Limbsavers/speed killers?

[Chip Cavin]

I put some limbsavers on my warf bow. I stuck the 'shrooms on my Hoyt wood/glass limbs approximately 3 inches from the riser. They aint pretty, but the bow seems a little quieter. I have no idea how much performance I have lost. Have any of y'all compared arrow speed with and without limbsavers from your setups? I'm thinking about taking mine off to pick up some more speed....but I don't want to be too hasty about...those little limbsavers are expensive.

[thisbucks4u]

I think your over engineering things a bit. LMAO. What ever speed you would lose (minimal at best) by putting limbsavers on your limbs is a good trade. They do tend to settle the bow somewhat.

[Scooter]

There was a post on the old site (Van maybe?) who did a good job showing the speeds of his warfer as he added silencing things to the string and limbsavers to the limbs. As I remember it was not much which makes sense when they are near the fade-outs. Mount them near the tips and that is a whole different story.

[Chip Cavin]

LOL tb4u, yep I guess I'm way over-analyzing this stuff lately. I need to just focus on getting good arrow flight and nailing the spot... :shooting:

[BowDonkey]

Can innertube be used under bows with the ILF limb mounting? I used it on my Warfer and what a difference, but my limbs bolt straight on.

[Scooter]

Donk,

Should be able to. I used neoprene tape on my mizar no problem. The few FITA ILF risers I have played with are a bit loose on the ILF so a bit of foam or rubber heps tighten them up. My warf bow is pretty tight from the factory (Bob's basement).

[Glynn Sluder]

I called my warfer "car door", a step down from Bob's "car wreck" moniker, untill I applied one of Papa's MM strings. Now it's plenty quiet for hunting, especially since the arrow is getting there at the speed of sound!

May not be a bad trade off ,but they are just too ugly for my bow. I have ugly all maxed out just pulling the string to my face.
Glynn

[Limbwalker]

I've noticed no loss in speed. Even a few fps would be a good trade IMO.

John.

[Str8 Shooter]

I was messing around with limbsavers for a while, measuring the speed differences at different spots. All the way out on the limbs, where Sims recommends they go, I lost an average of 10-12 fps. In the center of the limb I lost an average of 4-6 fps. Last, 4" out from the riser at the end of the fadeouts I lost 0 fps. Interestingly, the noise and vibration reduction was the same at all points.

Chris

[the other DWS]

I put'em on the warfspeedbow--55#FX shorts on a 20" H2 riser--minimal string and low brace height. Mounted just on the tips of the fadeouts on the back of the bow--less obtrusive than on the belly side --there was no difference sound wise between back and belly. There was no observable change in FPS and significant noise and vibration reduction, even after I had already done brace height tuning and put beaverballs on the string.

I've put them on 3 or 4 other bows with similar if less dramatic results. Of course the other bows were quieter to start with.

[Pinelander]

...Interestingly, the noise and vibration reduction was the same at all points.
Chris
Chris, I experimented with some wrap-around vibration dampners and noticed quite a difference in limb vibration reduction when placed any higher than 8" above the limb butts... and a huge difference (nearly no vibration) when approaching 10" from the limb tips. I guess the Limbsavers stuck on the surface don't absorb as much as something that wraps completely around the limb. They actually created more noise though... and also slowed 'em down significantly, about the same as you've described.

[thisbucks4u]

Marksdragons sells limbs socks on ebay. THey are made of some type of stretchy material and they work wonderfully at dampening limbs, and speed reduction on my bows has been around 3 fps. This is not a commercial for the guy, cause I cant even get ahold of him to sell me some more, but its just my observation. Give them a try if you can.

[Str8 Shooter]

Piney,
I didn't notice any kind of significant difference between where they were located. The string type I use, though, is pretty low stretch and there isn't much limb vibration to start with. I probably would have noticed more of a difference with another type of string material. I'm sure Dacron would have been shown me a difference. BOING!!!

Speaking of wraparound vibration dampeners, have you seen the Bowtech vibration wraps? They're kind of a squid-lookin' rubber band thingy (technical term :) )that wraps around the limb. I've been trying to scrounge one of them off some compound shooters to try out. Much easier to move around than a stick on limbsaver.

Chris

[the other DWS]

Just got back from shooting a new combo this evening. I just received a set of 55# jackal (PSE/W&W) limbs in the mail from one of our fellow shooters and mounted them on a Samik Mizar riser----- a most ungodly looking combo since the limbs are camoed and the riser is as gorgeous pearly metallic pink. One of the shop guys said it looked like "the perfek rednek ladies bow" until he saw and heard it shoot. Using some 29.5" 400 grain AD Woodgrain Stingers with 5" helical fletch we got an average of 216fps over 2 dozen shots. With NO noise unless you count the arrows slapping into the bags. The limbs came with one of PB MM Strings and a set of "limbsaver" competitor's square block type products on the inside fadeouts.
Now ILF type setups are usually noisey by their nature---but this was absolutely dead silent.

now I gotta decide if I want to repaint it a nice metallic bronze would look real nice-----but that pink is such an eyeball fryer it ought to be worth keeping just for the ruckus it will cause at Comptons this summer.

[James Wrenn]

Well I just put a set on my warfer to see if it would help with the noise.I don't hear much difference but it does feel better so I am leaving them.Robert is making me one of those good strings to put on it and I hope that helps some.

btw..I have a jennings riser with short limbs.What kind of brace height do you guys like with this combo? Maybe I am too high or low. Right now it is at 8 3/8 and I have not played with it much. thanks

[Pinelander]

Pearl Metallic? Leave it pink, W ! :D

James, I have nearly a twin to yours... Jennings w/short PSE's. I've tried mine at 8.25 to 9.0, and for me the sweet spot is around 8-3/4". Of course, everyone's a bit different. Viper has a BW 1225 target bow like mine and he braces his an inch less than I do... must be getting off the string better than I am. Or maybe the fact that he's using heavier arrows than I am. That's one thing I've noticed... heavier the arrow (comparable spine), easier to go down in brace without as much finickiness.

My warfer is very quiet with the following setup...
- ThunderBlox (like DWS described, the square competitor) about 2-3" from limb butt. You're right, not much sound deadening but feels better.
- Neoprene padding under the limbs in limb pockets.
- Thin neoprene padding strips on string grooves where the mufflers on Robert's MM string reside when at rest. BIG difference when I added the neoprene strips, took away that remaining slight "thunk".

[the other DWS]

Arrow weight is a real big factor. As I understand it, the super light arrows are out of the bow so quickly that a lot of the stored energy in the drawn bow is not transferred to the arrow. (And no I don't want to see THAT discussion started again). That released energy has to go somewhere so you get sound and vibration---the limbsavers and other wiggly-jiggley things --whether limb tips or stabilizer devices-- move and or buzz to disperse that energy. A heavier arrow is in contact with the string longer and absorbs more of the energy so everything else being equal it is quieter.

It s simple to demonstrate, just load up an arrow with a much heavier head. Unless you weaken the dynamic spine enough to bang against the riser your heavier arrow will create less bow noise

[Pinelander]

Yeah, the weight of arrow is definitely the best sound deadener you can use on a bow. But what I was referring to seems to be opposite about arrow on string longer. When I use a heavier arrow, they tend to shoot nearly as well at lower brace (longer string travel) as they do at higher brace. But when I use a lighter arrow, it seems that flight consistency is better at higher brace (shorter string travel) and inconsistent flight pattern starts to show when lowering the brace too much. I don't much about this... just seems to be a pattern I've noticed, probably a pattern of sloppy release. LOL

[thisbucks4u]

Arrow weight is a real big factor. As I understand it, the super light arrows are out of the bow so quickly that a lot of the stored energy in the drawn bow is not transferred to the arrow. (And no I don't want to see THAT discussion started again). That released energy has to go somewhere so you get sound and vibration---the limbsavers and other wiggly-jiggley things --whether limb tips or stabilizer devices-- move and or buzz to disperse that energy. A heavier arrow is in contact with the string longer and absorbs more of the energy so everything else being equal it is quieter.

It s simple to demonstrate, just load up an arrow with a much heavier head. Unless you weaken the dynamic spine enough to bang against the riser your heavier arrow will create less bow noise


Wayne,
I used to think that, but my set up goin 225 with limbsavers, socks and string leaches with a 340 grain arrow is absolutely quiet. Absolutely. I know the extra energy has to go somewhere, and where it goes on a quiet bow, I care not.

[BowDonkey]

Hey Piney, where did you find the neopreme? I looked alot of stores over but failed to locate any. The inner tube did work well though.

[James Wrenn]

Well I run the brace up and down.No noticable effect except when I got real low.Braced at 9" sounded as loud as where I had it so I moved it back to the 8 3/8 position.I would like to be able to get it as quiet as a Blackwidow but I am not sure that is possible.Are the foam cored limbs loader in general that wood cored limbs?The noise is comeing from the slap of the string.When I tap the groove on the limb with the palm of my hand I get that same thump sound.My string is wrapped with yarn like I do on other recurves but it does not seem to be enough for this one. Any suggestions besides what I have done or it just the nature of this beast? :)

[the other DWS]

James there is something I'm going to try on one of the noisier bows in my stack. I think Warf suggested it--though I may be blaming him unfairly---maybe it was his evil twin.
Simms/Limbsaver makes some little mini versions--maybe about as big around as a dime and a 1/2" tall more or less. I'm going to get a set--they are a lot cheaper than regular limbsavers and seem to be real light ---- and stick'em on the limb tip so they are just barely clearing the string when the bow is at rest. They'll be about where brush buttons would touch the limbtip. I've never been a big fan of brush buttons though I know Bob likes them. These mini limbsavers should dampen the string vibration/sound without adding any weight to the string and very little to the limb.

I have done the yarn wrap on a couple of strings and frankly PB's MM strings do a whole lot better job. I also have tried various material on the limbtip in the string groove to absorb string slap and for me the black "loop" part of stick- on velcro works best. I tried the neoprene padding but my twisted up strings just go through it like a sawblade

something more to experiment with
the other DWS

[James Wrenn]

I played with it some more and found if I moved the string leeches real close to the curves it helped some.It is not the twang noise from the string so I guess getting them closer to where the noise comes from helped.
I am looking forward to trying Roberts strings but they will not be here before our season opens and I am going as is. :)

[Bob Gordon]

OK..Here we go, warf's solution for the limb slap thing. Brush buttons do it very good but are tough to find anymore. Solution number two. Get a mushroom shaped Limbsaver or maybe even the tiny ones DWS mentioned, cut a piece off with a real sharp knife, make it shaped like the letter "D", put some double stick tape on the flat part where you cut it and stick it on the limb at the recurve so the string makes a small dent in it. It has to touch the string when strung. Doesn't weigh as much as a brush botton but will do the same thing to keep junk out of the recurve but it also will stop string slap. Mount it across the limb, keep it small but have it touching the string, that's important. No charge for this little pearl of wisdom...LOL....warf

[James Wrenn]

Hey Bob the brush buttons 3 rivers sell come in 2 sizes. I s the small size ok or do I go for the "supers' ? I have never used any before but I do hate the way limbs catch in there when I am hog hunting.You think these things would work on longbows as well?I catch about as much trash in it as I do with recurves.

[Bob Gordon]

James...Get the small ones, the big ones look like Frisbee's on your string. They work great on a longbow as well...Warf

[James on laptop]

Thank Bob I will give them a try.

[DAS]

Bob,
You need to install a 900 number phone line! People can call in with their credit card and get info for $5 a minute. Only problem is you'll get all the truckers mis-dialing and calling you at 2am :lol:

[Bob Gordon]

DAS... Trierd a 900 number once, sure got in trouble over that one. Wife didn't beleive that "Suzie at the Hot Springs Motel" was a bow shop....warf

[the other DWS]

Bob, I'm sure you meant "beau" shop---that'd have made sense to her----like a frying pan upside the head