Hinge on brace but not tiller

[Badger]

  If I am making a 28" draw bow I never long string tiller past about 23" sometimes 24" on heavier longbows. If I am making a 26" draw bow I would only long string tiller to about 21" or 22".  You don't really have to guess at your draw weight because it is about the same braced as it is on the long string at the same inches. My long string usually hangs loose about 5" or 6".

[Badger]

   I have a massaranduba bow with almost identical specs to the bow you mentioned and I also had a similar problem. I was lucky and caught my hinge starting to develop very early and was able to drop the draw weight to about 44# and recover nicely.

[bubby]

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,35312.msg464947.html#msg464947

For a pyramid design try this how to, as far as backing you should be able to get rawhide

[JW_Halverson]

You can always cut it shorter, but adding length after they've exploded is tricky 

Del

An addendum to that, using the same philosophy...when asked how far one can draw a wooden bow, the answer is pull it all the way back until it breaks, then never pull it that far again.

[DC]

I have glued a piece on the belly to rescue a hinge. It doesn't take much, maybe 1/16"(2mm) thick. If you are lucky and caught it early enough you may scrape it all off as you tiller it. It's not normally done as the patch is usually unsightly.

[bubby]

You can always cut it shorter, but adding length after they've exploded is tricky 

Del

An addendum to that, using the same philosophy...when asked how far one can draw a wooden bow, the answer is pull it all the way back until it breaks, then never pull it that far again.

Nothing like a selfbow punch in the face first thing in the morning

[George Tsoukalas]

Matt, I long string tiller to 10" of tip movement for my 26" draw looking for good bending of the limbs and target weight.

My long string is about 8 inches longer than the bow.

This puts the stave at 10-15# over final target weight.  Then I string it with a short string at a brace height of 2-3 in measured from the back of the stave to the string.

There are buildalongs on my site,

Jawge

http://traditionalarchery101.com

[MattZA]

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,35312.msg464947.html#msg464947

For a pyramid design try this how to, as far as backing you should be able to get rawhide

Intestingly, my last bow was based on your excellent build-a-long, bubby. I think you'll find my message there a couple weeks ago 

Badger, did your bow take a lot of set? It was very strange looking down and seeing the bottom limb bent like that. I'm going to patch it tomorrow. If that fails I'll heat it. If that fails I'll remove weight elsewhere.

If that fails, I'll give it a permanent heat treatment.

[jeffp51]

 Del and Matt, you guys have the same middle name

[MattZA]

Del and Matt, you guys have the same middle name

Except he's graceful and elegant. And I'm, well, Clueless 


Update: I'm stuck in the office again, but I decided to give my hinged limb a bit of heat to see what happens (I reckon the bow may be irreparable, so this is all in the name of science).

I used my gas kitchen stove on a low heat, and held the belly about 5" off the flame. It took about 5 minutes, as I only heated the dodgy section of the limb. I couldn't prevent the very edges of the limb starting to blacken, but the rest of the limb is a dark red colour, compared to the usual 'rare roast beef' look of massaranduba.

I'm going to put it back on the tiller later, but my first impression is that the belly seems very much stronger than it was. Im going to lightly sand the burn marks off as well.

My advice is, if you're interested in heating your bow for hardening purposes, make sure to give it lots of cold water to drink during and after. I was shocked at how dry it makes the wood (and I'm used to dry wood. I live in Johannesburg, which has about 25% humidity).

[Hamish]

Massa' can be used for backing strips. If you have a straight grained piece, without knots it shouldn't break in tension unless overdrawn.

Massa' takes a lot of set, in a self bow. This can be avoided  by gluing in a reflex on a bi lam bow, ie backing and belly strip.

If you get really good glue lines it will look like it was made out of one solid piece.

[MattZA]

To make sure I understand:

You're saying I should effectively half a stave, recurve the one half, and then glue them back together again?

I've only made 3 bows, so haven't tried any reflex yet. But my next bow will definitely have some! I'm thinking a pyramid flatbow with some handle set back and then perry reflexing some bamboo on the back.

[Del the cat]

Keep it simple, master the basics first don't start arseing around with reflex, flipped tip etc.
Just my opinion of course
Del

[bjrogg]

Keep it simple, master the basics first don't start arseing around with reflex, flipped tip etc.
Just my opinion of course
Del

I agree with Del. A bow with a nice straight unbraced profile is best for learning how to tiller. Reflex or deflex profiles really like to trick our eyes and make problems harder to see and easier to develop. Any place that's reflexed won't look like it's bending because it needs to bend just to look straight. One that's deflexed looks like it's bending when it's not  because it's already Bent at rest.
Bjrogg

[Hamish]

I  agree with the other guys if you only have a few bows under your belt. The reflexing can wait until later.


For the method that I mentioned earlier,  just cut a long full length backing strip off,3/16" thick. Then clean off the saw marks. Use  the the rest of the piece for the belly. Taper the limbs, then reglue the backing strip onto the flat, non tapered surface.


I have never tried to steam a recurve into massa', and don't even know if it would work. Many tropicals don't steam bend very well