point. Stops noise effectively and lets the limb grooves do their work. ( See photo)

Tuned over 150 recurves and that’s my 2 cents worth.

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