[Tillering Finished!!!] Well, here goes nothing! (First build)

[loon]

...
As for tillering here is a photo of the bow with a real dacron B50 bowstring (thanks again loon!) and here are photos of the tiller.

I measured 11 pounds @ 6 inches with about 2 inches (estimated) of deflection at the tips

I then measured 20 pounds @ 9 inches with about 4 inches (again just estimated from vision) deflection at the tips.

what can you guys tell me about this so far? I was scared to pull more than around 20 pounds because i dont want to break anything!

for reference, the bow is now 72" long ntn, 1.5" max width, pyramid front profile?
pyramid bows are supposed to have a constant thickness?
did you get Eric's gizmo?

[hobbyaccumulator]

@loon, it's about 69 inches nock to nock, as it is nearly  72 inches tip to tip and the nocks top start 1.5" in from the tip . It has a constant (or as close to constant) slope on the sides going from the edges of the riser to the tip. The riser width is 1.5" and the tips are 1/2 inch wide. The thickness goes from 3/4 inch thick at the point where the riser beings to slope to only 1/4 inch at the tips.

[hobbyaccumulator]

i did get Eric's gizno! I will need to being using that, I am just nervous about tillering, i dont wanna mess up!

[WillS]

My 2c here is that you need to just get on and pull the thing.  Your first bow will be a hot mess - they always are.  You'll miss things that you only spot with experience, and people trying to help on here can't see them either, they can only see the pictures you take which are usually too late.  Once you've made about 5 you can start getting picky and worrying about smaller issues, but your first one should be a way to get into it - it'll probably either end up about 20lb, or blow up on you and that's fine, we've all been there and it's actually crucial to fail in order to learn how to succeed.

You can be walked through it quite a lot, but not all the way and at some point you just need to get on with it.  Don't overthink, don't worry about taking photographs of every tiny step, just get the bow bending.  You're tillering up to 9" now which means you've got about 20" left.  If you stop at every inch, take photos and ask for help you'll never get there, and the entire process will take FOREVER.

The process is incredibly simple - make the limbs bend evenly, avoid weak spots and don't pull the bow further than you have to until it looks perfect to you.

[loon]

Also iirc there was some flight bow that was somewhat whip tillered, but the outer limbs were made as light as possible

Might be better off aiming for 30-35#. better for form and learning to shoot anyway. perfect for target shooting and small game (with broadheads at least). don't make the mistake of wanting a hunting capable bow the first time, it messed up my form for a long time

I want to say more about tillering but i have little experience, so i'll stop. other than this http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,58212.msg805592.html

[hobbyaccumulator]

thanks guys,

I think you're right that i am overthinking this whole thing and being too nervous. I know the process i am just scared to go through with it. I just need to get over than and start tillering, even if it ends up lower weight i don't actually mind really - i can't expect myself to naturally get it the first time around anyway. My biggest concern is snapping it and i can  avoid that by just being careful.

Thanks for the link loon! I'll definitely use this info.

I just gotta get on it and start!

[H Rhodes]

WillS spoke some truth. If you have a good piece of wood and you keep the limbs bending evenly, it is hard to break one.  On the other hand, you can do everything perfect with a bad stave and you have a pile of kindling.  Natural materials lend themselves to disparity, even within the same species of tree, or a different part of the same tree.  At some point you just have to pull that sucker back and see if it wants to be a bow.  We all break one from time to time.  Good luck.

[WillS]

Maybe the best advice for total beginners would be to spend hours shaping the "perfect" bow, sand it, finish it, polish it, make a string and then put it on the tiller tree for the very first time and just heave it down until it breaks.  It would eliminate all that tension and "oh god I hope it doesn't break, I hope it doesn't break, I spent ages on this..." stuff. 

Once that first break happens you relax so much.

[hobbyaccumulator]

[If you don't wanna read this life-story i have a few quick questions at the bottom regarding bow twisting and choosing a finish to put on]

Today was the big day, i mentally prepared all week for today and i feel it was a great success!

It started out REALLY slow, like my bumbling around trying to get the string on. I exercised it a little more with the long string out to 10" and then decided it's time to man up and low brace....boy this was hard for me. I have never strung a bow in my life before so i was bumbling around trying to get the timber hitch the perfect length and i was confused about how to use a stringer for a LONG time. I made a stringer out of paracord and i wasnt sure how long to make it so it started out as a 14 foot monster stringer that didn't work at all, also i kept putting the stringer on first and then the bow string and then having the undo the stringers knots to get the stringer off. Also i was putting the stringer like 4 inches down from the nock on each side which made stringing it require a lot of force, i haven't been to the gym in a while but i didn't think i was THAT weak :p

Anyway i kept at it and got it to a brace of 2 1/2" (a little short but this was a big accomplishment for me). I was nervous as all hell, having any amount of tension in the bow felt weird and scary like it could snap at any moment! I spent the next hour just using Eric's gizmo on the braced bow at a very low setting to make sure it had not flat spots when braced, this might have been bad in retrospect because it may have lowered the weight  unnecessarily. Anyway i chugged on removing wood little bit little until it had just the slightest curvature all the way down the limb, it took four or five times over maybe 1.5 hours because of how incompetent with the stringer i was. 

Once i was unable to see any marks with the gizmo is when i put it on the tree and exercised it out to 10" again at this low brace. At 10" i used the gizmo to mark it and took it off, shaved off the wood - and did this a few more times  until i couldnt see any marks (still at a very low gizmo setting). I took it off and noticed that it was taking on set, so i measured it and saw about 1/2" and 3/4" of set. Then i braced it up again this time bracing at 3.5" and exercised it. I measured 16 pounds @ 10 inches.

At this higher (but still low) brace i first did what i did before, using the gizmo at brace without not pulling. I took wood off like before and after that was done i exercised it little by little out to 14" and thats when i marked it up with the gizmo again at a very slightly higher setting. I took it off and removed the wood little by little, putting it back on and exercising it, marking it, and taking it off again - over and over until i couldn't see any marks with the gizmo at its setting. I then measured it at 23 pounds at 14 inches, also i measured the deflection to be about 8 inches at this pull.  I took it off and measured the set again to  be about 1.5".

At this point i felt i was ready for full brace, this was super hard because i was still using the stringer like an idiot, putting it a few inches down paste the nocks. But i managed to get to full brace t about 5.5" and did the usual - used the gizmo to tiller at full brace with no pull.

Then  i exercised it out to 18" one inch at a time, 30 pulls per inch. At 18" i stopped and marked it up with the gizmo again. You know the drill... I know i took measurements here but i didnt write them down or take pictures at all, if i remember right i was pulling 29 pounds @ 18 inches.

It was around this time i realized i could put the stringer on the OTHER SIDE of the nock and put the bowstring on first and then the stringer after. This reduced the time to string and unstring to about 20% of what it was taking me more to string and unstring. I then felt like a major idiot because Eric told me how to use a stringer on this exact thread earlier....

Anyway, continuing...

Exercising it out little bit little and using the gizmo, taking off wood and restringing (now much faster and easier than before) i got to 32 pounds @ 22 inches and then up to 37 pounds at 25 inches. It was at the 22 inch mark when i realized i probably will not hit my 50 pound goal, and i was okay with that. I already felt amazing seeing this beautiful hunk of wood bend and curve.

Finally i was ready to take it all the way. I was super duper ultra nervous here so i exercised it 50 times per inch for 26", 27" and finally 28". I measured it and it was a fine 42 pounds at 28", i was fine with this because I was too excited to be anything but giddy about it. I used the gizmo to get a good final tiller, it's not perfect but i think it's pretty good.

After this whole process (about 5.5 hours) i just sat there in awe. After about 20 minutes of just amazement i stung it up and just felt drawing it back. I held it, observed it, and just let it be strung but not exercised for a bit. Then i drew it back to my jaw and slowly undrew it ( i hear its bad to dry fire so i didn't). After a bit of that i unstrung and measured the final set to be 2 3/4" on the left limb and 2 1/2" on the right.

I then restrung and felt the draw again and i felt like the bow was pull away from me a little, i flipped it over and drew back and then felt it pulling into me a little. I think it may be twisted. I'm not sure if you can tell from these photos, but if someone can observe twist please tell me how to fix it. It also might be caused by the string not being centered by the nocks.

I hope the feeling of it pulling away/toward me is not a major issue, i can't exactly see where it's coming from.

Either way today was exhilarating (and exhausting). But i am beyond the moon with my new bow.

I still need to finish the handle area, thinning it width-wise a little, and then sand down the whole thing to remove marks.

I asked my girlfriend to paint the linen for me with some nice geometric designs, i am thinking of using either acrylic or oil paints (i have both). Then I want to finish it with something that will bring out the woods grain, giving a good contrast for the ring lines. What should i use for this?

edit: gf just got home so i got her to snap a pic

[Strichev]

Congratulations and, damn, it looks way, way better than my first bow. Does the top limb want to tip towrds you? You need to tiller the top limb a bit weaker because the human hand is asymeteical and influences the way the bow is held and drawn above the geometrical center.

[jaxenro]

Really well done

[H Rhodes]

You shoot it yet?

[bjrogg]

Sounds like you need a arrow now. Then you'll really be hooked.
Bjrogg

[hobbyaccumulator]

thanks for the kind words everyone. Yesterday was awesome, and i couldn't have done any of it without the kind help from everyone here.

I need to find out where to buy arrows now, i don't own a single one 

Is there a good (and cheap) place online to purchase arrows (for both target practice and eventually hunting!)?

And what finish should i use to make the grain really pop on this bow and also protect whatever paint the backing will have on it?

[loon]

Great job! 42# is a good weight. I'm proud to see my string in there. Now you just gotta serve it with that bit of halo I sent you.

It's hard to find cheap arrows that are any good.  Though non-primitive, Lancaster archery sells cheap carbon shafts in a spine that should probably work OK - Easton aviators in 600.

There's also the aluminum Easton Jazz on amazon and such. I'd recommend John Fredenberg of Glacier traditional archery for more primitive arrows.

Or just make a couple (two or three) blunt arrows for practicing in backyards or stump shooting, should be good enough to get good. I have way too much bamboo, maybe I can try to make a couple once I build my spine tester, but it's so  hot in the garage.. but I could work around that

 It seems like the left limb is bending more in the tiller tree full draw pic, so you could use that as the top limb?

Do you mean that the bow feels like it wants to twist when you draw? Maybe it's propeller twist?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9cCZF9Wbbg