Tillering out inner limbs or outer limbs first

[Morgan]

I don’t know if it is as simple as what is bending first. As was stated earlier, the inner limbs move first naturally unless you remove to get the outer moving as much or a little more. Say you rough out a D bow stave to ~3/4” thickness end to end for quick drying. If you put that stave on the tree when dry as is and pull till it bends, it will only bend in the center section. If you want the bend to be even, you have to reduce the outers more from the get go. The first several D bows I made bent too much in the middle and had too much outer mass because of this and took set there. When I floor or long string tiller, I do not remove any wood from the inner at all after rough out till I see the outer 1/3 starting to move, then I try to match the bend from there.

[scp]

I do most of my tillering with a scraper. First I decide on the front profile and cut it out with a band saw. Then I decide the minimum and maximum thickness of the working limbs and cut them to the maximum thickness that is usually 3/4 inch. Then I usually cut the middle half, 14 to18 inches, to a little more than the minimum that is usually 1/2 inch in thickness. This size is adjusted according to the front profile. I mostly make light weight bows around 35 pounds. Then I start bending the stave to see where to scrape. I guess that means I start in the middle of the working limb.

I usually leave alone the innermost 4 inches near the fade. I also leave alone the outermost 6 inches at the tip, for the time being. That means I usually have less than 18 inches in the middle to start scraping. Once I have the stave floor tillered that way, I start to use long even strokes of scraping, covering almost the whole working limb, moving up and down several inches as necessary. I am no expert. This is just the way I work in most cases.

[Nasr]

The thing with going by thickness taper is that the more the front profile tapers like a pyramid the less it tapers in thickness. Same with a bow that tapers. I’ve gotten limbs that bend more towards the tips. But all that aside with all the thickness taper let’s assume for a second you get a bow to the dimensions you want and when you go to the tiller tree and you start pulling it and it doesn’t bend through the limb as you thought would you want to first start correcting by removing from the tips first or from the fade. Maybe this isn’t an important question but I was wondering if one way would be better then another in terms of avoiding set and or breakage.

[Nasr]

I incorrectly thought a limb bending more in the mid to inner limb would me mean less set as there would be more wood there to prevent it from taking set so easily. But of course if it does take set then It’s a problem because of where the set takes place will be amplified at the tips.

[scp]

I might add, be patient. Always look at the whole side profile and use long even strokes, even when you are trying to fix a localized issue. Just mark the too stiff part with pencil and remove the mark using long strokes of scraping or sanding. You will naturally push down harder at the marked stiff part. Don't forget to exercise the bow after several strokes. That's why I often scrape while the bow is strung. I even modified my tillering tree so that I can scrape on the belly while the bow is in it.

[bownarra]

In out in out shake it all about
No way would I intentional have an area stiff at any point in tillering. You should get the whole limb bending with perfect taper established as the first primary step after width profile is somewhere near. After all a bow is a bit of wood with a good taper either width or thickness or a combination of the two.
Any other way than spreading the load is a bad idea.

[Selfbowman]

Sounds like a lot of different ways to skin the cat. I am interested in all that’s been said though. Arvin

[Marc St Louis]

I get the inner and mid limbs bending first

[Nasr]

I get the inner and mid limbs bending first

Marc do you tiller that way for a specific reason? Is there a benefit to that approach?

[bjrogg]

I get the inner and mid limbs bending first

Well whatever your doing sure is working Marc. I would like to watch you tiller a bow. Especially one with lots of reflex.

Bjrogg

[HH~]

Im with Marc on heavy reflex or static getting that type to flex mid to inner first. This way i feel they can be tilled consistantly inside out.

Dont like to get up near inner so early but they have to flex some there anyhow and work you way to outter. Works on the recurves I have done.

HH~

[Nasr]

It’s something I have done reflex tips or not but like I’ve said I thought that because always seem to end up with stiff tips i though I would switch it up and tiller from tip inward. I feel like when I say this people are getting the idea that I am really flexing the limbs to the weight they will end up with but that’s not what I mean .I know that when I do get inner to mid limbs flexing first it helps me see the bend more but I am noticing with getting the first 1/3 of the limb bending first it’s not as easy for my Like my eyes play tricks on me and I feel stuck on how to proceed.

[Nasr]

Also to be honest I have always admired Marcs bows like so many people here and the fact that is how he does it too makes me feel like changing the way I do things was a wrong move. Especially because I am struggling with this shorty at the moment.