need some design/tiller help

[stuckinthemud]

Hi Guys,
I'm feeling a little bit out of my comfort zone with this one.  It's a pretty characterful blackthorn stave I've roughed out and got to floor tiller, tips moving just a couple of inches.  Its a 3" wide sapling and very highly crowned and so is a hollow limb design. I was going to use molly-style levers but the stave is bent sideways like a banana, currently string alignment is 1/4 outside the handle so several heating sessions will be in order, I think.  I haven't cut the tip profiles yet as I want to see how well the stave straightens up, tips will more or less line up with the back of the handle, but I was thinking of flipping them a little bit.  All advice, including build sequence is very welcome.


unbraced profile


long string

[razorsharptokill]

Don't see the pics?

[stuckinthemud]

oh, sorry, they are showing up on my screen; anyone else having problems?

[Del the cat]

I see the pics....
Keep it simple, so I'd avoid molle levers etc... with a character stave try to use as much bending limb as possible for minimum stress.
They are easy enough to blow up, without making it difficult.... you can always flip the tips and do fancy stuff later.
You don't give us length, target draw weight/length etc...  c'mon dude
Del

[stuckinthemud]

Ok, fair enough, draw length 27", target weight 45lb, stave design length 64" althougj its 66" at the mo, stiff handle, 3" long fades at the moment,

[SLIMBOB]

Agree with Del. String alignment on a straight flat bow is not critical. String alignment on a lever bow IS critical.

[bownarra]

On character staves don't reduce the handle width any narrower than the limb width . Floor tiller and get to a low brace height without touching the handle area apart from the thickness fade into the handle. Once it is braced you then simply shape the handle to where the string bisects it. Having the limbs slightly squint to bring the string 'into' the handle is generally fine.
On this one watch the kinky fade on the left limb and the twist mid limb right limb. I know you said you were thiking about a molly but I'd go with Del's advice on this one. Both mid limbs to tips are stiff. Blackthorn is amazing wood by the way and loves a mild heat treatment. The few staves I've worked with just didn't want to take any set

[stuckinthemud]

Thanks for the tip about handle width, I'll definitely give that a go next time but the first thing I did on this project was cut in the handle as I thought it would help with straightening the stave