Tillering with a mirror

[DC]

 I bought a 4' tall mirror thinking I could use it to help with floor tillering. I find it tough to look down the bow and thought looking across the room would be easier. It seemed to help. Today I was putting the final scrapes on a bow and thought that I would look at it in the mirror. Because it's only a 4' mirror I had to lean it against the wall to see the whole bow. The tiller looked awful. The bottom limb was bent way to much, much like we see in a lot of pictures that we know are good. I was just grabbing the scraper when I saw my reflection in the mirror. It seemed distorted so I put down the scraper and checked things. It's a cheap mirror and it was sagging because it was leaning against the wall. Thinking that was the problem I nailed a couple of strips on it to stiffen it up. Now my reflection looked good(well, as good as it gets ) but when I drew on the bow the bottom limb still looked weak. I put it back on the tree and pulled it. it looked fine. I set up the tripod and camera, took some pictures, dumped them into Paint and put on an ellipse. Looked great. Went back and pulled it in front of the mirror, bottom limb looks weak. The only thing left that I can think of is the mirror was leaning against the wall so the bottom of the mirror was closer to the bow. Has anyone else noticed this? Maybe got a different idea of what's causing it?

[RandyN]

DC,,I think you figured it out. The mirror leaning against the wall is making it look funny. Sounds like distortion to me. I would go with what you know and what you are used to. That being the tillering tree. Even more important for me would be how the bow shoots, if you are to that point. Keep us posted on what you figure out.
PS,,I've never used a mirror.

[bradsmith2010]

mirror mirrow on the wall,, wheres the fairist bend  of all,,

[Hawkdancer]

Cheap mirror, maybe from a carnival? . Probably due to the tilt.  It may look better if you can mount it flush to the wall. But I don't have that much experience with mirrors
Hawkdancer

[Bayou Ben]

I can't help you with the mirror issue.  I don't really use one. 
With the advancement in cell phone cameras, I pretty much exclusively use short video clips.  I hold the phone in one hand and pull the rope with the other.  You can stop the video at any point and save an image or go in slow motion to analyze how each part is bending.  It's hard to see the whole bend while you are pulling, but you can see everything when you step back and analyze a slow motion HD video.  To be honest it almost feels like cheating. 

[Pat B]

Just like with floor tillering I use a mirror sometimes as a quick reference as to how a bow is bending. A tiller tree gives you a lot better view and a pic of a hand held full draw is the best.

[bradsmith2010]

a glass mirror would give a better image I think,,

[DC]

It is a glass mirror, it's just thin with not much for a frame. I've fixed the bending so the mirror is "flat" now. It just seems to be the "leaning on the wall" thing. I'm going to try to find a spot where I can hang it vertical and still get a full view of the bow. If I cant the bow to match the "leaning" angle it seems to get better.
 If I had gone ahead and tillered the bow using the mirror I would have ruined the bow.

[Stick Bender]

I have a full length mirror mounted on a closet door that I use for quick reference but, I also use video for the most part & freeze framing but a real plus is you can email to friends for opinions and easy to spot minor diferenses !

[DC]

OK don't use a cheap mirror. Or at least check it with a straight edge or plumb bob. This is a picture of the reflection. The rod I'm holding in the picture is dead straight, the reflection not so much. Maybe if I screwed the mirror to a flat surface but I don't think it's worth the bother. I'll keep my eyes open for a good mirror. Til then I'll keep on using full draw photos to do my final tiller.

[bradsmith2010]

yes its like when you try to take a picture of something square,, you have to get the camera lined up just right, or it looks out of square,,or distorts the image,, that happens alot with bow pictures,,, the image is distorted and not a true representation of the tiller,, Im sure the primitive guys just had someone draw the bow for them,, and I think that method is probably still the best,, just not as convenient,,

[bradsmith2010]

take a picture of that with the camera ,, and see if it looks straight

[DC]

You mean take a picture of the picture?

[bradsmith2010]

no of the straight edge,, to see if there is any distortion with the camera lens

[DC]

Nope, not the camera