exercising limbs when tillering

[Richard B]

Basic question from a newbie. How long do you hold tension on a bow when exercising limbs?
Do you just pull the string and (gently) release it, or hold it at whatever draw length you are on for a few seconds?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Don't ever hold a wood bow for longer than necessary. Vague answer I know, but its very true. Holding for a second is plenty long enough.

[George Tsoukalas]

It's not a vague answer. It is a good one, PD.
What I do is pull and release 10 or so times at a very short draw length...perhaps 10-15 inches, Richard.
If you don't exercise the bow between wood removal it will eventually work itself in when you least expect it.
Don't take off too much wood at a time. I even count the passes with my scraper-like tool (20 or so) and once I string it I only use the scraper.
Jawge

[Will H]

No longer than you would if you were shooting it.

[Eric Krewson]

When I get to about 20" of draw I short draw shoot the bow, probably a dozen arrows between scraping sessions. I have found this registers scraping changes better than just pulling the bow back to exercise it.

[SLIMBOB]

Same here Eric, but I typically start shooting at around 23-24 inches.  Half a dozen shots or so and then check the tiller.  At this point it should be a matter of fine tuning the tiller with no big moves as a rule.

[Pat B]

I do similar to these other guys. Be sure that both limbs are bending evenly and together before working the limbs too much. I usually exercise the bow with each wood removal but only starting with short drawn and slow release and gradually work it out farther as tillering progresses. Also after I pass brace height, and everything is still good I will "sweat" the bow by low bracing and letting it sit braced for an hour or so. As tillering progresses I extent the sweating time up to 5 or 6 hours at a time until the bow is tillered. By doing this I am insured the bow can take can handle the longer brace time when shooting targets and hunting.

[bubby]

i'm with Pat on sweating the bow, in fact I leave it braced the whole time I tiller, I think its easier on the bow than constantly stringing and unstringing

[Weylin]

I don't go out of my way to exercise the bow. It gets pulled plenty as I examine where the bow's working. I feel like more than that is just putting the bow through unnecessary stress. I totally agree about not stopping with the bow drawn out. One second at the max.

[Richard B]

Many thanks for all the helpful comments. I have been tillering and exercising my elm bow (and myself!) all afternoon. I now have it at full brace and 55lbs at 23". I will post some pics on my "elm stave" topic and would welcome any advice on where to remove wood to bring it to my target of 55lbs at 28". I guess now would be a good time to shoot some arrows at 23" draw!

[Eric Krewson]

I am with Pat as well on the leaving strung for a while. My bows always come in over poundage with gizmo tillering, as I drop poundage, between scraping sessions, I may leave a bow strung for up to 6 hours when I get within 5# or so of my target.