First Bow, requesting tillering support

[Eric Krewson]

I can see a need for a tillering gizmo, here is a how to link;
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,61422.0.html

[SLIMBOB]

I personally think your ok with 2 inches wide. If it is parallel limb to mid limb, meaning 2” wide at the fade, and holding that 2 inches to mid limb before it tapers...if it were mine, I would slightly taper, maybe 1/8 or 1/4 inch from fade to mid-limb. It will be a bit more efficient I believe. But that is your call.

[Deerhunter21]

Slimbob!!! its been a while!! Its good to see you!!!

[bradsmith2010]

the wider limbs do become more sensative to wood removal,, and can make tillering more challenging,, you should be able to get plenty of weight with 1 3/4 wide limbs,,

[RyanY]

The dimensions are dependent on multiple factors. If you make two bows of the same species, length, draw length, draw weight, and they only differ in width, then the wider one will be thinner. If you have two bows of the same species, length, draw length, and you want a higher draw weight in one then thickness will (or can) be the same for both but the heavier one will need to be wider (all things optimized). 2" wide may or may not be wide depending on the wood species or design. For good performance, generally speaking, we want our bows to be as thick as possible without taking set as this will result in the lowest mass cross section. Even across most wood species, if built to the same working limb length, draw length, and limb taper style, the thicknesses will be very close. Exceptions would be more elastic woods like yew or ERC.

[SLIMBOB]

Hey Deerhunter!  Been around, just busy. Good to hear from you.

[bradsmith2010]

getting the limbs to work evenly,, is more important than how wide it is,, especially on his first bow,
you can see the inners are taking set,, possibly that is how the stave was shaped, but it seems like that,,
tapering the limbs would help get the limbs bending,,the Paul model is great, just a bit more challenging for a first bow,,
also I would not worry about trying to get a specific weight on your first bow,, just get one that is bending even and shoots well,, you can get more specific on your design as your experience level increases,, make a bow that shoots, then proceed,,with more specific intent,,

[SLIMBOB]

I agree with all of that.

[SLIMBOB]

So, I will assume you are putting in to action some of the things discussed earlier. Or perhaps you have left it all in the shop and decided to just think about things for a bit. I find the latter really beneficial, in that after a pause, I come back to the problem with a refreshed set of eyes, and a renewed spirit. Either way, I have a suggestion or two. Take a heat gun, and temper the belly. Before you do that, straighten out the set in the inner limbs, and toast it with it just past straight. Just a tad of set back. That should give you back a little muscle on this one. Do that before you put much more stress on the inner limbs. Once done, shorten your long string up snug to the belly. You have “0” inch brace height, with a tighter string. Your tiller profile will read more true. Tug on it an inch or so and use the straight edge to determine where to remove wood. Now just keep tightening the string up as you progress. 1 inch BH, 2 inch Bh etc..  don’t touch the inner limbs at all for a good while!  Brad was right. The draw weight at this point should be of secondary concern. Perfect tiller is the goal, and the weight is what it is. The tempering and straightening will help with that.

[George Tsoukalas]

Looks like mid limb and toward the nocks needs to bend. Remove wood and test on the long string.

Let the stave tell you the width needed. So what I do is if I find the limbs do not respond to wood removal I begin to slowly narrow them especially for the mid limb toward the nocks area.
Jawge