Reducing string follow

[OsageWhisper]

I'm new to the bow building game, I have built two real nice bows out of Osage but they both developed a small bit of string follow. They both shoot great and I am not complaining one bit but I'd like to reduce the amount of string follow in my next build. Thanks all.

[Dazv]

Making sure your tiller is spot on is very important for keeping string follow low. Also making sure you have the correct design for the wood is important as well.

[bubby]

How much set are we talking about, bub

[OsageWhisper]

how do I measure the set ?

[Weylin]

Set is the distance the tip has travelled toward the string from it's original position as a stave (or original recurved position). Thus a stave with two inches of reflex that ends up with 1 inch of deflex after tillering and shooting has 3 inches of set. That one inch of deflex would be described by most people as one inch of string follow but the bowyer would know it took three inches of set. you can measure the string follow by putting the back on the bow up against a flat wall or floor and measuring the distance between the tip and the surface.

[bushboy]

put the bow on a door frame measure top ,flip 180 and thats it!

[PEARL DRUMS]

Get it so close to perfect its scarey at floor tiller and brace it low right away. Thats the best way Ive found. One in three bows I build my tiller is good first brace and I just take 5-10# off to finish it. Sometimes Im farther off and need more wiggle room. But always the key is a perfect tiller on the floor and knowing "about" what weight bow your flexing. I dont use long strings or tillering strings anymore as a result.

[bushboy]

this is how sick i am ,the set must match the positive tiller !lol!

[Badger]

Get it so close to perfect its scarey at floor tiller and brace it low right away. Thats the best way Ive found. One in three bows I build my tiller is good first brace and I just take 5-10# off to finish it. Sometimes Im farther off and need more wiggle room. But always the key is a perfect tiller on the floor and knowing "about" what weight bow your flexing. I dont use long strings or tillering strings anymore as a result.

    I agree 100%, once you learn what the bow is supposed to look like when you sight down it floor tillering you can get them about perfect before ever bracing. As pPearl was saying, the trick is to know what they are supposed to feel like. I really like it when I brace a bow for the first time and it weighs out within about 2# and the tiller is about perfect. But I also have cut it too close and come in a tad under weight so you really need to know how it is suppoded to feel.

[steve b.]

Make sure the wood is dry.

I'm with PD.  The way the Stave Press holds the bow, verses a vice (or visa versa??--sorry),  all I have to do while tillering is push up with a certain amount of pressure on the limb tip to see the curve.  I make both limbs match in the press then low brace it.

[huisme]

My current explanation of string follow/set for the off chance it isn't clearly understood yet.



I'm 100% with pearl as well. I've been getting pretty good at tillering with my machete before I even put knocks on my bows, and the result is little to no set.

[PrimitiveTim]

This thread has helped me understand some concepts better and reinforced some of my experiences.  Thanks guys!

[Del the cat]

Put the bow up against a wall, belly to the wall. If you can get one finger between the grip and the wall that's fine. Two fingers is ok. Three fingers is getting a bit excessive.
If you can't get both tips touching the wall, then walk away with a big grin.
Mind you've always got to ask yourself, would you rather have a bit of set or a broken bow?
Strapping the bow up with a hint of reflex and heat treating the bell works well. A good time to do it is when you notice the first hint of set coming in, or when you get it to a v low brace.
Note, most of my experience is with ELBs (English Longbows).
Del

[blackhawk]

We would need a lot more information to diagnose what your doing wrong(or maybe not?)to help ya out. Like explaining how you tiller...and giving us how much set your bow took(how far your tips traveled from start to finish)?...where did it end up? And its normal for wood to take a lil set..all bows will,and no one has ever made one that took any loss from its starting position... losing two inches or less from what you started with is fine and normal....can you post pics of these bows you speak of? Unbraced directly from the side,braced and full draw the same ways too....maybe your tiller is off? No clue and can't say unless we see it? Because overstressimg an area during anytime while tillerimg can cause more set than it should've .... specifics n details are needed here to help ya out...the more you tell and show us the more we can help....

I don't tiller with long string n trees much anymore either guys,but a novice isn't going to be able to do it well without the aids of sticks,tiller gizmos,n trees,n the long string..although he should be striving towards that

[osage outlaw]

Make sure the wood is dry.

Proper moisture content is important.  The best tillering skills in the world won't help much if you are bending a wet stave.