Some stoneage (pre-contact) NA bows (not bom)

[George Tsoukalas]

Excellent bows and very well done. Jawge

[TRACY]

Great looking weapons and craftsmanship Half Eye.

Tracy

[Grunt]

absolutely fantastic!!!   Man, I got to start shrinking the length of my D bows. Thanks for posting, inspirational to say the least. 

[Frode]

Amazing work, Rich!  Ever considered making a stone tool bow build a long?  I'd be there for sure!
Frode

[bowkee]

Very impressive bows, I would pic those bone points any day, they go through wood really well also.

[Del the cat]

Great stuff as always.
One day I'd like to go into the woods with just stoneage tools and make a bow from scratch. Dunno if I'll ever do it, the saw and steel axe are a bit too tempting.

Del

[gothmog]

Excellent work my friend.  You truly are an amazing bowyer.

[NTD]

Rich,
Incredible work man.  As much as I've come to like the laminates and R/Ds and stuff it's nice to see some real primitive bows.  I do have a question though.  Your bows seem to do a LOT of work in the middle of the bow and don't seem to bend much in the mid limbs.  Is there a reason for that?  Have you found advantages to that tiller style?

[aznboi3644]

I have noticed that too, NTD.  But I see a normal amount of set and no chrysals or signs of overstress.  I like the look of the tiller.

[half eye]

NTD & all,
      I think the pics may just look like that. My rigid handled bows are not really 100% rigid. The grips are more "bulbous" than thick and that makes the fade really gradual. I like to feel the "bend" just barely start at the grip and go out. I also usually make the tips "stiff" even if they are straight.
      I do all my personal tillering "under-tension" and not on a tree. I try to make the bends symetrical in appearance, but also go by "feel" of the draw. What I mean by that is that I like to feel the "weight" even all the way back, right from brace. That's how I get the whole bow to work and get pretty fair draw lengths from shorter length bows.  Maybe a better way to say it is that instead of my limbs bending at the tips and weight and curve progressing toward the handle I like the feel of the bend starting in the whole limb and staying that way all the way back.
      They may not look like it but I do try to get even bends, and a lot of my bows are not "recurves" so the stiff tips are to add some speed to the bow, but the "all at the same time bends" produce excellent "cast" and that is my main concern since most of my bows are for hunting (I want the driving power).
      The only other thing that might make them look funny is I make the limbs even length and tiller for the asymetry of the arrow pass being above true center.
Rich

[NTD]

Thank you Rich.  It must be the way the pics come out or even that the bows are so short    You definitely have an even tiller and you know what you're doing so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.  Thanks again.

[aznboi3644]

Rich you make beautiful bows...I also use no tiller tree just go by feel and draw.  You have skill I hope one day to achieve...I'd be scared making a 48" bow drawing 27 inches lol.

[Parnell]

Sorry I missed this one, too.  You've done some incredible things here Rich.  Thanks for sharing.

[Michael C.]

Great looking bows there, I had a question about what you wrote "I like to feel the "weight" even all the way back, right from brace". Do you mean you pull it back to the full draw length as soon as you get it floor tillered and string it up? I hate to use a tree because you can't take it everywhere and sticks just cheese me off. I would like to figure out how to tiller without one, but then I think about one of the limbs conking me in the gourd and that doesn't sound cool to me. I saw one guy at one of the gatherings looking at his shadow, is that a good way to do it or is there a better one?

[half eye]

Michael,
      That staement was regarding the actual tiller of the limb because some fellas thought I was putting all of the bend at the grip/fades. I tiller the bows' weight and curve profile to be even in the whole limb, not progressive.
       As to the method of tillering, I basically hack & slash till the bow will bend enough to string it with tension.....sometimes the string is nearly flat to the bow sometimes a couple of inches......then I put a 6-8 inch 1x2 between the string and center of the bow and start scraping to even the limb symetry.....when they are symetrical I just keep evenly scraping to increase the draw length and draw weight to suit the purpose. At a certain point the 6-8" stick wants to fall out so go to a 12-16 incher and start the process all over again. When that second 1x2 is getting loose I will remove it and short draw the bow to get a feel for its weight and wether or not it's pulling smoothly.
       At this point I go to a 1x2 thats about 24" long and start over again. If your draw is a pretty basic 26 to 28 this will be your last stick....if you are making 30+ inch draw bows you will ahve to go one stick bigger.

       After you install one of the sticks, I place the bow with one end against a solid object (mop board, wall, tree....whatever) and the other end I push into with my pants belt (about at the hip) Then simply scrape "X" amount of times....reverse the bow and do the same to the other limb ( usually 20 scrapes per limb is necessary to see noticable changes ). When your finished with both limbs hold the bow at arms length and "eye-ball" for symetry....if it's good then repeat step one, if not then scrape the offending area and then go back to doing both limbs.

       By tillering under tension I feel that I get a truer picture of the tiller.....and the bow is not constantly being flexed, relaxed flexed etc. ( with tiller trees....your told to "excercise the bow after scraping before going on) well the stick and string does away with all that.....this way also tends to stop ya from pulling too far too soon and producing set or breakage....

Anyway , you asked so thats how and why I do it this way.....added bonus is that you can tiller anywhere, and do so properly.
Rich