Bowyers Workbench/Tiller Tree (Plans Added)

[Crogacht]

Hi all,

I'm working on a bow-making workbench with built in tiller tree. I don't have that much space, and nowhere to really bolt anything to the wall, but if I make them together, and add a vice etc I think everything should be heavy enough to not move around during all the work. I think I have the bench part sorted, but the more searching I do on tiller trees, the less clear my plans are getting.

Are we all measuring draw length from the back of the handle? If so, how do you deal with handles of different thickness.

I found a thread by lost arrow, and his tree has a heavy duty velcro strap instead of a wooden cradle at the top of the tree for the bow handle to sit in. This seems to solve the problem??? But definitely a bit more fiddling around getting the bow into it every time.

https://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,37266.0.html

Or maybe there is no problem at all? Haha. I'm as much of an expert on making bows as I am on gynaecology, but I'm pretty keen to get started. I'm quite interesting in making some bows too

Any explanation or pointing out of the obvious would be pretty awesome. I'm going to post plans of this bench/tree before I build it in case there are any really flawed aspects obvious to experienced bowyers.

Ben

EDIT: Been messing around a bit, this is my plan so far with a bit of mock-up added. It needs a tidy up before printing/making a materials list, but it is to scale. This will sit in the middle of a room, not against the wall.

[huisme]

I measure draw length from the belly of the handle, personally, since I don't always make the handle the same thickness and a thick handle would demand a more flexed bow for proper brace height and full draw.

If you have a large mirror I highly suggest propping it against the wall on the floor so you can out your foot through the string and pull with a side-on view in the mirror. Also helps with floor tillering. Another thing I've done is attach a hook to a little piece of scrap and stood on the scrap with the string in the hook, but I wouldn't do that for heavier draw weights.

[autologus]

The only problem I see with this design is that if it is free standing in the middle of the room when you pull your rope to draw your bow on the tillering tree you will pull the bench to you unless you have it anchored to the floor.

Grady

[Cameroo]

It is likely to slip around if not anchored.  One thing that would help if you can't anchor it to the floor is to use some of that shelf liner material under each leg and the tiller post.  If the bench is heavy enough, this will be adequate for light-weight bows, but it will likely still slide around when you yank back heavier bows.

[autologus]

You could anchor the pulley to the floor and you would not have to anchor the bench.

Grady

[Crogacht]

Good points/suggestions guys.

I think you're right about the bench moving when I'm using the pulley. I'll have to decide how best to fix that problem. The floor is concrete though, so I'm sure I could anchor either the pulley or both ends of the bench.

[PEARL DRUMS]

You can build all kinds of bows with no tree at all. Just get a good floor tiller and use a tiller stick in your vice. After that point you cant get it right while drawing in hand. Just a suggestion to eliminate the tree.

[BOWMAN53]

I ended up just using the leg of the table as the tree instead.