My First Tiller

[ScottN]

Hello, My name's Scott and am a future master bowyer! Actually not to sure about that last part      

I just registered on this forum but have been looking around as a guest for quite some time. I am 25 and live in NJ. I am new to bow making and am getting into this for hobby/recreation. My interest in general history as well as medieval Europe is my inspiration for making them. Over the past 2 month's I have slowly been gathering all the necessary tools and learning the most I can, and making the needed jigs. Now I have something that is worthy of a post. I am also looking for some critique. I also posted this over at the Tradgang forum's, just trying to reach out to more people!

I have finally made it to the tillering stage. I am making it from a piece of Red Oak that I purchased at Home Depot. I was able to find a piece that had very nice and straight grain so I am going to attempt to complete this build with no backing. Here is my progress so far after some tillering with the long string.

In the first picture, I have the bow pulled down to 20". It still needs work. I can see the right side of the bow is a bit more stiffer than the left. I think it might be time for me to start tillering with a short string?

The middle picture is my bow unpulled. The set on the tips right now are about 7/8" at the bowyer knot, and 6/8" at the flemish knot. Give or take an eigth- the floor I measured on wasnt perfectly level.

The last picture on the right is the back of my wood. Took the best picture I could. Opinions on the grain?

The bow is 67" in length. It used to be 70" but after I finished cutting the nocks, I realized that I did them backwards! So I had to cut 1.5" off each end. My draw length is about 31".

      left click on picture for it to open full size in a new window

[Pappy]

The tiller is looking good to me so far,I don't do board bows so not sure on the grain,I am sure someone will chime in soon on that. :)Welcome,glad to have you on board.
   Pappy

[Del the cat]

Good to have you on board.
Looks like you are about ready for a short string, which will show the tiller better.
Slow and steady and I'm sure you'll be ok. When in doubt stop and post some pics, the guys on here are keen to help out.
Cut the nocks the wrong way?!... I'me sure I've never done such a thing .
Del

[Slackbunny]

Right limb does look a bit stiffer. As far as the short string goes, you should put it on as soon as you can safely bend the bow enough to string it. The long string does not show the true tiller.

[half eye]

Welcome, You are aware that this stuff is adicting, right? I've made a lot of bows from quartersawn "boards" and from what I can see your grain lines are plenty straight enough. Like the others said, get a short string and really watch your tiller from here on out.

I did notice in you "grain" pic the edges still look pretty "sharp" believe you would be well served if you radius those sharp corners and also that you have the back smooth as a baby's butt...that way any wayward stress's wont give you a broke bow while your finish tillering it.

Like pappy said it's lookin real good so far.
rich

[DarkSoul]

You're definately on the right way Scrape the right midlimb a little bit. Literally ten firm scrapes with a sharp scraper. That should pretty much even it out, so you're ready for the short string. The boards looks good. I could've picked that grain myself
I'm not sure about your drawlength...69" for a red oak selfbow is awefully short with your 31" drawlength...Are you sure your true drawlength is 31"? You must have really long arms then!
Be careful that handle doesn't pop off. Keep the fades stiff. Please let me know if you don't know what I mean with "pop the handle off", so we can explain.

Welcome to Primitive Archer, by the way!

[Adam]

It looks like it's coming along nicely.  It's sure better than my first attempt...

[ScottN]

Thanks for taking a look everyone, really appreciate the feedback =) its encouraging.  Going to take into account what everyone has said so far. Will post some more back here with pictures when I take them.

I'm not sure about your drawlength...69" for a red oak selfbow is awefully short with your 31" drawlength...Are you sure your true drawlength is 31"? You must have really long arms then!
Be careful that handle doesn't pop off. Keep the fades stiff. Please let me know if you don't know what I mean with "pop the handle off", so we can explain.
Welcome to Primitive Archer, by the way!

A friend at work is also into bow building and hes been giving me tips & tricks along the way. I took my measurement and told him what it was but he didn't believe it- so we did it again to make sure that I was doing it correctly and I was. My draw length is 31"-32" from back of my bow to my anchor point. He said i'm probably going to have to be making bow's that are about as tall as I am! This one I am building now might end up being to short for me personally, but at least its good practice. 

[Cameroo]

A good rule of thumb for determining the length of a long bow is to "double the draw length, and add 20% (for saftey)".  In your case that's nearly 74 1/2"!  This rule isn't set in stone, but it's a good one to follow for someone who's just starting.

It's looking pretty good.  My only suggestion is cosmetic - I like to blend my handles into the fades in a nice sweeping arc rather than straight lines.  I just think it looks better, and there's less chance or developing a hinge at that spot.

Looking forward to seeing her all done up!

[oscar3b]

Welcome to PA man!  I'm fairly new.myself but everyone on here is awesome and there are always plenty of knowledgeable peope that give great advice.  one thing that helps me is my bow around.  often times light can play tricks with your tiller.  I always check it on the tree, and then flip it around to be sure I still see the same problem.  I remember on my first bow my right limb always looked stiff and I then I would put it back up and it would bend too much then.  I think this bow looks really good and that you are doing a great job.  Just remember, slow and.steady will win the race.  They are right about one thing more than anything else: bowmaking is extremely addictive.  So much so that they tried a support.group once but it didnT work.  Everyone started talking about bows and before you know it all the trees in the neighborhood were cut down and there was a makeshift set up.behind the place before anyone could stop them... 

[George Tsoukalas]

"...after I finished cutting the nocks, I realized that I did them backwards!" Looks like I'm not the only one. Pics are small and my eyes are not as good as they were back in the day but that right limb looks stiff mid limb on to the nocks. Thanks, Pappy. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

[Arrowind]

Good to have you on board.
Looks like you are about ready for a short string, which will show the tiller better.
Slow and steady and I'm sure you'll be ok. When in doubt stop and post some pics, the guys on here are keen to help out.
Cut the nocks the wrong way?!... I'me sure I've never done such a thing .
Del

ditto

[k-hat]

Good to have you on board.

Del, you tryna be punny?

Welcome to the forum snib!  Before you scrape any off that right side, flip'r round and look from both sides.  It looks like you have a touch of propeller twist going (common if the radial grain is not oriented with the longitudinal), which can make a limb appear stiff when it is not.  How long is your handle section? It looks like you could make it shorter to get more limb on your next bow. 

Happy shavings

[ScottN]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! Here are the latest pictures of my bow on the tree with my short string.

How do you think its looking? Between the first pictures I posted and these right now, I completely tillered it by eye.. no use of my gizmo. I dont think I did to bad .

How is the handle looking now? I took the suggestion's on making the fades flatter.

Picture on the left is of the bow sitting at brace height. I fit Picture on the right is the bow pulled down to 26". I think the right limb in this picture needs just a little bit more shaving in the middle?


left click to open bigger in a new window

[hunter255]

Looks good Scott, Looks like a little more towards the tips need to be scrapped. How is the poundage?