made my first bow!

[svaldrin]

I made a bow out of ash and because of my lack of experience there was a bad hinge on the upper limb and i was trying to fix it but ran out of wood so i finished it and strung it and started to brake it in and of course it broke. So my question would be if i start to get a hinge agin  how do i go about fixing it before i run out of wood agin

[Josh]

well, you want to remove wood from AROUND the hinge to even out the bend.   NEVER remove wood FROM a hinge.   Good luck on your next bow.  Read everything you can on this site.  Lots of good information if you are just starting out here.   Welcome!!!!         -josh

[svaldrin]

ah ha thats what i did. i took wood from the whole limb including the hinge thanks for the info that makes complete since  and lately i have been on here every day along with paleoplanet for a while and the only reason i did as good as i have is because of the two web sites. So special thanks to all the guys on both sites.

[rileyconcrete]

Good luck on your next bow. Thats a bummer it broke. I recently finished my first bow also.  I posted pictures on this website, and found out alot of things I did wrong. I also had a hinge, but its not a terrible one.  It was suggested that I leave it alone and just start a new one. So thats what I am doing. All I can say is take your time and post pics on here along the way and alot of these guys will be there to help. the tougest part is the tiller.  Go slow through the process and remember to exercise the wood after each little bit of wood is taken off.  I hope you have better luck on the next bow, and just remember to take your time.

[svaldrin]

thanks for the words of encouragement ill try to post pics but my camera no longer works and so i have to go to someone elses house to get it photographed but i can do it that way and my had a pretty bad hinge in it. And what exactly do you mean by exercise the bow?? does that mean bend it slightly after each time i shave some wood of?

[Josh]

just bend and release the limbs about 30 or so times between scrapings.  NEVER pull the bow past the intended draw weight/length during this process though.  When you exercise the limbs, it helps to register the changes made during scraping. If you are floor tillering then just bend it against the floor 20-30 times.  Do this in front of a full-length mirror to see the even-ness of the bend.  Hope this helps!!    -josh

[Hillbilly]

As Deftones said, each time you remove wood, exercise the bow by pulling it 25-30 times, but only to the point that you have it tillered to. Many times, the effect of removing wood doesn't show up until you have exercised the wood. After someone explained this to me, I had a lot less hinges in my bows. And as was also said, when tillering you want to take wood from the places that don't bend enough and leave the places alone that bend enough or too much. And take it slow, especially until you have enough experience to start getting the feel of the tillering process. Once wood is taken off, it's quite difficult to put it back on.

[TheWildCat]

I been there with the hinge and broken bow. Not cool, but take it as a learning situation, and go again. I built a Boo Backed Osage bow back in the spring that had a slight hinge where there was a knot bout a third ways down the lower limb from the tip. Wasn't much wood to take off, so I left it. 50# @ 28", the bow hammers. Have ran several hundred shots through it and it is still shootin fine. Sometimes ya gotta just leave a hinge alone ifin it ain't bad. Of course, ifin there is plenty a wood to work with, follow these guys instructions, and be sure to flex those limbs several times in between wood removal.

[svaldrin]

Thank you all for the help! i have learned more today then in a while from reading and all stuff i didn't  see to much of in the books i read so thanks very much for the help .

[mullet]

 I did the same thing with an expensive piece of Yew. It didn't start to fold till the skins were on and I had been shooting it in. It still sits in my shop till I figure out what to do with it or make a really cool Atlatl out of it.

[radius]

Dude, ADB did a post the other day called "tillering tree".  Copy it and mount it on your wall.   It is a very simple jig that you can build with a 4' 2x4, a few screws, and a little pulley.  I got my pulley at a marine supply and it cost 30 bucks, no problem.  Be sure to attach it strongly to a wall stud, because if you build bows you are going to be constantly exerting pressure on this jig.

Man i have made a fair few bows, always in the mirror.  With the tiller tree you can exercise the bow (to its desired draw weight) very easily and safely and thoroughly:  you need all these qualities in your tillering.  If it is hard, you'll hate it.  If it breaks and hits you in the head, you could lose an eye.  And if you do not exercise the stave completely while it is becoming a bow, it could fail sometime later...which i think Mullet was just talking about with his yew.

I just made a tiller tree and in only a few days i see a huge difference. 

Here's the process of using it and what you need.


a bathroom scale

a tiller stick (like the tree, marked with increments beginning at 12" and going through to 30") ... the tiller stick has a groove near the front to hold the string, and the bow is pressed downwards toward the face of the scale.  I want a 40# bow.  So i press it down til it reads 40#.  If it says 12" on the tiller stick, then i know what to do on the tree.

a tiller tree  (see adb's thread)...AFTER checking the weight and draw length on the stick and scale, move the bow to the tiller tree, centered upon it.  Mine actually has a lip on it so the bow can't fall down ever.  You hook the tiller tree hook onto the bowstring and pull the bow 30 to 50 times.  Me, i don't watch much what it does...i let my eyes go out of focus, kind of, and see if anything jumps out at me...

After exercising the stave on the tree, i check it again on the scale.  If it hasn't changed through exercising, then i go BACK to the tree with it and hook it at the proper draw length...in that case, 12".  The i quickly use a tillering gizmo a la Eric Krewson (search it) to find the spots that need work.  The gizmo marks them for you.

You then take the stave to the vise and remove the pencil marks left by the gizmo.  Repeat this, and you will get a bow.

Breaking em sucks, i know.  You just gotta pick up the next one.