Character Vine Maple underway....

[vinemaplebows]

I am watching, and like I said I HOPE I AM WRONG.   I could try to explain, and those that have tillered staves like this I think may understand what I am refering too.......it takes some serious patience to tiller a stave like that....ido you plan to have it bend through the handle?

VMB

[vinemaplebows]

Update?

[steve b.]

I'm glad you asked, so I didn't have to go in seach of my thread.  Wow, this thing really tested me.  I had to work each hump whilst tillering and took it SO slow until it finally started looking like a bow. 
Its obviously not done as you can see the tiller is off.  I'm going to thin the upper section of the upper limb to make it match the lower.  The upper is an inch longer, as with all my bows.  The tips have elk antler overlays that are very long and not quite finished. 

My question is this:  I am pulling it about 20" max with 3 or 4" of brace.  Besides the obvious tiller problem, how much draw can I realistically get out of this and should I weaken the fades in order to get it?

It started with almost 5" of handle backset and now has about 2.5".   The upper limb had a natural deflex in the center and also a knot there so I left it thick and now the lower limb is setting in the same area and so is matching the upper, which I like.

[steve b.]

[steve b.]

[Weylin]

That's looking awesome! Way to stick with a tough stave. It's really hard judge tiller on a wild stave like that just based on pictures so I won't try to give any critique on what I see. If it were my bow I would coax the remaining draw length out of the fades area.

[Bryce]

It's hard to tell w/o a side unbraced profile shot.
I'm working a piece of yew that has a sharp kink right out of the handle and it's making me work.
You'll get it bud.

[vinemaplebows]

Very tough stave, looks like you are almost there. Tillering staves like that will add a few gray hairs.

[rossfactor]

Just based on the pictures, I'd try to get her working as close to the fades as possible.  That should relieve some of the mid limb stress.

Your doing a great job on a tricky stave, keep at it.

Gabe

[sleek]

Ok, if nobody else is going to ask, I will. What type of wood is that stump your bow is setting on? Good luck with that bow too, I tried one like that, bracing it sucked and then mid limb she broke. My tiller had stressed the mid limb out to much. Easy thing to do on that style. Maybe one day I will try again. Keep workin at her, looks like it will come around.

[Pappy]

WOW,Man what a crooked stick looks like you are coming along nicely.
   Pappy

[blackhawk]

I kept my mouth shut earlier,but ill say it now....on staves like that with all those knots n humps n bumps,and with that setback handle,I default to making a bend in the handle bow to spread the stresses out thru all the character spots and the mid limbs due to the setback handle,and you'd be able to squeeze out a couple more inches of draw.

[paulsemp]

I'll second what blackhawk said. I have not had luck on knoty limbs with stiff handles.

[steve b.]

Thanks alot for the feedback and support.  I really like the varying opinions and insights.  My goal is to always be trying something new so that I am learning to be a better bowyer.  And again, here I'm working up to some cleaner VM staves so I can build a heavy hunting bow.  My last bow was a short D-bow that took the stress I wanted and so I knew this stave, being much longer, should handle a similar stress and so I made the handle stiff. 

If this one ends up only being able to pull  22", or breaks, or sets, or whatever, then so be it, and I will have learned something toward my future VM bows.

I should be able to squeeze another inch or so of draw out of this if I fix that upper limb and weaken the fades a little.  And then I'll see how it handles being shot.

That stump is doug fir.  I'm gong to build a heated shelter and fire pit there so I can build bows there no matter the weather.  I'll use that stump for a table.

I'll finish this bow up today......

[vinemaplebows]

Blackhawk has said what I have been thinking...deflexing the handle with steam and making the bow a working handle (only slightly) or steaming the tips making a R/D effect would have let you retain more wood on the belly. I have been down this exact road myself and although you are doing very well at tillering it the way the stave was in it's natural state, by the time you get to 28 inch draw (because of limb length) the bow may look like it is being overdrawn. I would have myself made it a R/D. Still watching...  great effort on a tough stave.

VMB