Building a tillering wall

[dstbstr]

I've seen several different types of tillering walls/sticks, and I would like to make one of my own.  I work in my garage, and have some open space on a wall.  I don't want to do a tillering stick because I don't want to keep the bow at or near full draw for more than a couple seconds.  I want to use a pulley system, with the rope secured to the ground, and the movable pulley attached to a scale (in the mail) and I'd hold the other end.  This would give me a mechanical advantage of 2, thus a 90# bow only takes 45# of force to pull.  The big problem I'm running into is securing the rope to the ground, and thinking of a good shelf to place the bow onto.  The garage wall I have is surrounded by 2x4s which I could secure something to.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks everybody

[osage outlaw]

Get a good sized Eye bolt/screw and screw it into a 2x4 stud.  That is how I have mine anchored and it doesn't budge.  Or, run a board between studs and anchor it to that if you want it even more secure.

[youngbowyer33]

all i can say is make sure your pulley is securely attached.

[dstbstr]

Wouldn't a bolt need to go all the way through the 2x4 and have a nut on the other end?  I suppose I could screw a 2x4 into the wall, and find a bolt that was long enough to pierce through, but not so long to drill into the wall.  I had also thought to find some type of hook, like a hook and eye, that I could secure to a 2x4, pass the rope through and tie a couple good knots at the bottom so that it can't break free.  I'm just worried that the stress would take the hook out of the board.  That and I couldn't find any anchors like that.  I'll do a little more thinking I guess.

[Pat B]

  You may want to beef up the wall stud by adding another 2x4 to either side of the stud you are going to use. Have them fit tightly between the floor plate and top plate of the wall as well as attached to the wall stud. I 1/4" to 3/8" screw eye should be sufficient to hold your pulley. The problem with a block and tackle is you increase the distance you have to pull to decrease the weight you are pulling. I like to be about 6" from the bow while it is on the tiller tree so a single pulley is what I use. I built a 95# war bow and had no problem tillering it on my tree. However, I could not physically draw the bow beyond 12" to 15" because of the heavy weight. 

[Alpinbogen]

Here's a photo of the arrangement that I use.  The vertical post consists of two 2x4's screwed together.  (A 4x4 post would be fine, too.)  The top of the post is srewed into the 1st floor sill plate.  I have 2 small L-brackets at the bottom of the post with wood screws in the post and masonry screws in the concrete floor.  (Had to hammer drill small holes in the floor of course.)  I used a BIG eye screw to attach the pulley to the post.  Make sure your pulley is rated past the bow weights you'll be making.  As mentioned above, I wouldn't try to double up on pulleys.  It's not hard at all to draw a heavy bow with a single pulley.  With a single pulley, your feet will stay planted as you rock back and forth with the rope.  With a double pulley, you'll probably need to take a step or two to get the bow to full draw and back, which I think would far more akward than just pulling a little harder.



Video.

[dstbstr]

I'm going to end up putting 2 2x4's into the wall studs, one on top, on on bottom for the pulleys.  With a single pulley, I imagine that you're securing the rope to the spring scale with some sort of knot?  I guess if I lean into the rope I could use my body weight to draw the bow back with a single pulley.  The pulleys that I'm looking at are 200# rated, and I'll get some rope that is around the same.  I'll be getting parts today, so hopefully it works out.