I've tried Otter fur,Woolie's and rubber cat whiskers trying to quiet an old Root recurve.The Cat whiskers did the best job by far! They worked great on the endless loop string by putting them on with small electrical straps. Anyone had similar results ?

Tie them on tightly with string material or serving material. The little ties are not tight enough and weight too much.

Weight and placement are the 2 most significant contributors for silencer effectiveness. Heavier than 22 grains each will start to cost performance at a great rate then added quietness.

Cat whiskers all day!

Para cord works great

Catwhiskers for sure. Tied in with some serving.

I have a Wallace recurve bow. When you get his bow or order strings it will generally come with cat whiskers. I have tried fur, paracord and wool, but the cat whiskers were the best for me. Same with my bear super K. The string slap on the curve is the worst thing for noise, the colder it gets the louder it gets. I am going to try wrapping the string with yarn to see if that will reduce sound. I had velcro strips where the string hits the bow, but do not like that in the groves.

Catwhiskers tied with some serving is what I do on all my recurves. Longbows, catwhiskers probably work the best, but I like the wool puff look.

Big fan of string leeches

I like String Scallops from Two Tracks, there work great, easy to move around to find that sweet spot and they can be removed to use on another bow.

4 String Leeches, 8 & 10" from where the string hits each limb.

Cat whiskers are my choice. A good cheap version is to dissect a bungee cord as they use small diameter rubber cords. Feed the bundle through a loose clove hitch and tighten.

Last "Custom" bow I had made for me was a "Vortex II" made buy Kevin, so you know how long that's been? Anyway when it arrived it had a set of string leeches installed. Never tried anything else, but I have bows with whiskers, beaver balls and yarn puffs, could not tell you which is best!

GUTPILEPA X2

Live2Hunt……try brush buttons. Did away with the string slap for me and no more twigs stuck between the string and limbs

Fred Bear used brush buttons. If they were good enough for him...

Brush buttons still work. My dad had them on his '57 Kodiak. That bow was fast and quiet. 57# @ 28. I have used them on every recurve I ever owned. Now I shoot mostly longbows and I put up with snagging branches and leaves.

These!

String leech

Billy Shipp x2

Cat whiskers work best for me. Tie em tite but still able to slide to get best tune.

Two Tracks Scallops work well

I'm partial to para cord sheaths material, 4X2" at 18.3% of string length. I shoot 65#+ and it really cuts the vibration.

Do you guys separate the string and put the Cat Whiskers in between or do you just tie the tight to the string. Kurt

Wrap around the string and tie. I just tied in a pair of 1 1/4” whiskers, nice and quiet now.

Do you guys with the paracord have any pictures?

I think the push podcast has a nice YouTube tutorial. Basically you cut to desired length and discard the white strands in the center. Then split the string and slide it in. If you're string doesn't have many twists you may need a couple of overhand knots from something skinny like serving string to secure it. Then you just shoot it in. Ends up looking like yarn puffs. Don't use skinny craft store stuff. It won't separate into strands well. $10 buys a lifetime supply.

I started using dyneema (Amsteel) rope. I'd get 1/4" and cut a 3" section out and pull the threads apart and then bundle them and serve them in. Light and quiet and do well when wet or damp.

Wool String Scallops are by far my favorite. They're durable as all get out as I've swapped them from string to string. They're very aesthetically pleasing as they don't fray. They're very clean looking. They work exceptionally well and weight very little on the string.

I get them from Two Tracks archery when they have them in stock. When they are not in stock there, I'll get them from the Shrew Bows website or Kustom King Archery.

I agree with live2hunt. most of the noise on a recurve does come from the string slap. I took one bow and "served" yarn down from the loops to just past the grooves. Adding a few layers just for assurance. I cannot tell that it did much. So, I definitely will not be spending the time to do that again. Brush buttons do the same thing better, and I use wool yarn to make string silencers for my recurves.

-Bones

I find Yarn to be about as good as anything, else. I would use wool if I had it, but I think yarn is just acrylic, but I have not found any downsides, so far. Maybe someone can enlighten me, if I am missing anything.

I have not found cat whiskers to be all that great on the bows, that I have, that have them on there.

And on some of my recurves, I have added velcro to the limb grooves, to reduce the noise from string slap, and on some bows, it makes all of the difference. My bows may be a little slower, as a result of my tinkering, but I can live with that.

I've used beaver or otter fur for years with great results, but the thickness of the hide can vary greatly. If it's thin they work great but it's not always thin and when it's not they're a pain in the butt. Case in point, I just got a new string and a pair of beaver fur silencers. This fur had the thickest hide I've ever seen, and I should have stopped right there, but I installed them anyway. Once installed, I strung the bow and gave it a few half draw pulls to seat them. Upon checking the silencers I found that the hide on the lower one had cut several strands of the Spectra flemish twist. I unstrung it immediately. Brand new string was toast. I'm done using fur. I went to a craft store and bought a skein of 100% wool for less than the cost of one pair of fur silencers. This skein will provide me with at least a hundred silencers.

for quieting a bowstring and dampening out string oscillation I prefer wool puffs over catshiskers and anything else.I make em small by trimming into a nice ball.They will slide up and down the string for best placement easily.You dont need to tie them on.At least I dont have to.

Plus it is water resistant.

Lots of good input.

I like the mini wooly whispers, not sure if they are still made?

Cat whiskers for me….and yes, I have found brush buttons go a long ways….if you are taming a recurve.

I thought someone would of mentioned ‘BOW HUSH’ by now

String leeches.

3 Rivers sells string groove rubber gizmo's that you slide on your string at the curve. These were the only things that would make my Super K quiet, plus cat whiskers.

I remember in the 70s Bear sold these things that looked like rubber jacks (like the toy). I used those and they worked. Now homemade yarn puff balls.

Cat Whiskers. I tie them on with a double constrictor knot. They never move. They silence great and are waterproof.

Pardon my ignorance but can somebody put a picture of wood string scallops. No idea what they are

I've had my best luck with cat whiskers. I just tie them in a knot around string and pull tight. They don't move

Wool all day! Its light and performs extremely well. Plus, it looks the best.

I make Navajo Wool String silencers. I can custom make them in different diameters and densities to help tune your bow. I have 12 different colors to choose from for custom combos. You can find pictures of the colors on my facebook page along with pictures of 48 different color combos.

Best part, they are really simple to install. No cutting, trimming or tying needed.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555498283727&mibextid=ibOpuV

Pro Silencers

Just made these for my daughters new Galaxy longbow to match the riser and glass. Just basic acrylic yarn and always worked for me with the natural wool yarn as well.

One I made for a friends Korte with Purple Heart in riser

And another Korte belonging to another buddy named Jeff with green stained limbs.

Those are some great looking yarn balls Keefers. I use them to,but mine don't look as good as yours. I do also use some Catwhiskers. Kurt

I’ve made string scallop type silencers . You can buy felted wool at the craft store. I used my wife’s scissors ( the ones that cut the zig zag ) you can make a bunch for a few bucks.

GUTPILEPA X3 , also Miley's unsented beaver hair puff balls effective but expensive .

Wool or acrylic yarn puffs. They work and are cheap if you make your own.

Nemo is that pic of a cut coat hanger a tool to make yarn puffs? Do you insert the puff in the string or tie it on. I made some with my wife's pom pom maker and they had a very thick center so they did not work to slip in the string and I could not get them to tie so they looked nice and centered like the ones I see here.

tcbow Yes it is the guide I use to make my yarn puff silencers.

tcbow, Video didn't work but you can find it on Youtube.

Muskrat balls, light, tuff, wtr resistant and look great!

Cat Whiskers - there was a semi scientific experiment did on here (I think leatherwall) a few years ago and cat whiskers won hands down for silencing a bow.

I used to make all mine with that method but now I do them like Rick Barber did several years ago with his gizmo . Both ways are great for sure.

Mountain mufflers work great.

Para cord sheath puff. Just pull out the white threads and put between string. About 200 shoots gets this.

I like to double up with fur and whiskers top and bottom . Have also upped the brace height a couple of twists and made ‘em quieter .

Good luck .

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