Need eyes for tiller help.

[k-hat]

I'd say that's a winner! Congrats on your first Fred!

Shoot a load of arrows through it, then shoot some more, and enjoy each one.  In your "downtime" between shootin, start the next, then the next . . . .

Before long you'll amass an arsenal . . . er . .  collection like some of these guys been showin around

[George Tsoukalas]

I'm glad you are using it, Fred. Congratulations on your retirement too! Jawge

[okie64]

If you have that much wood waitin to be made into bows leave that one like it is and enjoy it. My first bow didnt look anywhere near that good. Great job and welcome to the addiction. That bandsaw will save you a lot of time and labor.

[james parker]

fred the bow looks really good to me,, i see nothing wrong with the tiller,,, full draw looks good too.......james

[Fred Arnold]

What's piking? Is that in reference to the grip area? Also since setting this aside for the time being I'm needing some info on another project. This takedown was a bamboo backed osage w/ skins and the bamboo failed on both limbs splitting in the fade area. I purchased a set of backing strips from Jaap at Yumi Bows ( from whom I purchased my raw japanese bamboo shafts).

Being I don't have a proper plane I've coarse sanded them by hand with a block until reaching close dimensions. The edges are getting paper thin as suggested and I'd like to finish this project. Not having a toothing  plane would it work to rough up the back of both peices by doing light cross section filing?

[Gus]

Out of the Frying pan and into the Fire!!!
That's Good Stuff!

Dean Torges, on his DVD "Hunting the Bamboo Backed Bow" will step you through making and using a Toothing Plane.
This is a Good Watch.

Should take you no time to build a toothing plane with your new Grizzly.
Jealous... Me?
Maybe a little...  For a Cabin in the woods!!! 

I would Not Cut Cross Grain, but rough up With the Grain.
You could use a new hacksaw blade, used like a scraper, to gently rough up your gluing surfaces

-gus

[Fred Arnold]

Gus, here's my cabin in the woods. I purchased the 26 acre tract about 15 years ago when it was cheap according to today's standards. I had been searching  2 years for some river ground within 15 miles of the town I was living in but everything I looked at was either too large or too expensive for my budget.
I wanted a place to retire away from the rat race and found this 35 miles away and within my budget. A spring fed creek winds through the parcel, never freezes, never runs dry.
My sons, David, Jeffrey, and I, with a lot of help from friends during the erection stage, built this from the ground up. We dug and insulated the footings and floor, bent and installed the re-bar, tied pex pipe to the re-bar for a floor heating system (not hooked up yet), poured the concrete, and then put the peices all together.
I moved out here 3 years ago coming June 1 and began finishing off half of the structure for living space and the remainder shop.
I used to call it the farm, now I just tell everyone I have a big back yard.
Not even close to being finished yet but the Best move I ever made.

[Gus]

Yes Sir!!!

That IS Plenty Fine!

My Dream House, at present, is a Ten Thousand square foot steel building, take in two thousand for living and have eight for shops, garage and my Tequila Aging Facility.
Twenty six acres would be perfect, but I think I'll have to make due with five or ten...

-gus

[lesken2011]

You're livin my dream, Fred!!

[Fred Arnold]

Kenny, it was a long time dream for me also and wished I could have done it earlier in life. Most single men could live like this but it's a lot to ask of any woman and most kids would balk at the idea unless you started them out real early this way. I'm single now for 30 years and my boys have been gone from home now for over 15 years and have families of their own. They love the way I live and the work we've done together to build this place. They are as proud of it as I am and visit as often as time allows but if I would have taken them out of school when I was raising them and moved them out here, they may never have spoken to me again.    

[George Tsoukalas]

Nice piece of property, Fred. Jawge

[Fred Arnold]

Thank you George,
I've temporarily placed this project on hold until the forms for flipping the tips are finished.
I saw an earlier post today by blackpanem and didn't have an appropriate answer to his question about spliiting stave's, so I left him alone and didn't rain on his parade and decided to ask the same question with pics.
This arrived at the post office this morning. I told Lavern that I was looking for a special pair of billets and he hoped that this might work for me. 3 1/2" and 4" x 35".
How would you split it?

[Parnell]

Looks like a great place and congratulations on your bow!

[Fred Arnold]

Well it looks like I might have ruined my first bow. I was trying to flip the tips and either got them too hot or bent them too quickly. Anyway both ends developed cracks in the belly about 5" from the tips and both limbs are now severely twisted.  Maybe should have left this one alone and went on to the next project.

[mikekeswick]

Well bow making is just one big learning curve...I think you did a really good job of your 1st bow. Without seeing the forms or exactly what you did then I would guess that you didn't get the wood hot enough. A tip for doing this in the future is to rub some vegtable oil all over the tips before starting to heat the wood. The oil helps the heat penetrate deeper.
If you make a bow that is underweight and already short then shortening it more and flipping the tips are bad ideas.
Both of these techniques increase stress in the limbs so WILL increase string follow (a bad thing)unless your limbs are overbuilt eg too wide and thin as opposed to deep and narrow.
Think of it this way as wood gets thinner it can take more bend. Compare a paper thin shaving and a 4x4...So a wide and thin limb (with the same draw-weight) compared to a narrow and deep limb can be and should be pulled further.
Remember that all we are doing is making a wooden spring. Wood is the same as any other material in that it has a limit to the amount of stress it can take before it losses it's 'springiness'.
A bow should get a little string follow but it needs to be kept to around 1 inch before the wood cells on the bows belly (primarily) loss their ablity to recover quickly enough from the applied stress to give a fast bow.
Those billets look perfect...I would love to have those in my workshop!! You could split them right down the middle but it would be best (least wasteful) to wait until your bandsaw turns up and just cut them.
Your house is my dream also. Enjoy your hardwork!