I'm helping a friend make his first bow so I gave him a piece of hackberry to work on as it is my most plentiful wood. I figured while he was working on his I would make one too. He's not done with his yet but if I'm proud of his work I'll post it
![Wink ;)](http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
He's miles ahead of when I first started...miles.
I call it the "popcorn shorty" cause of the wonderful odor of hackberry.
Okay, this bow is 41" long and I'm drawing out to probably 19" or maybe just shy of. I wanted as heavy a draw as I could so once I got it braced I just tillered it out to where I thought felt good. It's probably in the #40 range. I'd say 50 but then I'd get called a liar
![Evil >:D](http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/Smileys/default/evil.gif)
The whole idea with this bow was to tiller it totally based off of how it felt. When you draw a poorly tillered bow you can feel where it's not bending. I would just draw until I felt an area that wasn't bending then scraped some wood and drew again until everything felt smooth. I don't think the tiller is perfect but it feels good and as I practice tillering like this I think my bows will begin to approach a perfect tiller. The lower limb has some deflex and that always messes with my head. That's what I like about instinct tillering is that you don't have to worry about how it looks. It's about how it feels.
I took pictures as I drew to see where the wood wasn't working. My camera shoots ten shots in a second so I can get the draw in motion almost.
![](https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10395829_310092502480638_6117078478366850658_n.jpg)
![](https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t1.0-9/10403495_310092459147309_5793763098545151618_n.jpg)
![](https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/1380046_310092552480633_6884181337535310816_n.jpg)
![](https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10407970_310092585813963_6902858375304693392_n.jpg?oh=634937471b59506252890e2c44dd8ee8&oe=53EFBC48)
![](https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t1.0-9/10416983_310092679147287_6550306586308400280_n.jpg)
Side profile. Note the twist in the lower limb
![](https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10305605_310092845813937_3619223916725559719_n.jpg)
Back profile
![](https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/1604414_310092909147264_4395804184759282523_n.jpg)
Always with a side-nock
![](https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10442914_310092869147268_8332170723029136355_n.jpg)
![](https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10417736_310092912480597_7992397016878487271_n.jpg)
You can really see that deflex in this shot.
![](https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/10416592_310092955813926_5550667774338900684_n.jpg)