How do you secure a bow in the tillering tree?

[Kidder]

I don’t hold the bow down in the cradle - I let it sit lose so that it can rock as drawn and I can better sense positive/negative tiller. But ive found the best way for me to tiller is to get the bow to about 22” on the tree or rack and then hand tiller it from there by drawing by hand and taking pictures and using that.

[Eric Krewson]

Here is the setup Clay changed to, at about 16 minutes into the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26GxYSfvZx0&list=UULF-eicAkiRdGLguiS1dS_N9Q&t=983s

[Hamish]

Eric, I like Clay's set up, but I have some theoretical issues, though I don't know if they are significant enough to dramatically affect the end result negatively. It would be hard to argue that he doesn't make awesome bows, it doesn't seem to radically change the final result.

The balance point on the tree is directly underneath the centre of the handle , and inline with the rope pull. The pulling point on the string is the centre, which corresponds to a 3under draw, which Clay uses. However, when he cuts his shaped handle at the end of tillering, I would think that this takes the balance point off centre and pushes it up higher, where the thumb rests.

[Eric Krewson]

I have always done my bow tillering with my bow centered on the tree and pulling straight down like Clay does. I do the final tillering off the tree during shoot in, a little scrape here and there, shoot the bow, see how it feels. I always put an arrow rest on my bows and tiller to the rest. I shoot split finger and usually end up with somewhere around 1/8"-1/4" positive tiller on the top limb.

I use a gizmo to about 20" then adjust the bend in the fades and leave the last 6" of the limbs stiff. If I have a perfect arc on the limbs at 20" the rest is usually just dropping poundage while keeping this arc. I do gizmo checks along the way to make sure I don't leave the slightest stiff spot.

After a bunch of bows I can eyeball the tiller pretty well and see any anomalies when I put it on the tree.

We all do this stuff a little differently depending on how we started out making bows. There is no right or wrong if the outcome is a well tillered, good shooting bow.

[superdav95]

I have always done my bow tillering with my bow centered on the tree and pulling straight down like Clay does. I do the final tillering off the tree during shoot in, a little scrape here and there, shoot the bow, see how it feels. I always put an arrow rest on my bows and tiller to the rest. I shoot split finger and usually end up with somewhere around 1/8"-1/4" positive tiller on the top limb.

I use a gizmo to about 20" then adjust the bend in the fades and leave the last 6" of the limbs stiff. If I have a perfect arc on the limbs at 20" the rest is usually just dropping poundage while keeping this arc. I do gizmo checks along the way to make sure I don't leave the slightest stiff spot.

After a bunch of bows I can eyeball the tiller pretty well and see any anomalies when I put it on the tree.

We all do this stuff a little differently depending on how we started out making bows. There is no right or wrong if the outcome is a well tillered, good shooting bow.

Well put.  I do very similar to this.  Like you I do little scrape here or there to address issues while shooting in with pocket knife or card scraper.  Sometimes I find with yew I’ll use sandpaper instead as it’s quite soft and very prone to chatter marks some some 100-150 grit works well.  Little dusting when shooting in but works for me.