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Offline luke the drifter

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tillering problems
« on: July 14, 2009, 11:18:29 pm »
this is the sitauation.  i tiller a bow perfectly to brace height.  the limbs bend evenly and everything.  when i go to to put a tillering string on it for the final tillering, the limbs do not bend evenly after i put the string on.  either one limb is totally out of whack and to the point of becoming kindling or some other problem has occured.  is it the wood, the string itself, the way i tiller the stave, the moisture content of the wood, etc..  i am unfortunately too much of a perfectionist.  the least little thing wrong and it is kindling.  i have been working the wood for a couple of years now.  any ideas or different ways of doing things that are suggested would be greatly appreciated.  perhaps i need a vacation.
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Offline adb

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Re: tillering problems
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2009, 12:50:14 am »
When you say "you tiller a bow perfectly to brace height," what do you mean? Are you using a long string? Or do you have the bow tillered to a low brace height with a short string? I'm also confused about what you're referring to as "a tillering string for final tiller." Can you explain, and maybe we can help.

As far as being a perfectionist... remember... perfection is the enemy of good. Know when to say when.
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radius

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Re: tillering problems
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2009, 02:31:10 am »
correct me if i'm wrong, but i think the idea is to use a long string until  you get the desired draw weight (eg. 1,000,000#) at brace height (say, 7")...as soon as you can do that, you put on a string which is exactly the length of the bow, nock to nock.  This is the string you use until you get the bow to draw length and weight. 

I've had the same problem you describe, luke, where you tiller it with a long string, put on a shortie, and one of the limbs shows a wicked hinge or something.  It sucks.  The preventative is to switch to a short string as soon as possible, as i just described.

radius
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Offline Pappy

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Re: tillering problems
« Reply #3 on: July 15, 2009, 05:00:45 am »
I use a long string,the length of the bow till I get it to a low brace then go to the tiller tree and
for the final tiller,when I get it out to 10 or 12 inches of draw length I twist the string up to get full
brace then finish the tiller. All of the things mentioned could cause you problems,need a little more detail and pictures would help. :)
   Pappy
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Offline Hillbilly

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Re: tillering problems
« Reply #4 on: July 15, 2009, 07:16:15 am »
There is often a difference in the way a bow looks on the long string and the way it looks after it's braced-that's normal. That's why it's called the early stage of tillering-to me, real tillering starts after the bow is braced. Keep scraping instead of throwing a good bow in the kindling pile, probably lots of people out there that would like to have your kindling. Also sounds like you need to loosen up a little and learn to enjoy yourself; and learn to appreciate the nuances of making wooden bows. There is no piece of wood that is perfect-all staves have challenges, half of the enjoyment of building bows is working around the challenges that each piece of wood presents and winding up with the best bow that you can make from that piece of wood. Each stave has its own unique personality, because it originated as a part of an individual living tree.The alternative is grinding precise laminations of plastic according to a pre-set computerized formula and gluing them together. You can predict pretty much exactly how they are going to behave, but then, they ain't got no soul or individuality. Therein is the difference in wooden bow making and perfectionism.
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Offline GregB

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Re: tillering problems
« Reply #5 on: July 15, 2009, 07:51:21 am »
Very well said Hillbilly! ;) Can't add nothin' to that...
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Offline cracker

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Re: tillering problems
« Reply #6 on: July 15, 2009, 07:55:40 am »
Do you exercise the wood each time you take off some shavings?Ron
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Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: tillering problems
« Reply #7 on: July 15, 2009, 09:50:29 am »
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Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: tillering problems
« Reply #8 on: July 15, 2009, 10:15:02 am »
Like George I always offer the same suggestion, a link. This thing really works, no surprises when you go to the short string. Set the pencil for the bend in one limb, use the same setting for the other limb and BINGO, they will match pretty well when you go to the shot string.

It always surprises me that so few people pick up on how useful this tool is and actually make one. The ones that do are pleasantly surprised.

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=001047#000000
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