Popcorn Shorty Bow

[PrimitiveTim]

I'm helping a friend make his first bow so I gave him a piece of hackberry to work on as it is my most plentiful wood.  I figured while he was working on his I would make one too.  He's not done with his yet but if I'm proud of his work I'll post it    He's miles ahead of when I first started...miles.

I call it the "popcorn shorty" cause of the wonderful odor of hackberry.

Okay, this bow is 41" long and I'm drawing out to probably 19" or maybe just shy of.  I wanted as heavy a draw as I could so once I got it braced I just tillered it out to where I thought felt good. It's probably in the #40 range.  I'd say 50 but then I'd get called a liar  The whole idea with this bow was to tiller it totally based off of how it felt.  When you draw a poorly tillered bow you can feel where it's not bending.  I would just draw until I felt an area that wasn't bending then scraped some wood and drew again until everything felt smooth.  I don't think the tiller is perfect but it feels good and as I practice tillering like this I think my bows will begin to approach a perfect tiller.  The lower limb has some deflex and that always messes with my head.  That's what I like about instinct tillering is that you don't have to worry about how it looks.  It's about how it feels.


I took pictures as I drew to see where the wood wasn't working.  My camera shoots ten shots in a second so I can get the draw in motion almost.







Side profile.  Note the twist in the lower limb


Back profile


Always with a side-nock




You can really see that deflex in this shot.

[Parnell]

I 've tillered several out that way...I'd say thats lookin pretty good, amigo.  I'll have to work on a tie dye shirt...people will think we are twins!  Ha!

[toomanyknots]

"When you draw a poorly tillered bow you can feel where it's not bending.  I would just draw until I felt an area that wasn't bending then scraped some wood and drew again until everything felt smooth."

Thats crazy, but also true! You totally can feel when a bow is bending across it's entire length, opposed to a poorly tillered one. Maybe it has something to do with the force draw curve evening out?

[Don Case]

Can you explain this or is it just a Zen sort of thing?

[DuBois]

I can't explain it but I do know what a porly tillered bow feels like 

[DuBois]

Oh by the way, that is a pretty cool little stick there Tim.

[wildman]

Nice lil pocket bow.

[PrimitiveTim]

Thanks guys.  I'm gonna see how it shoots a fishing arrow and hopefully harvest some talapia from the springs.  The guy I'm teaching has paddleboards so that could be fun fishing from paddleboards.

Parnell, you tie-dye a shirt and I'll shave my head.  Then we'll be twins

Can you explain this or is it just a Zen sort of thing?

No, it's not a zen sort of a thing.  You can actually feel one limb bending more than another.  Knowing exactly where the stiff spot is on the limb might be a zen thing but I picked it up within a year of bending wood.  I think this should be something that anyone can feel.  It might take some practice and experience.  Mind you, I screwed up a lot of bows and tillered a lot of bad bows before I got decent ones.  This means I pulled on a lot of poorly tillered bows before I ever felt the pull of a well tillered bow.

As far as feeling which limb is bending more I can explain that... or I can try.  If the bottom limb is bending more than the top: as you draw, the point at which you're grabbing the string will go up.  You can prove this by drawing with an arrow.  At brace it will be parallel with the ground and as you pull it, the back end of the arrow will move slightly upward and your arrow will be pointing slightly toward the ground.  I don't know if that made any sense at all.  If you have a scrap piece of wood laying around try making a mini bow with it and really focus on feeling where it's bending.  Maybe even close your eyes.  Maybe I should make a video showing that.

[Trapper Rob]

Nice work Tim.

[Pappy]

Ever how you do it,it looks good to me. Nice bend on that one.
 Pappy

[Don Case]

as you draw, the point at which you're grabbing the string will go up.  You can prove this by drawing with an arrow.  At brace it will be parallel with the ground and as you pull it, the back end of the arrow will move slightly upward and your arrow will be pointing slightly toward the ground.  I don't know if that made any sense at all.

Yeah, that makes sense. Whether I can sense it is another thing

[PrimitiveTim]

as you draw, the point at which you're grabbing the string will go up.  You can prove this by drawing with an arrow.  At brace it will be parallel with the ground and as you pull it, the back end of the arrow will move slightly upward and your arrow will be pointing slightly toward the ground.  I don't know if that made any sense at all.

Yeah, that makes sense. Whether I can sense it is another thing

  You'll be able to!  Just pull on it real slow until you feel something that's off.

[Josh B]

I'm diggin it man!  Too cool!  Josh