Bow String Silencers

 

You may have seen someone’s bow and noticed puffy balls of fur on the strings. Then you may have proceeded to think “what the hell is that?” A reasonable question to ask when encountering mysterious balls of fur that you are unsure about. These little balls of fur are bow string silencers. They actually come in a variety of forms, with the fur balls being quite popular among traditional bow users. This article examines bow string silencers, their function, and their various forms. Here we go!

 

What is a Bow String Silencer?

 

So, we have answered the question in the first paragraph: what the heck are those puffy balls of fur on the bowstring? They are bow string silencers. Now let us dig deeper. What is a bowstring silencer? What is its function and why would you want them installed on your bow?

A bow string silencer may be defined as a device that helps dissipate and/or reduce excess vibrations of the bowstring, thereby quieting the noise a bow makes upon the release of an arrow. Excessive vibration may be felt by the archer after a shot, and this vibration may cause excessive noise. The reduction of this vibration makes the release feel much better and makes the shot quieter. A quiet shot is especially important in bow hunting applications.

 

 

How Do Bow String Silencers Work?

 

As you may have read from our article on the physics of archery, a bow is a device that transfers energy from potential energy to kinetic energy. This potential energy, stored in the limbs of the bow is transferred from the bow limbs to the string which then transfers the energy to the arrow. The arrow of course transfers this energy into the target.

However, bows are not 100% efficient, meaning that not all of the energy stored in the bow as potential energy is transferred to the arrow as kinetic energy. Unfortunately, there are losses. Some of the energy is dissipated in the bow and bowstring as residual vibration. This vibration, along with the noise it produces, is generally seen as undesirable and so we invented bow string silencers to dampen these residual vibrations.

Typically these vibrations become quite apparent when a release is viewed in slow motion.

 

 

In the next sections, we will discuss some of the different types of bow string silencers and which ones are preferred for various types of bows (recurve, compound, traditional, etc.)

 

 

Cat Whiskers Bow String Silencers

 

This type of silencer is most common for traditional bows. They typically consist of threads of fabric or synthetic material configured so that the material is threaded through the bowstring and ends up looking like a ball of fur, or as the name implies, the whiskers of a cat, although I prefer the term “furball”. This type of silencer is quite common and cheap. Some archers also make their own, which itself is a relatively cheap and simple process.

Installing them onto your bowstring is also a straightforward process.

 

 

 

Cat Whisker Bow String Silencers for Sale

 

Are you interested in purchasing one of these gorgeously cute fur balls for your bow? But of course, you are. We did a little research and found these delectable alpaca wool furballs. They are 100% alpaca wool which makes them very durable and naturally water repellent. Click the image below for the link if you so desire.

 

Where to Put String Silencers

 

Now to answer a technical question. You have your furball, and your bow, some arrows of course, and you want to put those furballs onto your bowstring. Where exactly on the string should you place them? Is there an optimal position? Indeed there is! This involves some more archery physics. Let us address the issue of silencer placement.

Now after the arrow is released the string will maintain a residual vibration at certain frequencies. These reverberations are known in several branches of physics as harmonics. These frequencies double while the amplitude of their waveforms halves as you go up in the harmonic scale.

Therefore, if you measure the length of the bowstring while it is on the bow and in the strung position, through some simple maths you can determine the position of all nodes and all wave peaks. Placing the silencer on a node such as the mid-way point does little as these positions do not vibrate.

The optimal position for silencer placement would be at the peak of the waveforms of the harmonic vibrations. Since the peaks shift slightly as you move up in frequency, taking the average would be optimal. Please see the image below as well as the video which explains the concept further.

 

Compound Bow String Silencers

 

So you have a fancy, brand new compound bow and you want some fancy silencers for it. Sure you do. Well, the concept is very much the same for a compound bow as it is for any other. There are several modern variants of silencers that will go well with your state-of-the-art device.

CLICK IMAGES FOR PRODUCT LINKS

 

Bowjax 1036 Ultra Bow Jax II Dampener-Pack of 4 

Monkey Tail Silencer

Installing silencers for compounds such as the ones pictured above is a little bit more involved than on a recurve or traditional bow. The string must be removed from the compound bow to install certain string silencers.

 

Bow String Dampers

 

Bowstring dampers are a different device from string silencers. Dampers are installed on the riser (middle section) of a bow, on the belly, and facing the string. When the string is released, the damper is positioned so that the string will make contact with it, and vibrations of the string are dampened through the device and bow much faster than if the vibrations were to be allowed to dissipate on their own.

 

 

Apparently, this is not a modern invention. Some older bows used by indigenous North Americans have utilized this technology.

 

 

Homemade Bow String Silencers

 

Maybe you’re more of the hands-on, arts and crafts kind of person. That’s great! You can make your own homemade silencers if you so choose. We found quite a lot of video tutorials on the subject.

The following is particularly good in our opinion as the artist uses natural fur that goes well with traditional bows, which is our specialty here at archeryhistorian.com.

 

 

 

Thank You & Take Care!