? Proper procedure for a good floor tiller

[adb]

I also floor tiller to low brace. It takes a fair bit of experience to get it right. I still often use a long string for beginners, however.

[Pat B]

We have to remember that we have 2 basic levels of "bowyers" here, seasoned bowyers who developed their own style over many year and many bows and you have the beginning bowyers who are trying to build a successful bow or improve on the knowledge already obtained. Floor tillering might just be an extra, unnecessary step for the experienced bowyer but it will help the newby gets his limbs bending and together early on in the tillering process instead of ending up with a 30# 60# bow. 
 When I get about 4" of tip movement at floor tiller I not only can see a potential hinge/stiff
 area(s) but also know it is time for the tiller tree. As soon as I get about 6" -8"of tip movement on the long string I go to a low brace of about 3"-4". Now I can see not only if the limbs are infact bending evenly and together but also see how the string tracks so I can make those adjustmernts early on in the process if necessary.
 I think it is necessary for the new guy to take bow building one step at a time and learn each step of the process so some day they will be able to pick up a stave, picture the bow in that stave and have the confidence to successfully tiller that bow. Once they reach that stage they will have developed a stryle of their own or at least be able to develop a style they are comfortable with. This wood bow building stuff isn't a competition, there is no win or loose, no time limits. Build at your own rate and with your own style. The goal is building wood bows. Pretty simple! But, just because it is simple, though doesn't mean it is easy.   

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Methinks that floor tillering speeds up the tillering process considerably(well, I tiller with a pocketknife and hand plane)- if it don't bend at all, take a few strokes with the hand plane. Once it bends mess with the tiller sticks.

[adb]

Accurate floor tillering to low brace requires skill and experience. Being able to accurately judge the amount of bend takes time. Yes... it does shorten the tillering process.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Accurate floor tillering to low brace requires skill and experience. Being able to accurately judge the amount of bend takes time. Yes... it does shorten the tillering process.

Accurate is a key word.
Once the limb bends, put it on a tiller tree...
I think a tiller tree makes it easier to see stiff places, right?

[Badger]

   I do the same way Blackhawk describes, I do put the bow on the tiller tree when it is first being pulled to full draw. I am usually at about 24" and my draw weight when I string the bow from floor tiller, I check the tiller at 24" and then just use a 4" straight edge to finish.

[Del the cat]

If we actually think about it floor tillering it is just doing it by looking along the length of the limb and judgeing the weight by hand rather than a scale.
Now looking along the limb is a good trick and one that I use (but when its on the tiller).
It's good because it foreshortens the limb which accentuates the bend which is especially good at small deflections. Same way as looking along an arrow will show the wiggles.
Feeling the weight by hand is ok if you can do it, but like a long string it can be deceptive (IMO, especially for a newbie).
It's about choosing the methods that work best for you. I'm going to try tillering my next bow with a sack over my head and wearing scuba gear
Del

[bubby]

We have to remember that we have 2 basic levels of "bowyers" here, seasoned bowyers who developed their own style over many year and many bows and you have the beginning bowyers who are trying to build a successful bow or improve on the knowledge already obtained. Floor tillering might just be an extra, unnecessary step for the experienced bowyer but it will help the newby gets his limbs bending and together early on in the tillering process instead of ending up with a 30# 60# bow. 
 When I get about 4" of tip movement at floor tiller I not only can see a potential hinge/stiff
 area(s) but also know it is time for the tiller tree. As soon as I get about 6" -8"of tip movement on the long string I go to a low brace of about 3"-4". Now I can see not only if the limbs are infact bending evenly and together but also see how the string tracks so I can make those adjustmernts early on in the process if necessary.
 I think it is necessary for the new guy to take bow building one step at a time and learn each step of the process so some day they will be able to pick up a stave, picture the bow in that stave and have the confidence to successfully tiller that bow. Once they reach that stage they will have developed a stryle of their own or at least be able to develop a style they are comfortable with. This wood bow building stuff isn't a competition, there is no win or loose, no time limits. Build at your own rate and with your own style. The goal is building wood bows. Pretty simple! But, just because it is simple, though doesn't mean it is easy.   
x 2

[DuBois]

This is an area I definitly need to improve on and still trying to get my own process figured out. I think I have tried to get too nice a bend and ended up with too little wood to make corrections once I am getting close to finished tiller    Like Pat said, 30# 60# bow

Do any of you guys just bend it on your knee until it looks about right for the string?

[Jodocus]

Great tread, I always love to see how differently people go at a thing. I'm from the beginner section, one year into making bows So don't take this as advice, just my two cents.

Right now, I tend to leave out the long string, cause it misled me everytime, producing a bend that had little to do with the one of the short string.

Much better, I feel, is the impression of the floor tiller. But I think it is important to press the tip towards the other one, as a string would,and not pull it rectangular to the limb. I hold the bow upright and press down. When I feel the limbs are in balance, I string it. Then I do corrections at brace, without pulling. When it looks good at brace, I find I usually have to do very little for a good full draw.

[BowEd]

Like Pat B said.People are going to do what they feel comfortable with.

[H Rhodes]

I am a couple of years into this bow building stuff.  I have built fifty or so now (still a rookie on this site!).  I realize that my tillering process has changed a great deal.  I floor tiller and go to low brace as soon as possible now, but early on I used the long string.  One thing that I did early on, was to check the floor tiller on lots of finished bows.  I got into a habit of doing that until I got a feel for the weight.  I think this helped me a lot.  I developed a feel for limb strength and sense of when it was time to brace a bow.  When you are brand new at this, you really have no feel for how strong a bow limb is, so the long string is probably needed.  It is a strange learning curve in learning to make wooden bows.  I think you just have to tune in to the good advice on this site and then make a few and find what works for you.   

[BowEd]

Diddo for me too.Great point.hrhodes

[DuBois]

I am a couple of years into this bow building stuff.  I have built fifty or so now (still a rookie on this site!).  I realize that my tillering process has changed a great deal.  I floor tiller and go to low brace as soon as possible now, but early on I used the long string.  One thing that I did early on, was to check the floor tiller on lots of finished bows.  I got into a habit of doing that until I got a feel for the weight.  I think this helped me a lot.  I developed a feel for limb strength and sense of when it was time to brace a bow.  When you are brand new at this, you really have no feel for how strong a bow limb is, so the long string is probably needed.  It is a strange learning curve in learning to make wooden bows.  I think you just have to tune in to the good advice on this site and then make a few and find what works for you.   

Really like that idea, thanks!

[SLIMBOB]

DuBois....yes on the knee bending.  Tiller trees and long strings and scales and gizmos are a recent addition to the toolbox for me.  When I started we bent them across the knee to check the tiller.  Got them pretty close to right that way.  Most were shorter bows without a lot of recurves and such.  Using all the various tillering aids became more important as the length of my bows increased and the designs became more advanced.  I think the tiller on my bows probably improved as I added these tools.  If you think of about all the various groups of peoples across the globe throughout history, each had a particular design or type of bow, a favored wood type, and undoubtedly an approach to constructing them that might have differed greatly from some other group.  All were able to build weapons that were ideally suited to their use environment.  Amusing that it's still largely that way today.  We southern and mid westerners continue to brag on our Osage bows, the west coasters got their Pacific Yew and Vine Maple beauties, and across the pond the ELB's reign supreme.  The approaches to building our bows is obviously as varied as the styles themselves.