From Utah. Meet Bossy, the Milked Bow.

[JoJoDapyro]

Look right above the bow. I have a Tillering Gizmo right there! The handle is bending, as I exercise the limbs I can see it. I can see the hinge, I just need to get rid of it. Slow and steady. I will have to more or less take a few days off. I have some sprinkler repairs, as well as a party Friday night, and a vinyl project Saturday for a family member (I have a large vinyl cutter, I make stickers, stencils and cut out vinyl for shirts), and then 3 and possibly 4 stops on Fathers day. Run run run! Thanks again.

[fiddler49]

jojo, going super slow is a nice idea but it can also make the learning super slow!!! I'm a tradesman that works with his hands all the time. I use power tools for most of my bows except a small hatchet to rough out staves.
My favorite tiller tool for board bows is a Dewalt power planer. No saw dust just small chips. I can use it with one hand and you can dial down to less than a 1/64" at a pass or hog off the hardest wood!! It takes less time to tiller a 3/4" thick board than to make the bow string and I'm good at making strings!!! I also use a Dewalt jig saw for cutting out bow profiles. I also use a right angle grinder with different grit flap dics for rounding edges, shaping handles and tillering staves. I wished I had started with the power planer on my first board bows!!!!!! Boards are a great way to learn this craft and much less expensive and time consuming. cheers fiddler49

PS, keep your long tillering string as short as possible!!! I usually make my bow string long to begin with and use it as the long string using an adjustable bower's knot.

[DarkSoul]

a sureform rasp (total waste of money  )

I understand why you say that, but still I disagree with you. I'm not a novice bowyer myself, yet I use my Surform quite frequently. It is just a poorly designed tool; its shape gives you the false idea that you need to use the whole surface of the blade and hold it like a plane with two hands. That's not how it works best for me. Instead, I hold it in my right hand (I'm right handed...I think this technique will not work if you're left handed) and the wood in my left hand, tip on the floor. I hold the Surform at a 45 degree angle to the wood! It will only have a contact surface area of maybe four inches with the wood. I hold the Surform not on either of the two ends, but about 2" from the tip. I make long strokes and am able to create a nice and even surface of the wood. It even works on wood with irregular grain, where a plane would tear out chunks. I use it after the hatchet or draw knife, to remove the bumpy surface and bring the wood to a defined width profile, up to floor tillering. The Surform leaves small grooves in the wood, which are easily taken out with a scraper.
That being said, tools will always be a matter of preference. If you don't like a Surform, I'm sure you can find other tools that will work better for you. Not a single tool is holy and they can all be replaced by some other tool. Some people use a knife for scraping, which I really can't understand myself. I'm also not the spokeshave kinda guy. Just a matter of preference.

You can buy scales very cheap at Dealextreme.com. It comes directly from China, and might therefore take about three weeks before it is delivered (free of charge, by the way). If you need a scale quickly, Amazon is a better, but more expensive option.

[burn em up chuck]

    welcome and good start, remember have fun w/this greatest of all hobbies 

                                                                          chuck

[JoJoDapyro]

Kind of jumping out of order here, but how much on average do you lose with a artificial sinew string. It is polyester, from Tandy leather factory. I used about 8 feet on the first one and it ended up about 5 feet long. Any idea? too much twist? Thanks again.

[nakedfeet]

General rule of thumb for any piece of twisted cordage is that you'll end up with about 2/3 of what you started with. So in your case, when you started with 8 feet and ended with 5 feet -- that's 62.5%, which is pretty close to 2/3.

That's for a length of string that's reverse-twisted over it's entire length. If you twist just on the ends it won't be that much.  For Flemish strings (that are reverse-twisted on each end, but not over the bulk of the middle section), it seems it's usually suggested to use 12-16 inches more than the bow length.

[JoJoDapyro]

OK, tillering update. The right (top) limb is slowly getting to where it should be, but I will let the pros judge it. Any input will be great. I'm still kind of in the dark of how it all works. I have removed quite a bit of wood from the right limb. Just to be sure it wasn't the placement I flipped the stave, In the photo with the clamp in the center of the string it is flipped. Thanks again.

[Crogacht]

Kind of jumping out of order here, but how much on average do you lose with a artificial sinew string. It is polyester, from Tandy leather factory. I used about 8 feet on the first one and it ended up about 5 feet long. Any idea? too much twist? Thanks again.

My last B50 string which was reverse flemish for the full length lost about 1 inch every 7 inches. I think I started with 70 inches and 14 strands and ended up with about 60 inches. But I found it incredibly stretchy. My next string where I only twisted the ends didn't seem to stretch much at all when I pulled it, so I THINK it's my low level of skill that caused me problems. The full twist one was a bit like a spring 

[lebhuntfish]

Go to your first post and hit modify the add tiller update to tiller update? to the title and then hit save. That might help you get a few more of the guys to check your tiller for you. I would still say to refer to earlier post and keep doing the same thing. But I'm not 100% sure. Patrick.

[lebhuntfish]

Remember, if you have an area that is bending more than the rest don't remove any wood from that spot until you get the rest of the limb bending in uniform. If you have one limb that is not bending as much as the other. Remove wood in the same fashion from that limb until it matches the other one them proceed on both limbs. Exercise the stave between each scraping session, by pulling it no farther than you did on the tiller.  Pull it at least 30 to 50 times before you recheck your tiller. Patrick

[JoJoDapyro]

Thanks again Patrick. It is hard to stop, and not just keep going.

I learned something else today. Hobby Lobby sells Tandy Leather Factory artificial sinew cheaper than Tandy leather does. Kinda strange, but with their membership program it makes stuff really expensive unless you are a gold member. I made another string for this build, as I didn't like how much that nylon was stretching. The artificial sinew did stretch, but just once, and has stopped.

[blackhawk]

In your last pic the left limb is only bending mid limb and more than the right limb,and right limb is stiffer than the left....and shorten up your long string to where its pretty much about touching the handle...

[Pappy]

Like Chris said,stay off the mid left limb and get the right bending a little more then work on the first 1/3 ond outer of the left until it catches up mid mid limb.
Also shorting the long string will give you a better look at what is is going to look like low braced.
 Pappy

[JoJoDapyro]

I think I need to put a different color up behind my board as well. Using a tillering gizmo the left is bending almost the same all the way to the nock. The right is a lot stiffer, I have taken a lot (about 10 take downs worth, or a 32nd) off that side. The right also is thinner by close to a 16th than the left.

I will shorten up the string and continue tonight. I am also going to make a longer gizmo as well. The first was supposed to be 6 inches long, but while drilling it, it split in half, so it's only about 4. I can see there is a slight hinge on the left, but the gizmo tells me i'm crazy, I'm glad it isn't just me that sees it.

Thanks Pappy.
Going slow is not my style, that is why I fly fish. 

[George Tsoukalas]

There is a red oak board bow buildalong on my site.
Welcome!
Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/boardbowbuildalong.html