How to line the tips up with the center if the stave is reflexed through the cen

[cool_98_555]

Hi everyone,

I have a stave that is reflexed through the center and when i try to put a string on both ends to try to line it up with the center it's tricky because the string doesn't lay flat against the back.  Not sure if the string is tracking over the center or not.   Any ideas?

[PatM]

The  high noon shadow trick.

[DC]

We seldom get enough sun to cast a shadow so I use a laser.

[cool_98_555]

A laser? Seriously?

[steve b.]

cool,
how much reflex-how wide of a stave-how long, etc.?  My first thought is that if you can't tell if it is centered then it can be fixed later--start making a bow out of it.  Otherwise, what I do with a full, rough stave is to find the center on the back, at the tips, and clamp a string to each tip so that the string is tight.  Lay the stave on the floor, belly down, and stand over the thing so that your eye is centered, moving back and forth slightly, so that you see the string splitting the tips down the center, looking back and forth at each tip, occasionally glancing at the string going through the handle.  So the string is a bridge from tip to tip and you are looking down to see where the string lays relative to the handle.

That same string, clamped to the center of the tip, can determine where the curve or lean is.  Leave one tip/string clamped and move the other end of the string to the center of the handle and again observe from above to see if the string stays in the center of each limb, all the way down,  or if one or both limbs are curving or if the handle is bent.

[aaron]

I work 'em down until it's bending enough to flatten the reflex, then check while bent.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Same way you check alignmebt when braced but backwards. With a string tied on the tips or taped, hold the bow squarely infont of you. Feel the back of the handle with you thumbs  that it's face is square to you and see where she lines up. As long as it's close to the handle, start tillering and see where she lines up at brace before doing too much heat bending.

Kyle

[DC]

A laser? Seriously?

Yeah, a laser level. I works just like a string but like a shadow it doesn't get hung up on things.

[bubby]

What Aaron said get it to low brace and adjust from there

[cool_98_555]

I tried clamping it in the vice with the back facing up and a string taped to each tip.  Used a scrap piece of wood as a bridge under the string at the center and marked the center on the bridge.  Could see from here if the string was tracking through the center.  Ill try holding it vertically and just eyeballing it before i cut the width tapers to the tip

[Del the cat]

I work 'em down until it's bending enough to flatten the reflex, then check while bent.

Yup, +1.
You can leave the tips extra wide until you get to that point.
A tight string along the belly can help give an idea if it is twanged taut, or sawed back and forth, still have to squint down it to make sure it's not pulling over.
Del

[FilipT]

If you have so much reflex and you put string for lining up on the reflex side, you can hang on string on the approximate center a plumb line. Plumb line was tool commonly used in past instead or with spirit level in construction.

This is plumb line:

[Dances with squirrels]

Level the bow in the vice as accurately as you can. Stretch a string end to end of the stave. Hold a plumb bob line against  the string, just touching it, and lower it to the stave.

I also do the same thing, but use a combination square, with its level, to project a plumb line.

[DuBois]

Eyeball, feel, string, hope and faith

[High-Desert]

Level bow in a vice as best you can, attach string to one tip, and hold on the other, then allow string to sag close to handle. It's quick and easy.

Eric