Author Topic: newbie starting tillering  (Read 3609 times)

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Offline larze_fat

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newbie starting tillering
« on: October 12, 2009, 10:30:18 am »
Hello I was just wondering if you have any ideas on tips, jigs, and tools that I could use to make this process any easier. Thanks

Offline bigcountry

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Re: newbie starting tillering
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2009, 11:21:43 am »
I think I have tried them all.  The "gizmo" or "walkietalkie" as some call em, is about as good as it gets.  Other than that, practice.  I sit here and study every picture I see where someone asks for help.  And then wait til others can comment on it.  And kinda see if I see the same thing.

I also use a grid chart and digital camera. 
Westminster, MD

eorr

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Re: newbie starting tillering
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2009, 12:04:30 pm »

Offline larze_fat

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Re: newbie starting tillering
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2009, 01:06:30 pm »
I might be over thinking this but what is the walkie talkie you are talking about.

Offline Postman

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Re: newbie starting tillering
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2009, 09:50:52 am »
It's on here somewhere, too. Just a 5" flat rectangular chunk of wood with a hole in the center. pencil thru hole marks spots that need more scraping when you run it down a bent limb. get fancy and put a nut inside to hold the pencil ( I like crayons, they mash in the hole better and show up better) You can also flip a credit card on it's edge and eye ball it as you run it down the limb. good luick,and mark and avoid your hinges!
"Leave the gun....Take the cannoli"

John Poster -  Western VA

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: newbie starting tillering
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2009, 10:38:11 am »

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: newbie starting tillering
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2009, 10:48:57 am »
Don't know if this will work but I will try to copy and paste the entire instruction sheet for using the gizmo.

USING THE TILLERING GIZMO


After floor tillering your bow, bend the bow slightly on your tillering tree or tillering stick using the long string. Retract the pencil in the Gizmo and run the wood block up the bow’s belly and find the widest gap. Screw the pencil in the block to a point it is almost touching the bow’s belly at the point where you found the widest gap. I change the angle the pencil has been sharpened to a very short angle and sand the tip of the pencil flat for the best results in marking the limb. This lets you work very slight bends.

 Run the Gizmo up the belly making sure it is centered on the limb. The
pencil will mark non bending areas that need wood removed. Always check the entire limb with the gizmo every time you use it and scrape wood from all the stiff spots at the same time, not one stiff spot at a time.  Start on the long string, continue at brace and up to about 20” of draw. You do need to have a way to hold your bow string while you mark the limbs with the Gizmo.                                                                                                                                           

I have holes in my tillering tree and insert a 3” piece of dowel in one of the holes to hold the string with the limbs slightly bent while I mark the limbs with the gizmo.

 

                          Go slow, no more than ten scrapes on the marked areas of the limb, flex the limb 30 times and recheck. You can get the limb bending perfectly this way. You will still have to eyeball bending in the fades but the rest of the limb will be perfectly tillered. Hinges will be a thing of the past.

 Make a few passes with the gizmo on your limb and the areas that need attention will be perfectly obvious. You can fine tune the tillering by closing the gap between the pencil and limb to almost nothing. At this point I like to use a cheap orbital sander to remove both wood and any tool marks that are left. With course sand paper, the sander will leave tiny swirls in the wood so I like 220 grit for my final tillering work and follow with a light hand sanding.

The gizmo doesn’t work in the fade out area of the riser so you will have to eyeball the bend in this area or put a flat board across the back of the bow in your tillering tree and watch the gap between the back of the bow and the board to see where the limb is bending.   

Tillering that once took me hours to get close  takes me about 45 minutes with the Gizmo and the end result is close to perfect.

Remember the key thing to remember for proper tillering is using a scraper or sand paper and work slowly, only scrap off your pencil marks, flex the bow and recheck. I often make a zig-zag pencil mark from one side of the limb to the other over the gizmo’s pencil mark to make sure I remove equally from one edge of the limb to the other.

 If you ever get the urge to grab a course rasp or use a belt sander to speed things up even more, take a coffee break and come back when these thoughts have passed.

No pictures but the text came through.

Offline larze_fat

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Re: newbie starting tillering
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2009, 01:24:54 pm »
Thats what I kinda figured the gizmo was but I wanted to make sure. And I no this is going to be a stupid question but how do you do floor tillering?

Offline Postman

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Re: newbie starting tillering
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2009, 11:50:04 am »
Floor tillering:basically, you are bending the stave by hand without a tillering rig.

Hold the top of a limb in your right hand (unless you're lefty) the handle with your other and place the other limb on the floor.
Next, bend the stave carefully,pushing down on the handle a bit , and pulling with your right hand, using the floor to bend the bottom limb . Now you are  checking to see how evenly it bends. Then you flip the bow,  do the other limb checking for even bending and to  see if they are similar in strength.
"Leave the gun....Take the cannoli"

John Poster -  Western VA

Offline George Tsoukalas

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Re: newbie starting tillering
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2009, 10:10:54 am »
Set Happens!
If you ain't breakin' you ain't makin!