First bow early tiller

[Allyn T]

Ok I'm finally tillering my bow, I know this is very early in the process but I don't want to mess it up so. The first pic is unbraced and the second is long string drawn to about 9 inches. Pyramid front view shape. I think I should keep reducing mid to inners for now and get them bending more does that seem right?

[bentstick54]

Give us some more info. What type of wood is it? What are your width dimensions at widest point of the fades? Straight taper to the tips? How wide at the tips? What is the length going to be? What weight are you trying for?

If it is a pyramid design your limb thickness should be very close to the same for the entire limb. There can always be a little variance due to the properties of the wood, knots etc. Looking at your photos, if the tips line up through the center of the handle, I would start by cleaning up the edges before reducing the limbs any more in thickness. I like to get mine close to final sanding and ease the edges of the back the full length to reduce the risk of splintering, the proceed with thickness tillering.

I would shorten your long string to where it will just go on the ends of the bow with as little slack as possible. This will show the limb bending better due to the string angle.  If you don’t have a tillering gizmo designed by Eric Krewson, look it up and make one. It can be a life saver.

Take your time and good luck. Once you’ve taken wood off, you can’t put it back on.

[Allyn T]

Bentstick it is a hickory stave, 3 inch wide at fades 1/4 at tips, 64" ttt. I'm looking for 50-55 at 32"

[Allyn T]

Oh and limb thickness is pretty even at about 9/16

[Eric Krewson]

Yep a gizmo will tell you a lot.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,61422.0.html

[HH~]

If thats any kind of good hickory and seasoned you can run a carpenter line down edge and rasp to 1/2" right now. Has this been floor tillered? Looks aweful heavy.

HH~

[Allyn T]

So I'm not sure how much bend you try to get in floor tiller but I considered it floor tillered. It was cut in February and is at about 8% moisture content, pulls about 37 lbs at 9" I have no idea if it's "good" hickory it looks good to me. Growth rings are tight but it's an old growth tree, early to late wood ratio seems good.

[Pat B]

Unless it is rotten it is good hickory.
 At floor tiller you look down the limb to see if it is bending evenly. By doing only one limb at a time you can't really tell if the limbs are bending together so trying to achieve a good bend in each limb initially it makes less work later.
 Be sure to exercise the limbs well with short pulls initially then increase as the tillering progresses. IMO, exercising is a very important step to use throughout the tillering process.

[bentstick54]

Allan, not to confuse the issue but if your response with your measurements was to my initial post, I am not bownara. I wish I had his experience but I am an amateur in comparison. I have not worked with hickory yet, but 32” draw out of a 64” length with a stiff handle seems to be a tall order. Hopefully someone with more experience with hickory can give you some better advice.

[Allyn T]

Bentstick it was early morning in a drive through when I read that lol I corrected my response to you : ) as far as measurements go I think it's possible.  Pat what do you think about this initial bend it looks decent to me but I don't wanna take wood off in the wrong spots. I don't see any hinges yet and I'm going for arc of the circle tiller so should I just continue to take wood off the entire length?

[mmattockx]

So I'm not sure how much bend you try to get in floor tiller but I considered it floor tillered.

I don't floor tiller as such because I do board bows and cut them very close to finished dimensions before bending them at all, but you should be able to easily bend the limb enough to move the tip 6-8" behind the handle. If it is physically hard to do this (for a 50lb draw weight) then you have way too much wood remaining.

I agree with bentstick54, asking for a 32" draw length from a stiff handled 64" ttt bow is a very big ask. Even a great piece of hickory is going to be hard pressed to manage that much bend.


Mark

[Pat B]

Your initial bend looks pretty good but it is still too early to tell. Do take off long scrapes until it begins to bend more. That way you shouldn't get hinges. Being a pyramid with even thickness the face profile should allow it to bend evenly.
I do agree with the others that 54" is mighty short for 32" draw, 64" would be pushing it at that draw.  Is your draw with a stick bow actually 32"?

[Allyn T]

Well the bow is already cut and shaped so 64" it is. I definitely don't think I can move the tip back 6-8 inches behind the handle yet.

[Allyn T]

Pat the bow is 64" and this is my first bow so I'm gonna check the draw length as I go and see what I like but my draw on a compound with a release is 31.5 so it's prolly close

[PatM]

Your draw will shorten.