Home Forums Bows and Equipment Rabbit fur string silencers

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    • shreffler
        Post count: 69

        So I have a bunch of snowshoe hare rabbit fur from alaska just laying around, and want to turn it into string silencers.

        But here’s the issue – My string I’m using isn’t a flemish twist, it’s a double loop endless b-50 dacron string. This makes it so I can’t feed the fur through the twists leaving it permanently in place.

        I know it’s possible to somehow fix it on the string permanently, but how would I go about this without hurting the string at all?

        Or is there some other silencer out there that is cheap and would work well for this type of string?

        Any input is helpful!

        Alex

      • mhay
          Post count: 264

          Determine where you want each one and serve 3/8 inch , lay the fur on the string and continue serving over the middle of the fur . draw it up tight as you wrap the thread around the fur . 7-10 loops around and then finish the serving up tight against the other end another 3/8inch.

          Been doing yarn this way for over 30 years .

          Best wishes

        • ChumpMcgee
          Member
            Post count: 252

            any suggestions on how to make them more waterproof?

            I was out last weekend in the rain and I have fox fur and they got completely soaked.

          • Bruce Smithhammer
              Post count: 2514

              tkohlhorst wrote: any suggestions on how to make them more waterproof?

              I was out last weekend in the rain and I have fox fur and they got completely soaked.

              Hmmm….maybe someone has more experience with this, but I’m not sure that there is a good way to effectively waterproof fur, at least not for this application. That’s why most fur silencers are otter, beaver, etc, which contain naturally-occurring oils that help repel water.

            • James Harvey
              Member
                Post count: 1130

                Alex, I’ve seen a guy that just used the smallest sized zip ties to fix his silencers to his string. Seemed to work fine and he’d done it so you didn’t see the ties unless you looked really close.

              • ChumpMcgee
                Member
                  Post count: 252

                  Smithhammer wrote: [quote=tkohlhorst]any suggestions on how to make them more waterproof?

                  I was out last weekend in the rain and I have fox fur and they got completely soaked.

                  Hmmm….maybe someone has more experience with this, but I’m not sure that there is a good way to effectively waterproof fur, at least not for this application. That’s why most fur silencers are otter, beaver, etc, which contain naturally-occurring oils that help repel water.

                  I do have some beaver fur that I may have to switch over to. I was told after I had the fox fun on it about the whole getting wet thing that I overlooked. I left them on all last season and I actually did not get rained on once so I was not able to test out the fox fur.

                  I was just curious if there is anything that I could do. I was thinking maybe using that white powder that I waterproof my fletching would work.

                • Doc Nock
                    Post count: 1150

                    I gave up on fur… used to use the braided Quiveut (?)(Musk ox underbelly from AK)but gave all fur up for the wetness reason.

                    OK…so yeah, beaver fur doesn’t take on a lot of water, but all the string silencers of fur I’ve seen have the fur on a strip of tanned hide…HIDE (SKIN) DOES get wet…and takes just shy of forever to dry.

                    I do the cinch knot and double loop with cat whiskers and quit having “wet” issues. Some of the wool fiber silencers don’t seem to hold water, and with one “PLUCK” of the string…the water flies…but if there is a steady drizzle or wet underbrush, at the time of the shot, it WILL change arrow flight being it’s holding some water!

                  • mhay
                      Post count: 264

                      If not the rubber cat whiskers , if ya do a lot of hunting in the rain , maybe just set up another string with no silencers at all .

                      I spent a bunch of time and went thru several materials this summer trying to get that SK quiet . All thru the brace height too . Ended up with B-50 endless loop and back with yarn balls for silencers . Still ,this bow is not as quiet as the 2012 model which gave up the ghost . The flemish twist string that came with the bow was out of the question . It was actually more quiet without any silencers , but still unacceptable.

                      After increasing arrow weight it is now acceptable but slow .

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