One limb has a nat. reflex. And, Handle placement on tillering board.

[Canoe]

Howdy Group,

A two-part problem...

1)  One of my limbs, on my White Ash stave, has 4" or 5" of reflex while the other limb is basically strength.  The stave is currently floor tillered.
How do I proceed with the tillering of this bow?  Do I first have to heat bend a reflex into the other limb to make them even?  Do I begin tillering while keeping the initial displacement into consideration and keep the displacement throughout the tillering - When / How do I get the two limbs to bend evenly? 

2) In tillering other bows, I have encountered excessive set in my lower limbs after the shooting in phase.  To alleviate this problem on this bow, I am considering mounting my bow into the tillering board a little off center to more represent the way my bow hand holds the bow  - just below center.  This would affect the tiller of the bow and, hopefully, produce a representative bend / tiller of the two limbs where there would be a little more strain on that lower limb.

Finally, with this stave's 4" or 5" of reflex in one limb, should that limb be my lower limb?

Thanks, in advance, for your knowledgeable replies,
Canoe 

[PEARL DRUMS]

Thats a HUGE difference. I would steam/heat the other limb and get it closer to the 4-5" reflexed limb, or vice-versa. I always sit my bows on my tree to best match my grip... always.

[Pat B]

I like to start out with both limbs equal in relation to reflex/deflex. To me 4" to 5" of reflex it too much. I would put the stave on a caul and heat in equal amounts of reflex to both...about 3" or so max.
  You will never duplicate your grip on a tillering tree because the tree is static and your hand will compensate as you grip the bow and draw. When tillering and using the tree I make my limbs bend evenly and together but make the intended lower limb a tad stiffer. For me this works well when I draw by hand. You may have to experiment a bit to see what works best for you.

[Del the cat]

Good questions.
It's much easier if both limbs are the same, but we don't always want to straighten all the character out of a bow so there is no 'right' answer.
Theoretically if you have a bit of deflex on one limb, it should remain visble during tillering and will thus end up looking 'weak'.
I actually had Robert Hardy (the author of 'Longbow') tell me that I'd tillered my bow upside down because the lower limb looked weak .
I unstrung it and showed him the natural deflex on the lower limb (I was too polite to protest too much as I have huge respect for him).
Now that's just how I tend to do it, the lower limb being shorter is under more strain, so I put the deflexed limb at the bottom and it then doesn't have to bend quite so hard, maybe it makes it look 'wrong' maybe other folk do things different.
Bottom line is listen to all the advice, then do whatever you want .
Del

[PEARL DRUMS]

I read that book Del.

[Canoe]

Howdy Group,

Well, thanks for the advise fellas. 

I heated some reflex into the other limb to even things out. 

It was really easy...  I clamped the tip of the straight limb to my work table, (belly up), and I clamped a weight to the other end of the bow (the other tip).  I then measured the distance from the weighted tip down to a bench that was located below that tip (9-1/2").  I oiled the limb I was to heat, and began slowly applying heat across the limb with my heat gun.  And, sure enough, the far limb tip slowly began to sink.  When I got it to about 6'' from the bench (which would be about 3-1/4" of reflex), I stopped.

That was so easy, I would recommend it to anyone interested in inducing a little reflex to their limbs.

Again, as always, thanks for your advise / guidance,

Canoe

I'll post a few pic.s of this process...     

[soy]

Please do I am always interested in new  methods