is this a hinge ?

[wizardgoat]

Hey guys, I have been obsessively looking at the photos and shooting this bow, and just don't know what to think.
It has 2 roller coasters, but one on the top limb is what is giving me grief. it dips then is delexed 1/2" right after it. The bottom limb was board flat.
I'd usually cook it and even it all up, but decided to leave it as it. Its super low ring count yew, about about 10-15 rpi. if i dyed it orange you'd think it was osage.
I really aimed to tiller the bow so both limbs would be evenly strained, and knew that the roller coaster/deflex spot would look weird at full draw. it looked like it was bending just slightly
more than the other limb, which is what i wanted. As it started bending more and more, it just started looking scarier and scarier. i need the stone cold truth. someone tell me I'm tripping, or that
yes is it indeed a hinge.

This is just after floor tiller and recurve steaming. you can see the dip on the left, and slight deflex after





Braced, top timb is on the right this time, sorry.


you can see me staring hatefully at the spot



After shooting  50 arrows, 52# @26

[DC]

If it was a hinge, wouldn't it have taken some set after 50 shots?

[Zion]

looks like a small natural deflexed area to me

[LEGIONNAIRE]

Doesnt look like a hinge at all, its a deflexed area. Looks like you did a great job tillering that.

[paulsemp]

I'm messing with an osage right now that has a similar problem. It has two dips within six inches on one limb. Naturally that area will not work as hard as others. I do though believe if it is a hinge its true colors will come out after shooting a couple hundred times. For me hinges only seem to get worse and more noticeable with set in that area. I would shoot it a bunch more and see what it says. Doesn't look too bad to me I'd say

[vinemaplebows]

No hinge. Looks good to me.


VMB

[IdahoMatt]

I don't think it looks hinged.  I like the idea of shooting it for a spell and seeing if it takes on any set I that erea. Looks good in to me. 

[mikekeswick]

If anything it looks thin after that spot out to the tip.
For staves like this (or every stave in my case!) putting it against your tillering board, something flat etc and tracing the side profile BEFORE tillering is the way to go. That way you have a definite reference to keep checking back to. I find this so useful it's amazing I haven't seen anyone else doing it. It allows you at a glance to set where and exactly how much set your last exercise session has imparted.

[Del the cat]

No hinge... to my eye.
Del

[Pappy]

Looks good to me also. Them humps and dips can really throw you a curve sometimes. It also helps to look one side then the other.
   Pappy

[burchett.donald]

 My vote: no hinge... Looks like a fine job
                                                                               Don

[George Tsoukalas]

No hinge. Great job. As you look at the full draw photo imagine a line going right trhough the middle.
Jawge

[Will H]

I say no set no hinge. Good job

[wizardgoat]

Thanks guys for assurance. Maybe I'll stop obsessing. I'll throw a couple hundred arrows out of it today hopefully, and see if she starts stressing at all. The bow was suposed to be a gift, I need to be 100%.
Im pretty impressed with thick ringed yew, not as pretty but is quite snappy

[Parnell]

Looks real good.  I've done several of those "whoop-de-doo" bows and they are tricky.  The trickiest one was an Osage that had that deflex right out of the handle and it was lop-sided where it was stronger to one side of the stave.  Drove me nuts but it shot well!
Looks like a very nice bow.