Thank you Bullitt. Fashioning bows from saplings is wonderful for a number of reasons, not the least of which saplings are so abundant. I've not made a bow from an osage sapling because I do not have ready access to osage where I live. But I am confident that osage would yield excellent results.
Wakosama hang in there, I broke several bows before I began to figure it out. I'll mention one insight that has contributed greatly to my improvement as a bowyer that I learned by observing John Strunk. John does not utilize a tree to tiller his bows. In between scraping sessions he assesses the tiller by running the limb thickness between his finger and thumb. What he is doing is ensuring that the limb is tapered evenly along its length. I began using this method a little more than a year ago and have progressed to the point where I no longer need to view the arc of the bend to know that the tiller is correct. In fact, I am for the most part, only using the tiller tree for exercising the limbs between wood removal. Now I only pay close attention to the arc during the final stages of tillering. I have found this method superior to the commonly employed method of trying to tiller using primarily visual cues (i.e. looking at the arc of the limbs). The reason is that the bend of the limbs if often deceptive during the early stages of tillering, particularly with selfbows, and will frequently change as the bow settles in. The other problem is something I call "arc fatigue". For me, at least, the longer I gaze at an arc, the harder it is to discern the details. It takes some practice to get a feel for this method, but once you do you'll find that hitting tiller, profile and weight becomes much easier.
Thank you for the nice words Okie.
Thank you for the compliment George. That means a lot coming from you.
