Semi-Mollegabet tiller questions

[Eubeen Hadd]

I keep second guessing myself here. I think the left limb is a bit stiff, but otherwise I'm just really nervous it's turning out pretty well. Help!

[PatM]

Make the left limb the bottom and be happy with it.

[Eubeen Hadd]

I would, but it's not quite at full draw. I'd just deal with it if it was going to me and finish it, but it's going to a friend. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going insane. I've been trying for a long time to get this just right and it's turning out well. Thanks!

[SLIMBOB]

+1 PatM.  Draw it by hand and get a pic up.  It can change things a bit.

[Dictionary]

Looks fine...keep goin.

[Eubeen Hadd]

How does it look to you guys?

[SLIMBOB]

Maybe a shadow or the lighting, but the bottom limb looks a bit hingy just before the lever and a little stiff just outside the handle.

Edit-Does not appear hinged in the previous pic, but it does look a little stiff just off the handle in both pics.  Bottom limb.

[H Rhodes]

Looks good to me.  Tell us about this bow.  How long is it, draw weight, type of wood etc...  I think it is coming along really good.   

[randman]

Lookin real good to me. Maybe a tiny bit stiff in the outer third of the bottom limb. You could probably shave a third of the thickness off those levers too for performance advantage. Like Blackhawk or Ryoon (or one of them molly masters) has said, it's scary how much you can actually remove from those things before they are too thin and start to bend.

[KellyG]

there it looks real good to me.

[Eubeen Hadd]

Well, here were the specs: 66" ntn, shooting for 35lb at 28", hickory with red oak tip overlays because they're cheap and what I had sitting around for scrap. It was 1.5" wide all the way to the lever fades, which were closer to 2/3rds working limb, 1/3 lever. The levers were about 3/8ths of an inch wide, and I was planning on taking them down to about 1/2 an inch thick or so. However, I never got to the final stages of finishing. While I was pulling it on the tillering tree... Well, you can see for yourself.



Looks like a tension break to me.

I definitely paid the price for a few mistakes.
First, I should have backed it.
Second, I should have made it wider.
I'm not sure if the stiffness in the lower fade killed it or not, but the lower limb WAS the one that broke, so that might just have been it. It was also a board bow. I had hoped the grain would hold up, but that didn't work out.
I'm not sure how I'm going to break this to my friend.

EDIT: looking back, the lower limb looks a bit hinged. I should have caught that sooner.

[PatM]

Looks like the grain is running diagonally through the depth of the limb. That's the problem right there.

[Eubeen Hadd]

It looks like a severe run off because of the angle of the shot. It was only about 5 degrees, and I was hoping it would hold up until I applied a backing to it, but, well...
Mistake #3: back a questionable stave before tillering.

[SLIMBOB]

Sorry to see that happen.  Sounds like your post mortem is right.  Good luck on the next one.

[randman]

Dang Eubeen! I feel yer pain. I broke one today that I had high hopes for also.  A molly too. That's why I vow henceforth I'm not going to get attached to any more sticks until they actually make it to the bow stage. No matter how purty they are lookin half way through. ehhh Until the next one