Golden Rule for Set?

[burchett.donald]

  For a new bowyer it is important to make sure you have nice even bends and everything working before you brace...Patience is important...My first brace ever, resembled a hockey stick...One limb straight and the other severely bent...Staying on the long string a little longer is ok...I find the majority of set or follow happens past 26 with me now...My draw is 26 and have never built a bow that didn't have string follow of some degree...Set or string follow "is not wrong", it is a "result" we try to minimize...
                                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                                             Don

 

[Bryce]

We’re on the same page Steve. We seem to do everything the same:)
Except for the long string. To me the long string hides tillering flaws.
I trust my floor tiller, once I feel and see the limbs are even enough, I go
Ahead a low brace, 9/10 it’s nearly spot on. One limb may be slightly positive but not much.
 Then tiller at low brace (3”-4”) to about 18” then the real
Tillering begins lol (much the same way you explained) and yes it’s the BEST PART! It’s when a stick actually becomes A bow!

[Bob Barnes]

Steve, we should schedule a tillering demonstration for you at MoJam... I can arrange it for you. 

[Badger]

Bryce your bows are way better looking than mine, I tend to ignore the finish but really admire those that are finished nicely.

  I usually brace mine when the long string hits about 23" gives me enough room to make any corrections I need to make and that is usually about where the real battle starts anyway

[Badger]

Bryce your bows are way better looking than mine, I tend to ignore the finish but really admire those that are finished nicely.

  I usually brace mine when the long string hits about 23" gives me enough room to make any corrections I need to make and that is usually about where the real battle starts anyway

  Bob, I would be happy to but it is a slow process. I will bring a bow not tillered yet.

[Bob Barnes]

We will have several days Steve...    We can either set up a formal demonstration or 2, or you can just share the method with us in camp... but I do want to see it done. 

[Badger]

  I will just keep a bow over there and work on it if anyone wants to see the method. I usually spend about 3 hours or so Tillering one out.

[Bob Barnes]

sounds great!  I usually spend more like 3 weeks... 

[BowEd]

cool....Sometimes if just being concerned with hitting the target or game your shooting at consistently bows like you described can be the most fun.Shootability has it's merits.Hitting the 10 ring more often than friends or while hunting and finding what you hit in the exact place you aimed.
I still always try for the least amount of set.Making a certain design over and over enough to work out all the bugs takes time.

[Hawkdancer]

Bob, Steve,
Sign me up for a spot in the demo!  At the rate I'm going, I'll still be tillering the hickory stave!!  It seems to want to not bend below target weight, but it is quite over built.  Don't want to steal this thread, so Iwill start another closer to my concerns.
Hawkdancer

[DC]

We’re on the same page Steve. We seem to do everything the same:)
Except for the long string. To me the long string hides tillering flaws.
I trust my floor tiller, once I feel and see the limbs are even enough, I go
Ahead a low brace, 9/10 it’s nearly spot on. One limb may be slightly positive but not much.
 Then tiller at low brace (3”-4”) to about 18” then the real
Tillering begins lol (much the same way you explained) and yes it’s the BEST PART! It’s when a stick actually becomes A bow!

I guess it depends how our eyes work or something. I can't see an even bend when I'm floor tillering although using a full length mirror helped. I have a long string with leather pouches so I don't need nocks. I use it in my "Floor tillering" stage. Then I have a regular long string with loops  for early tillering. I usually brace it as soon as I can. That usually is around 20". I can just see the bend better if it's up in front of me on the tree.

[Bryce]

Bryce your bows are way better looking than mine, I tend to ignore the finish but really admire those that are finished nicely.

  I usually brace mine when the long string hits about 23" gives me enough room to make any corrections I need to make and that is usually about where the real battle starts anyway

Oh just meant when it came to tillering. Has one of my bows made it to your hands?

We’re on the same page Steve. We seem to do everything the same:)
Except for the long string. To me the long string hides tillering flaws.
I trust my floor tiller, once I feel and see the limbs are even enough, I go
Ahead a low brace, 9/10 it’s nearly spot on. One limb may be slightly positive but not much.
 Then tiller at low brace (3”-4”) to about 18” then the real
Tillering begins lol (much the same way you explained) and yes it’s the BEST PART! It’s when a stick actually becomes A bow!

I guess it depends how our eyes work or something. I can't see an even bend when I'm floor tillering although using a full length mirror helped. I have a long string with leather pouches so I don't need nocks. I use it in my "Floor tillering" stage. Then I have a regular long string with loops  for early tillering. I usually brace it as soon as I can. That usually is around 20". I can just see the bend better if it's up in front of me on the tree.

If you want, and I do this sometimes now since my accident. I’ll place 2 large block on my work bench and rest the ends of the bow on them. Then take an Irwin quick grip clamp and start clamping the handle down and after so far the limbs are bent pretty good and sometimes whiles it’s clamped I’ll go ahead and make some corrections right then and there. Watch the limbs come round as I rasp.

[willie]

I’ll place 2 large block on my work bench and rest the ends of the bow on them. Then take an Irwin quick grip clamp and start clamping the handle down and after so far the limbs are bent pretty good and sometimes whiles it’s clamped I’ll go ahead and make some corrections right then and there. Watch the limbs come round as I rasp.

Bryce, That sounds like a good technique, have to give it a try  soon. Those quick grip clamps are becoming the "go to"  clamps around my workbench

[Badger]

  Brice, I was shooting one of your bows last weekend, a 70# osage, extremely narrow profile. I couldn't get it all the way back. Beautiful bow and very well tillered. I was kind of surprised at how narrow it was for the poundage but not shocked. I have a 55# that is similar but only about 3/4" wide.

[cool_98_555]

Well, despite being torn on what to do about the bow, I decided to go out to the garage and throw a few arrows through the chronograph.  I mean the real issue with set in a bow is loss in performance, so I was curious.  Keep in mind that this bow is around 72# at 29" and is quite snakey.  I first used a 505gr arrow 3 times and got an average of 188fps.  Not bad...but i've done better.  I also had a 610gr arrow so I shot that through the chrono and I got an average of about 180fps.  This packed more punch at the target and was a lot quieter, albeit being slower.  This bow is more efficient with a 600gr arrow, surprisingly.  I also shot a heavier 670gr arrow, and I got 173fps.  That is a lot less efficient than the 610gr arrow out of this bow.

I was not sure whether to heat temper the belly of this bow before, and to be honest with you, i'm still not sure.  It's got a lot of snakey character to it and it has 2.25" of set, but it is so smooth...just a joy to shoot.  I'm not sure how many fps I would gain if I heat treated the belly...do you?