Question about growth ring from handle to limb

[OTDEAN]

Hi all 

I regularly make flatbows and am trying to figure out how to make the growth rings on the belly side from handle, through fade onto limb look even as it tapers in thickness quickly from handle to limb via the fade. 

My bows are normally functional and shoot OK but I have always wondered if on side of my handle and fade my bows are  perhaps to thick on side and that is why the growth ring is not even on the belly sometimes. 

I know knots can affect how the growth ring looks on the limb.  I just wondered if I remove wood from the side of the handle leading into the dip and then limb would this perhaps make the growth rings move from that side and back into the centre to give a more aesthetically pleasing look? 

Any advice would be grand.

Dean  :

[Pat B]

When you are working with tree staves the rings are rarely the same thickness and are rarely consistent from side to side. Concentrate more on the way the limbs bend, how the transition between the handle and fades relate to the bending limb and how the limbs line up.
 When I started making bows some of the books I read said to keep the grain "flames" even and centered to get a straight well tillered limb. The more bows I've made the more I realized that that route would not always yield a well tillered bow.  Now I concentrate on the shape of the limb, the smoothness between the transition of the fades to the limbs and whether he limbs are bending evenly and together.

[OTDEAN]

Hi Pat,

Thanks for the advice. I only use tree wood I have seasoned myself so I hear what you are saying about funky wood.  I don't use the feathering on the belly as a guide to tiller like you said, I agree its very misleading and its more about the bend etc.. I just see bows on here and everyone seems to have perfect feathering from handle to limb through the fade.  Just wondered if I was doing something wrong having the growth ring on one side of the limb or the other even when I know that both sides are the same thickness!.

Cheers
Dean

[SLIMBOB]

I agree with Pat. Lots of variance in ring thickness to consider and an even thickness taper is the goal, not what the rings might say at the fade or anywhere else along the limb. Now having said that, your limb width is typically less than 2 inches at the fade. The ring thickness CAN be different one edge to the other, but often it won't be. Check your thickness at the shoulder of the fade on both edges (beginning of the limb). If the thickness is the same on both edges, then it is right. The feathering might look off. You may also find that your thicknesses are slightly different, and by adjusting that, the feathering looks cleaner.