Achieving Target Draw Weight?

[DC]

And a 2:1 purchase makes it so much easier, especially for the exercising part.

[George Tsoukalas]

Just remember that for a beginner getting a good tiller is paramount.
You may not get the weight you want on  your first few but that's ok.
You may not get a bow LOL.
There are some buildalongs on my site.
Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

[jeffp51]

When tillering at your desired weight, what is the method you use to pull, see the scale, and step back to view and work the bow? Seems like a lot to manage and I cant picture it.

Since I can't attach a pully where I have space for my tree, I have a scale, a camera, and a gizmo all close to hand. Because I don't want to leave the bow drawn for long, I do the following steps: 1. exersize twenty pulls or so just under weight.
2. Pull with scale to draw weight minus an inch or so, noting how far that is.
3. Draw again to that length and secure on the tree-quickly snap a picture. Release.
4. Pull again and mark with gizmo.
5. Look at pictures and see if I can see hinges or stiff spots.
6. Compare what I think I see with what the gizmo marks say.  Believe the gizmo-at least at first.

Some can tiller with a mirror and avoid all this. I haven't managed that yet.  Go slow and check occasionally for twisting caused by uneven wood removal.

[snowplow]

Hey Jeff, why do you need to exercise it first? (maybe this is a stupid question?)

[Pat B]

Snowplow, you exercise after removing wood to register that wood removal and to help educate the wood to bend and recover. I think exercising also help to break in the bow so when you hit your target weight it stays there.

[jeffp51]

It's a good question. Exersizing also allows the tiller to settle in so you get a clear idea of what it will be.

[magick.crow]

This is a GREAT video series. This is the one on tillering. It really helped me as a beginner to get whole picture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXrcV4iVq74

My take and I am a newbie. Sometimes I think the masters just don't explain the obvious to them things. Masters, PLEASE correct me, if I am wrong!

You have a stick.
You shape the stick to your bow type that you have chosen but it is too thick to bend.
You thin it to the point that you can bent it a little bit.
You put it on a rack and pull down on the string with the number of lbs that you want your bow to have. It will not bend much and it will not bend in a nice curve like you want so ..
You remove wood from the belly until both sides bend the same way but don't increase the amount they bend, just make them the same.
Now you start removing wood. As you do so it will bend more and more. Make sure that it bends the way you want by removing wood from the right places. Keep it symmetrical (unless that is not your goal tiller)!
NEVER pull with more lbs than you want you bow to be! This will over stress the wood resulting in all sorts of different problems.
Once it bends as many inches as your desired draw length, you are done.

I think a pyramid bow is a good place to start but that might be wrong.

Read the the bowyer's bibles, all four, cover to cover before you start!

What is the rule? Double the width and you increase the bows power 2 times. Increase the thickness and you increase the bows power 8 times?

There seem to be two basic tiller types, D and circle.

Forget recurves and such until you have done a few bows.

English longbows have a special shape that is not like the rest of the world's bow because they had special needs at the time it was invented.

Hope this helps.

Douglas  E Knapp

[Ippus]

Thank you, everyone! I'm home sick today, and doing a good bit of reading (local library had all four volumes of TBB!)
Thanks for the video links, too.
This is all immensely helpful!

[Pat B]

You are wrong, magick.crow. Us masters know all and tell all.      
  Your info is basically correct. A slightly overbuilt flat bow or bendy handled bow is a good place to start. These designs can take a bit more oops and still give you a good bow.
 The width and thickness depends on the wood used and the design bow you are wanting to build.