# Tips on making a recurve quiet



## Dennis (Aug 21, 2010)

Sounds like a few of ya'll have special tips on making your bow's quiet. How about sharing a few tips for bows that are a little harder to silence


----------



## frankwright (Aug 21, 2010)

On the one recurve I have I twisted wool yarn from the string loop, down about 6" and then back up.I covered the part of the string that actually touches the limb.
That seemed to help a good bit.


----------



## Gordief (Aug 21, 2010)

i'm going to try what frank said... & a piece of mole skin
on the limb.  we'll see.. no hear , what happens.


----------



## rapid fire (Aug 21, 2010)

Not sure if I would do the wool and mole skin, but the wool helps a lot.  Also use wool silencers.  Another thing is adjusting the brace height and using a heavier arrow.


----------



## rapid fire (Aug 21, 2010)

Oh, and it's not going to be as quiet as a long bow.  Have someone else shoot it and stand at a distance.  I bet it sounds much quiter from 10' away.


----------



## trad bow (Aug 21, 2010)

There are many factors involved with silenceing a bow now a days that most people don't even consider. Everyone knows how brace height and heavier arrows effect sound but string material, glove opposed to tab or even glove material, arrow material, add ons to your bow, (quivers, rest material, silencer material or placement of it) or anything else you do needs to be evaluated. How you hold your bow can make a difference. To silence a bow you need to look at everything and then make sure you can make repeitive shots the same to properly ascertain what is going on. If you can't shoot and release the same everytime then you really have know idea what is going on. I have shot recurves that are nearly as quite as some longbows and quieter than alot of them. Takes time but it can be done. When you get it quite, write down your setup so you will have a reference point the next time you need to set that bow up.


----------



## LanceColeman (Aug 21, 2010)

trad bow said:


> There are many factors involved with silenceing a bow now a days that most people don't even consider. Everyone knows how brace height and heavier arrows effect sound but string material, glove opposed to tab or even glove material, arrow material, add ons to your bow, (quivers, rest material, silencer material or placement of it) or anything else you do needs to be evaluated. How you hold your bow can make a difference. To silence a bow you need to look at everything and then make sure you can make repeitive shots the same to properly ascertain what is going on. If you can't shoot and release the same everytime then you really have know idea what is going on. I have shot recurves that are nearly as quite as some longbows and quieter than alot of them. Takes time but it can be done. When you get it quite, write down your setup so you will have a reference point the next time you need to set that bow up.



I was having trouble figuring out who to quote and who to X2!! because I do the same thing Frank does to my string with the yarn, and Like Rapid fire said no way I would do mole skin and yarn together.

But Jeffs dead on. Releases are a huge variable in noise, even grips and torquing the bow, your brace height plays a big role. and the actual positioning of the slincers on the string. (as in how close/far from the tips or serving they are slid and positioned). By doing this you find the harmonic balance on the string and thats where to leave em.

I've been playing with a tab as of late and it's definately louder than my glove. Although that IS right around my ear and I'm not sure the back of the tab smackin in to my fingers is making that much noise..... it just sounds like alot right there next to my ear.

And one final thing I will give ya on TD recurves is to, take the bow apart and smear/rub string wax all over the limb pocket then place the limb back down over the string wax in the pocket and tighten her back down. get it on the alignment pins even wear ya bolt threads will slip through it and get a lil bit on them. hey it'sa silicon based wax. all it's gonna do is repel water and lube stuff. 

You gettin a "click", a "clack", a "tap", a "bbrrrkk" on release?? could be glass on glass in that pocket.


----------



## hogdgz (Aug 21, 2010)

If it is a takedown use string wax between the limbs, makes all the difference in the world.


----------



## Dennis (Aug 21, 2010)

Ive done everything but the string wax trick im going to try that now


----------



## BigJim Bow (Aug 21, 2010)

Trade it off on a longbow. lol, just kidding, good luck.

bigjim


----------



## Dennis (Aug 21, 2010)

I've never killed anything with a recurve i've always hunted with longbows so im going to kill one opening morning with a recurve and then get a longbow out.


----------



## BigJim Bow (Aug 21, 2010)

Dennis, I was just joking. you shoot what you will. 

bigjim


----------



## hogdgz (Aug 21, 2010)

Dennis said:


> Ive done everything but the string wax trick im going to try that now



Dennis, my widow was loud and i tried everything to quite it down, someone told me to try the wax and it made all the difference in the world, dead quite. Use a good bit of wax between the limbs and i also but it on the limb bolts, tighten everything uo, it will squeeze the extra wax out, wipe of the excess wax and your ready, may not work for you but made a huge difference for me.


----------



## Dennis (Aug 21, 2010)

I just shot it down the hall into the bathroom on to a bag target but i really cant tell if it helped. Im going to a 3-d shoot tomorrow so i will find out tomorrow Thanks everybody for the tips


----------



## LanceColeman (Aug 21, 2010)

hogdgz said:


> Dennis, my widow was loud and i tried everything to quite it down, someone told me to try the wax and it made all the difference in the world, dead quite. Use a good bit of wax between the limbs and i also but it on the limb bolts, tighten everything uo, it will squeeze the extra wax out, wipe of the excess wax and your ready, may not work for you but made a huge difference for me.



Yea one of my Bracks got loud a while back and something told me to do that as well... That something was the fella that built the bow!! And thats also how I came up with "molding" the gasket for ILF and metal riser bow pockets like the GM to shut them up.


----------



## coaster500 (Aug 22, 2010)

Dennis, real heavy arrows


----------



## dutchman (Aug 22, 2010)

rapid fire said:


> Another thing is adjusting the brace height and using a heavier arrow.



Never underestimate these two things. They can make a tremendous difference in the noise factor. 

I didn't realize that Dennis was asking primiarily about take down recurves. You've got me scared now, Dennis. Mine should be here in October...


----------



## Dennis (Aug 22, 2010)

It's not really loud just louder than my longbows but im just trying to get it as quiet as i can


----------



## RogerB (Aug 22, 2010)

Since Dennis can't see he has bionic ears, he thinks anything louder than a gnat's poot will scare off a deer at 400 yards. I've stood beside his new recurve and it is already quite!! 

(until he turns loose of the string)


----------



## Dennis (Aug 22, 2010)

The wax between the limbs and riser helped thanks guys


----------



## fflintlock (Aug 22, 2010)

what kind of string material are you using ?


----------



## Rare Breed (Aug 22, 2010)

Put cotton balls in your ears.


----------



## pine nut (Aug 22, 2010)

If you will cough as you release the string, you won't be able to tell if the deer heard you or not!


----------



## bownarrow (Aug 22, 2010)

working on compounds we used to spray the limb pocket, bolt thread and limb itself with cooking spray, let it set. fill the pocket with GE silicone caulk, put the limb back on, tighten it ALMOST all the way. leave it that way overnight then tighten it the rest of the way (prolly won't go all the way down because now you've got a gasket). on some bows it made a world of difference, some hardly any. kinda messy at first but once the silicone sets it's just that, a gasket (well you might have to trim it some). anyway, might be worth trying on TD trad bows since the system's the same


----------



## dutchman (Aug 22, 2010)

pine nut said:


> If you will cough as you release the string, you won't be able to tell if the deer heard you or not!



Yep, that oughta do it.


----------

