Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Arrowbuster on June 13, 2016, 08:31:31 pm
-
Working on my 2nd hopefully successful bow. I backed her with bamboo and the wood is Osage. I'm thinking I need to take some more off the right hand side like the last 2/3s what say you guys?
-
Don't pull it that far untill you address those hinges. The right limb is doing most of the bendind just out of the fade, a little farther out on the left and maybe in the outer third do you have a unbraced pic I'm assuming it isn't a r/d
-
It is slight r/d I will take a pic and post.
-
Unbraced
-
Well, most of the bend is within the fades, now stop tillering the fade outs and start scraping the 2/3's to the tips, you Will want to seek an even taper from the fades to the tips (which will be left slightly stiff) , creating an even bend throughout the whole limb.
-
Ok I see that now . The only good thing about this is I'm still way heavy, I'd say the bow is 75 pounds or so. Wow that boo adds some weight.
-
Be careful - there isn't much wood to come off to lower the weight even if it were 75# @ full draw. Now more than ever you need to finesse the wood off.
-
What was said above, stay off the fads, I always save the fads till last for that reason, takes a lot to catch them up if they get ahead. :)
Pappy
-
Pappy, for future reference, when you say you do your fades last. Do you mean you just rough them down a little then work the limbs then go back to them once limbs are even? I'm sorry for the silly questions but I'm still a pup when it comes to the bow making game.
-
Yes, I may work them a little but not much until I get the rest of the limb working and then in the last
few inches of draw ,I probably start working them more at about 20inches or so I start working them, it is so easy to get them moving to much to fast and any set there really multiplies at the tips. I don't let them get no attention just not as much as mid limb, I do the same with the lasts 6 inches or so toward the tips. :) Easy to get a whip tiller if you work the outer 1/3 to early also. Once that happened on either end it takes a lot to catch the mid back up. :)
Pappy
-
I make sure that the tiller is as good as I can get it all the way through the tillering. I hear this a lot about leaving this bit stiff until near the end and it will of course work for some people but if you don't have the 'eye' for that I would recommend getting the whole limb as close to perfect as possible all the way through tillering.
The reason being that if you have any stiff area then you are by necessity putting more strain on the rest of the limb. If you have a weak spot in the area that is working everytime you bend it you are putting more strain than necessary on it or you have to spot it earlier - both things to avoid when learning how to make bows.
I use my vice to get 'floor' tiller perfect before ever putting a string on - that way you will find you aren't chasing your tail.
Making bows is a tricky one really, another paradox....you need perfect tiller to progress but how do you know what that is whilst still learning....
-
Mike, you hit the nail on the head. I know I want to try for perfect tiller but my eyes still don't know what that is. I worked on her some more last night and she is coming around. I'm taking it very slow. I don't want to come in to low of poundage.
-
One thing that helps me tiller is look for the spots that aren't bending, or are bending more than others. If you look at your picture you can see how bending out of fades but everything else stil quite straight. Nobody wants to miss target wieght but your better off getting your tiller good than having poor tillered high draw wieght bow because it will either break or develope set. A good tiller will make bow last and teach you to tiller. It can become a kids bow if if it has to but that's better than broken. Good luck keep going slow at it. I'm speaking from experience I broke my 1st bow not wanting to lower draw wieght when I knew it wasn't properly tillered.
-
Billy,
If your having a hard time seeing the bend or tiller....try using a straight edge (about 6" long) along the belly. I know a lot of people have asked me about using one and it works for me. move the straight edge along the bows belly when the bow is bent. The gap (between the straight edge and belly) will narrow where it needs scraping and it will get wider where you don't.
It does work and it helped me see the areas that need scraping. You want to end up with a consistent gap the length of limb...
Till next time ,
DBar
-
@ArrowBuster , let us know how your tillering goes!
-
I see what your talking about now Bill I will try that tomorrow, pretty slick idea. I worked on her tonight and it's coming along ok. I had one side of limb with a little more meat and was causing a twist. Think I got that taken care of though. Still 15 pounds heavy I'd guess so I got a little room.
-
Straight-edge is a good way to go about it, provided you're starting with a perfectly straight limb and you want circular tiller on the limb (as opposed to more elliptical). The gap would need to gradually increase as you slide toward the tip for more elliptical tiller. You can transition to a credit card (shorter edge) to fine tune.
Another great tool is Eric Krewson's Tillering Gizmo, which you can make in about 15 minutes. Uses a pencil and leaves marks where you need to scrape :)
-
What needs to happen here? I'm thinking work on the fade left side. Or do I give it some relief at right side fade area and get right side outer bending more?
-
I would deal with the greatest threat first - that hinge-like spot just out of fade on the right limb. Of course, wait for more experienced bowyers to chime in, I may be wrong.
-
I agree with Strichev , if I was you I'd start working on the left limb to make it equal to the other and then stop removing wood from the Fades!!
Forget about the fades and scrape off the rest of the non working limb and only BLEND the scrapes in..
Always be careful to not remove too much wood and go past your desired draw weight.
-
First don't draw this bow very far till you get each limb bending evenly.You can see the set coming on your right limb at rest by the fade already.I would get your right limb bending more mid limb and out.Now it'll be the weaker limb of course and you'll have a lot of positive tiller if that's your upper limb.You should see this even at brace.Put a tape at the fades and midlimb of belly to string to each limb to see this.Remove material from your stiffer limb to even up your tiller and each limb bending evenly.Your gonna lose weight because of your hinge on the right limb.Damage is done.Can't change that.
-
After you get limbs bending evenly I would give the whole bow a heat treatment.Tiller it to your draw length then.