Can't get started in making a bow

[Bitterguy]

Ahhhh now my hamsterwheel in my head is starting to turn now. And I also notice that your comment goes full circle pearl   

Edit: something else came to mind while i was bracing my bow yesterday, the handle section isnt the most comfortable thing in the world, is it possible for me to  get a leather jacket from good will or something and wrap it around the handle area or would that not work on a bendy handle bow?

[Bitterguy]

I was tillering and I noticed 2 things:
1. Idk wth I was thinking when I thought the right side had rounded corners
2. As you remove wood does your brace height go up? I marked off 5" from the string nock because that's where my 4" brace used to be, but after removeng wood in those sections you told me to remove wood from, I braced it from themark and it was about full draw (a little bit less than a fist and a thumb correct?) n my case about 5"

Anyways here is my bow at 14" with the above mentioned brace

[PEARL DRUMS]

That right side still looks stiff midmay. Flip the bow around so I can see if its an optical illusion. What does your straight edge say in that area? I bet the gap skinnys ever so slightly. Dont brace your bow any higher for now. Leave it at 3-4".

[PEARL DRUMS]

In the picture straight above the top center on your shop vac is stiff. Gotta be.

[H Rhodes]

This is a cool thread.  Reminds me of an old MASH rerun where Hawkeye talks the priest through an in the field tracheotomy over the telephone.... 

  It looks to me like I would leave about 18 inches in the middle alone and get it bending more mid limb outward toward the tips.  Maybe the area over both shop vacs.   slow and steady now.  You are about to have a shooter bow.  You are getting some great advice.   

[Bitterguy]

Here she is flipped around, if she still stiff on that limb Idk why I sanded that side down till my shoulder got sore and then some. I take it your talking about the orange shop vac pearl?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Getting real close now. Start at the mark that is 6" from each tip and work an area about 12" long. Do that on both limbs. Hit it hard, that area on both needs to catch up. Are seeing why you are removing wood where you are?

[Bitterguy]

I believe I see why, it goes from a nice bend around the handles and then staightens out into a minor curve. I'm sorta of see it, I more so understand it

[JW_Halverson]

I believe I see why, it goes from a nice bend around the handles and then staightens out into a minor curve. I'm sorta of see it, I more so understand it

By Jove, I think he's got it!

[H Rhodes]

I don't know if you got the whole straight edge block under the bow thing, but that is what really helps me tiller a bow...   I am no artist but some times a picture might help.  If you really get where you can see the gap between that block and the belly of the bow, while the bow is being drawn, it will tell you exactly where the bow is bending too much and where it is not bending enough.   

[Bitterguy]

I think I understand the straight edge, its just knowing how much wood to remove is what gets me, espcially since it harder to quantify how much a 60 grit piece of sand paper will take off

[JW_Halverson]

That's just it, no one can tell you to take off 28/1000ths here and 47/1000ths over there....You just have to go slow as you chase the tiller.  A few light scrapes followed by re-stringing and lightly excercising the bow for 20 or so pulls to 3/4 of the intended draw weight, repeat as necessary. 

Sometimes you will go back to the same spot 18 times to take off just a little more, other times you will walk past it with a bit of sandpaper stuck to the bottom of your shoe and cause a hinge!!!  Ever wonder why some of us in here are nuts?  This wood working will do that to you, along with the addiction factor. 

[Bitterguy]

No matter how many times I re-read that I still got a chuckle haha. Its funnier cus the more you think about it Tue truer you realise it is

[H Rhodes]

It pays to proceed with caution.  That said, I alternate between a farrier's rasp and a sharp cabinet scraper.  Sand paper comes later in the process for me.  You have to go ahead and remove some wood and then, like JW said, exercise those limbs till it shows you it's new profile.  Do that every time you remove any wood.  It looks like it's gonna make a bow to me.

[Bitterguy]

Well that might be a problem, I haven't really been exercising it that much oopsie, maybe once I do that tomorrow it will start to look more even. I'm guessing by 3/4 draw weight he was referring to a tillering rig that's not some scrap 2x4s like mine is