Roughing out a stave

[Ryano]

I'm in the process of roughing out 2 right now.  First I cut the profile with the bandsaw leaving it a bit wider than the lines.  Then cut it out for thinckness with the band saw.  All pretty much the same limb thickness but thicker in the handle.  After it's all bandsawed I rasp and scrape to the lines for the profile and mark out the limb thickness taper and rasp and scrape to those marks.  Then floor tiller.

Pretty much the same as me.....

[Keenan]

 Normal method: Rough out a stave, see something else that I like better, go to that one, mess it up as well, then move to another, play with it till I get bored,  :-\then go back to the first one and try to figure out how I could have possibly seen a bow in that piece of wood,  ???and wonder why I cut it and shaped it the way that I did.  >:(Get frustrated put it down and sort through the pile some more,split a few more logs, trim them up on the saw, decide that I better burn some of the scraps. realize my back is aching, shut the shop for the day.  :(Go back out to the shop a week later and wonder who in tarnations cut up my logs and start questioning my son because I know that certainly I could not have made such poor decisions.

[El Destructo]

                     Yep...I know the feeling....... .....The ADHD Bow Making Syndrome

[Badger]

  If I use a bandsaw I do it similar to Parnells method, I draw a line down the growth ring on each side of the stave and hold the bow on an angle to just trim it down that line, I do it on both sides then clean up the middle, from that point I use the draw knife to isolate one ring on the belly. If the growth rings are thin I just get all the v's pointing toward the tips. Steve

[Pappy]

I draw out the profile on the back and cut it out with a band saw close to the lines,then use a carpenters line down the side a little thicker than I think I will need,this will follow the contour of the back then cut it out on a band saw being sure to keep it at an angle so the line you can't see is away from the blade.This will leave a V ridge down the center of the belly.Then a farriers rasp
and scraper from there on. Maybe a 49/50 Nicolas file to rough up where I plan on scraping while tillering. 
   Pappy

[cracker]

I use a heavy survival type knife as a hatchet would be used then save edge hoof rasp draw knife  and scraper made from an old beat up draw knife.

[Tom Leemans]

Aside from the whoopdie doos, going around knots, and straightening things, etc., the dimesions of a given design and desired weight always seem to end up pretty close to the last one ya did, so you may as well get close from the get go, huh? Your going to remove that wood at some point anyway. I go from drawknife and/or band saw to farrier's rasp (an often overlooked and underappreciated tool) to rough out the bow to floor tiller, then take the usual facted tillering approach with scrapers, rasps and bowyer's edge tool. I have always used Dean's tillering method, because that's what I learned when I started out. It works, and it's pretty predictable. I just imagine I'm making a 90# bow before going to long string, so it's bending fairly decent, just heavy for now.

[rileyconcrete]

To start I draw out the Outlines on the back, then I start hacking at it with a sharp hatchet. When I get tired of that I start hacking on the belly. Eventually getting some shape I use a drawknife and a rasp for a little more control.  Once I get is bending a little I will mostly use the rasp from this point until it is time to long string.  Then I will use my trusty old case knife as a scraper for final tillering and rounding the edges.  Seems to work good for me.

Tell

[Badger]

    I probably didn't pose my question right. The thing I was wondering about was not so much how you got to the point of a roughed out stave but where you wanted that stave to be just prior to starting the tillering process. Steve

[Josh]

i get it bending against the floor pretty good before it ever even sees a string...  I floor tiller with a mirror sometimes too.   

[elk country rp]

after floor tillering until everything is bending, i make sure it's fairly smooth & the tapers feel right before i string it. i've been doing more and more work on bows before stringing lately & it seems to be a good habit for me. the last one took very little scraping once i had a string on it. of course, the one before that blew up at 24"......

[Tom Leemans]

That's kinda what I meant when I was talking about taking it to what looks like a 90# bow to me.

[artcher1]

OK, will try again on my part. This is what Comstock wrote in his book "The Bent Stick". "Good tapering produces good tillering".  I reckon my tillering process begins with laying out my limb taper, back and sides, and roughing that out. So I just apply my taper to the stave/board, cut it out, and I have the limb bending properly (or there abouts). It's weight is going to be heavy at this point, so I get the limbs bending the same amount/suitable weight in preporation for the long or short string. Once even tiller is achieved at brace height it's pretty much just weight reduction to final draw.

Comstock also wrote that a consistant taper from handle to tip produces the most durable bow. Words to live by for us bow builders!            ART

[ricktrojanowski]

    I probably didn't pose my question right. The thing I was wondering about was not so much how you got to the point of a roughed out stave but where you wanted that stave to be just prior to starting the tillering process. Steve

I  begin the tillering process when I feel the bow is about 25# or so over my intended draw weight.  That is, 25# over or so when finished floor tillering.  Then I go to a tillering stick with a really long tillering string.  At this point I'm trying to get the bow to a "brace height" of about 4" and getting it to look nice and even with no flat spots.  Then to the tillering tree.

[Pappy]

I get it floor tillered,still pretty stiff but bending even ,and both limbs feeling the same.Then I go to the tiller stick with a string just long enough to go from tip to tip.I work it down the stick an inch at a time working out the stiff spots and staying off the ones that are bending to much till I get the tips out to about 6/8 inches.Another trick as you move down the tiller stick is stretch a string across
from tip to tip and looks like the bow is at low brace.I get it braced as soon as I can and go to the tiller tree. 
   Pappy