New guy needs pyramid bow help

[smithmi]

Greetings,
Mike here a new member, I posted an intro in the Announcements section. I'm making my first bow, a pyramid board bow, and need advice regarding a limb/tip twist.
I wanted to make this from an oak board but after going through all the boards at two Home Depots and one Rona I gave up and bought a maple 1 x 3. The specs of the bow so far and what I'm hoping to get are as follows;

Length 66" (nocks aren't cut yet)
2.5" wide at the fades
Limbs are 7/16" thick
1/2" wide at the tips
riser block 8" long, 4" for handle plus 2" for each of the fades
bathroom scale shows 14" draw at 30#
I'm hoping to end up with about 40#@26" when all is done (assuming you folks don't tell me I have to start over).

The initial tiller looked not bad to this aged and untrained eye until I took a look down the length of the bow and noticed one of the limbs was twisting. I searched here and found a post where George explained that removing wood from the higher side of the limb may fix this. I scraped about 15 times with my Buck knife (don't have a furniture scraper) but didn't see any difference so decided to stop and ask for advice.

[half eye]

Mr S,
      If your photo is a fair shot of the twist you are talking about, I wouldn't worry about it. That small amount wont be an issue, and I'll bet it might even "go away" by the time ya shoot it in. By all means keep your eye on it so it doesn't get worse....but personally I believe you will be better served by concentrating on the bend profile of the limbs (where they bend and how much, and that they are symmetrical to @ other). Just one guys opinion though.
rich

[bubby]

like rich said on the twist, get it bending a few more inches and file in some nocks and get it on a snug string, then when you get it bending about 6" or so, brace it to 3" or 4", I think with maple, imo a mush better choice than r.o., you may be a little wide at the fades for the #'s you want at the draw, if it starts getting real thin start removeing equal scrapes from the sides of the bow, I still tiller with a lock back knife like you, good luck and welcome aboard

[Newindian]

I might add that your outer half or 2/3 appear to be to stiff,hard to tell at this point though.

[Calamitus]

I made a red oak kids bow that twisted in both limbs in opposite directions, tried to even it out by scraping the higher/stiffer side but even when that side was visibly thinner the twist did not go away. I just left it and it works just fine. I think it was just how the grain was meant to bend.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

leave it. i have a elm bow, about 30 pounds or so, that twists almost 45 degrees when you draw it. very high back crown- it was made from a 2" stick.
its also centershot due to that twist

[smithmi]

Thanks for all the advice. I am ignoring the twist for now and have scraped the outer limbs some. I made a tillering gizmo and will now cut nocks and then continue tillering.
Thanks again,
Mike

[Joec123able]

Wheres the twist I don't see it . Every single bow I've made has had some degree of twist some more then others I never correct twist unless the string won't stay on the nocks

[George Tsoukalas]

The twist is not that bad.

You should back it. The grain on that board is really awful. Linen, silk and burlap are an easy installation. Really, that board was best left in the store.

Sorry to be so honest but you need straight grain tip to tip or nearly so. Also, you are using a t stick which means you'll be right under that if she breaks.

Check my site for more.

http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

Jawge

[bow101]

The twist is not that bad.

You should back it. The grain on that board is really awful. Linen, silk and burlap are an easy installation. Really, that board was best left in the store.

Sorry to be so honest but you need straight grain tip to tip or nearly so. Also, you are using a t stick which means you'll be right under that if she breaks.

Check my site for more.

http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

Jawge

+2 on the grain issue..

[smithmi]

No apology necessary. I appreciate the honesty, better to find out now than after more effort and a hurtful break. I'll check out your site and look into backing it before I go any further.
Thanks again.
Mike

[CORIUS]

The twist is not that bad.

You should back it. The grain on that board is really awful. Linen, silk and burlap are an easy installation. Really, that board was best left in the store.

Sorry to be so honest but you need straight grain tip to tip or nearly so. Also, you are using a t stick which means you'll be right under that if she breaks.

Check my site for more.

http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

Jawge

+2 on the grain issue..

+50000000 on the grain issue. Goodluck with that one man. And wear a helmet!