Feathering on the belly - which way is which

[OTDEAN]

Howdy,

When chasing the growth rings on the belly of the bow to get a good taper to begin with before tiller.  Do you take some  of the feathering or arrow heads as I like to call them  off to get the arrow ahead to point more in the middle?  I assume if the arrow head is off to one side its thicker on that side so you take some off until the arrow head returns to centre?  I used to know this but forgot!  Been a while, already bust one need some advice before I proceed on the next so I can get one to 

Cheers guys   

[osage outlaw]

I don't pay attention to rings on the belly.  I taper the thickness of the limb.

[bjrogg]

I don't pay attention to rings on the belly.  I taper the thickness of the limb.

Same here. The bend is what I watch.
Bjrogg

[PatM]

If growth rings are even  there will be a fair degree of accuracy with that but it should be a product of that and correct taper rather than the other way around.

[Eric Krewson]

Don't buy into the feathered grain nonsense, I did early on and ruined several staves trying to making the feathering just perfect. I picked up that tidbit out of one of the early bow making books or videos. This supports my conclusion that there is a lot of bad info in much of the reference material out there, unfortunately, as newbies with no experience we buy into what we read.

Who ever wrote that feathering was important must have never worked a snaky osage stave with a little twist.

[George Tsoukalas]

I don't bother with it. Jawge

[Badger]

   When I rough a bow out I chase a ring on the belly. Once I start tillering I ignore that and just tiller for best tiller. I am usually at least 1 full ring or more thicker than I will be when finished at this point.

[Weylin]

What these guys said. Feathering the rings wont give you a good tiller. You want a smooth, consistent thickness taper. That will give you an even bend.

[FilipT]

@OTDEAN
Feathering rings doesn't give any results when typed into google. Not sure what that is. If you are thinking about shape of rings, here is from my recent bow. The first picture shows clearly where does taper coming from. Funny thing that dot is not the actual center of bow but nevertheless it bends nice through that area. I think there was a dip in that part and so it came to be like that, instead of going from true center.

[Pappy]

It works to a point on good straight grained wood, good even ringed wood such as ash/Hackberry/Elm and sometime Hickory, not so good on other woods such as Osage. I watch it a little on the rough lay out but don't  take long to see if it is helping and keeping the limb tapper and side to side even. as in most of bow building  Just another tool but not a for sure way.
 Pappy

[Dances with squirrels]

I almost completely ignore them. In the vast majority of selfbows I've made, the growth rings are inconsistent in thickness and I would have ruined many staves trying to follow any such advice.

[BowEd]

Ditto on whats' been stated previously.It's more important for the sides to be of even thickness.With the centerline as close along the crown as possible.

[Badger]

   Not too long ago I posted on here about a bow I was roughing out using the rings. Before I knew it the thickness on one edge was like 3/8" while 1 1/2" away on the other side of the limb my edge was about 5/8 thick. I did catch it in time to save the bow from limb twist but just barely in time.

[JW_Halverson]

IF you can pull it off without limb twist or crappy tiller, DO IT! Then in honor of the accomplishment call that bow The Unicorn and put up your tools for ever.

[FilipT]

I'll ask again, what is feathering?