Ash bow build ( an experiment in wood torture ) finished tiller

[sleek]

No I dont use oil, never have, and never looked into why it is used. I always use steam and then follow with dry heat.

Another question for those not completely ready to report me for being blatently anoying . I need a bit more bend in the outter limbs to get a more elyptical tiller. O course I could take bore off the belly as I have been doing. I could make it thinner in that area to reduce mass, but I dont want to reduce the area of the back for no other reason than I want the back wide.

So this leads up to what if I did a combination of both, and made the belly start off flat in the inner and mid limbs, then slowly start reducing the corners ( which are rounded off by the way ) into a rounded belly in the outter 1/3 of the limbs? I think that would reduce mass significantly, increase the outer limb bend, keep the back wide ( for safety ), not allow set so far out on the limbs, and make it look neat Any thoughts, Or has anybody seen this combination of a flat belly tapering to  a rounded one tiller before?

[DarkSoul]

I think that would [...] not allow set so far out on the limbs

Set occurs in the BELLY of a bow, not the back. Wood cells get compressed which causes set. Since a rounded belly put more pressure on the belly, this is more likely to take set. A rounded belly actually allows for more set than a flat belly.
In your case, however, the rounded belly will be near the tips. Set is far less devastating near the tips than the fade near the handle. Set near the handle would cause the tips to deflect more (like a lever), effectively creating more string follow. I wouldn't be afraid of the bow taking set in your situation. The bend in the tips should be minimal anyway, so set is even less likely.

The ideal tips are not wide and flat, but narrow and fat. The last four inches of the limbs can easily be 3/8
" wide (=narrow). A round cross section is perfect there. Even classical flatbows with flat bellies usually have rounded limbs for the last 8" or so.

[sleek]

Just after being unstrung she holds 1 3/4 inches of just unstrung set, is 30@ 24" ( leave that last inch of draw for set to take up), weighs 15 1/4 ounces, and most importantly, is in one piece. I will start the shoot in process tomorrow. It involves about 5-10 partial draw ( to get the feel of it ) shots, then 100 full draw shots, chrono speeds, reweighing, and any mild tiller corrections.

That heat treat was intense. It put back down to 30 lbs at 20 inches. I was able to remove allot of mass and make some         ( what I hope) wonderfull tiller corrections on it. Pics up tomorrow of the new tiller. In the meanwhile, here is the tiller immediately following the heat treat.

[sleek]

Darksoul, We posted togeather. The last 4 inches of my tips start out at 3/8 and taper down to 1/8 at the very tip.

I think we were saying the same thing about the set in the outter limbs. Everything you mentioned is exactly why I wanted to round the belly in the last 1/3 of the limbs. I started the belly rounding at 15 inches from the tips, gently getting more rounded as it gets closer to the tips.
 I am not exactly sure what I said gave the impression that I thought a bows back causes set. I know its the collapse of belly fibers, thats why the heat treat was so important. Thanks for your thoughts, they are exactly what I wanted to hear.

[Buckeye Guy]

go shoot it
Guy

[sleek]

I have finished the tiller. Here it is, tell me what yall think? I came in at exactly 30 at 25 inches, me target draw weight and length. All I have left to do now is stain, varnish, and complete the shoot in. By the way, as a lesson to attention to detail, make sure of which end is up before you carve the handle!

[sleek]

Opinions welcome? Or did I drag this out to long?

[mikekeswick]

It's not elliptical!
A picture of it unbraced to see where the set is would be good.
 

[sleek]

Ok, so I thought it was, how would it look if it were eliptical? I thought the circles drawn showed it was? Confused?

[toomanyknots]

@Mike: Isn't elliptical kinda flatish in the middle and a little whippy on the ends? Like, half of an oval, verses half of a circle? I don't know. Sleek, I think your bow is pretty nice lookin. A little bit weak on the upper limb, of course I'm sure you know this. Well done. 

[sleek]

I thought that each limb had to follow the arc of a same size circle? It was my first time trying this and thought it came out good? It holds 1.25 inches of set, bottom limb holds 1 3/4 and top has 1/4 inches. The reason for the difference is one limb, the bottom, has a wave int the grain at the fade pushing the limb into an early deflex. I will take a pick of the sister stave that I ripped off from its side to show later. I just averaged the two limbs set to get what it actually took between the two.

Here are some glamor shots Proud of how the bow came out looking. And in the first photo, that tail is attatched to my husky, not me

[sleek]

Sorry for the over photo post, trying to edit the pics some and screwed up.

[sleek]

Ok, why are my images making me look like a fun house mirror reflection?

Chrono speed with a 270 grain arrow is 140 fps, not fast, but adequate for a target bow.

[dwardo]

Seems to be some auto-dimension sizing going on there bud. Looks like a lovey bow though.

[sleek]

Thanks dwardo. How do I fix this auto make me look fat sizing thing going on?