first R/d bow how does this tiller look?

[Jesse]

good advice thanks.
My neighbor is building a bow exactly like mine except he changed the taper on his a little.Well anyway he came over today so I could show him how to tiller. I tillered mine with a leatherman multitool. it took me hours and hours and hours. We used a hand held belt sander clamped upsidedown with the triger locked on his and it took about an hour. live and learn I gues. Although I kind of like doing things the hard way. You get more satisfaction. I will try to post it when its done.

[Jesse]

Here is  my bow all finished with a handle wrap and final seal. I took it to the range today and shot it through one of those speed checkers. I used 2018 30"long with 125gr. point. they shot 167 feet per second. I don't know if thats good or not but it sure seemed real fast. after lots of shooting the bow didn't change a bit.

[a finnish native]

Thats some mighty fine work! I was thinkin on putting beaver on that arrow rest( I stopped using plain arrow rests when hunting for roe deer. I had stalked within 15 yards and then the arrow clicked to the rest. of coouse the deer heard it and escaped) , but that looks good too. and yes 167 fps is good for a wooden bow. that huntingbow of mine shoots 165 and that's more than enough for hunting.
how much go your arrows weigh?

[Jesse]

I don't have a scale so I'm not sure  they are aluminum just because I don't have any wood ones right now.  They are designed for a 60# longbow Easton 2018 shafts 30" long with 125grain points. Anyone want to take a guess how much those weigh?

[Jesse]

I posted these pics on the first page after I saw you can vote on it. Wow that would be crazy. I dont thik I have much chance next to some of those fine bows.

[Rich Saffold]

That bow is sweet! I can't believe I missed this thread! For your first r/d bow your tiller looks great!  On these bows I go a lot by feel as well as how the tiller "looks".. A small bench sander with a 40 grit belt is my favorite too to get the limbs bending on these bows, and then I use a scraper and/ or a little sandpaper on the last bit of tillering..

What makes these bows "special" is how well they keep their profile, and speed..Rick Tatum shot my 5 year old 60#r/d ipe boo through the chrono recently with a 630 gr. arrow at 195fps. your bow is shooting fast, and may even go faster as the wood cures more and if the humidity drops.

 It's good to see more midwest bowyers using this wood  since more than a few regional "well known" bowyers  were trashing the woods performance capabilities since they don't sell the wood, don't like anything competing with their fabled "osage". Heck I like osage, but I also like unbiased objectivity .. Having wrote the original article about Ipe in PA, I naturally have heard a bit more of this kind of talk...

Ipe burnished is quite waterproof on its own, but often on hunting bows all it use is mineral oil rubbed in..Bamboo skin is pretty water tight too, so just the sides of the boo are succeptable for moisture..sometimes over this I like glossy waterbased polyurethane applied with a sponge brush with a light sanding between coats..Take the pretty picture, then rub it with steel wool a touch and use a good wax..then you can take the bow swimming with you..

Again congratulations on a great job, and if you ever make more of these bows, you might like using black bamboo..very camoflauged.

Rich  Vol 7 issue 2 "lumberyard Gem"

[Jesse]

Thanks. for the comments. I am impressed with ipe. I don't know how accurate that crono thing was the guy said the batteries were almost dead. heh heh I guess it doesn't matter  much what the machine says anyway. Its fast and I am very happy. Ive been showing off this bow to anyone who will look at it.

[Rich Saffold]

Ya chrono shooting can be like flight shooting where a quick release gets you another 10 fps..and I don't place too much into it having owned a chrono for years, the only numbers I mention are when someone  like Rick or Steve shoot my bow with appropriate arrows, and there are plenty of folks watching..and speed is nothing if the accuracy isn't there..

I'm sure your bow will impress a few folks I love its lines!

Rich

[Badger]

Richard, I believe that the 195 was a bad reading or a lighter arrow. I shot several shots through it and didnt approach that kind of speed. The bow was good but that would be supernatural. Steve

[Rich Saffold]

Rick Tatum shot it at the last pasadena gathering, with a 630gr. and 30" drawlength..I know last year on several arrows you shot through 187 was the top speed. The bow had been in much lower humidity this time around as well..and the tips are a hair lighter since I changed the overlays and trimmed them down a bit. Perhaps the readings were off, you got 185 out of the guava bow in that same time frame..

Rich

[Pat B]

The Ferret's Floppy Rest is an good option for a rest and strike plate. It will protect your hand from the fletchings and is simple and easy to install and use.   Pat

ps. JD, I used to use 0000 steel wool to remove the shine from Tru-Oil finish but found that everywhere the bow rubbed against my cloths, the shine would reappear. That's why I started using spray satin poly to cut the shine.

[Badger]

At 30" it could have been, I think I was drawing 28". What is the draw weight at 30"? Steve

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

2018 with 125gr points should come out at about 550gr, 167fps sounds great to me ,

[Jesse]

Thanks for the calculation.

[Rich Saffold]

Steve,It's around 66#+- a couple depending on the dryness.At Chamberlin last year the rh was around 80% since it had been raining, and I measured the bow on Ken's tiller tree just before you shot it and it measure 6o0@28" which I thought was a bit light.The other subtle differences with this bow I have learned that I should do more often is using a little more crown across the 1" wide limb, and  using the thicker (3/16") trapped bamboo. The middle 16" is rigid as well so over a 67"ntn its just 51" of working limbs..