? Proper procedure for a good floor tiller

[Fred Arnold]

I hear a lot of talk about floor tillering a bow prior to placing a string on it and working the limbs on a tree but I have never seen a good demonstration on proper procedure for the floor tiller process. Do any of you know of a  tutorial with good instructions.

My method seems to be adequate but has been self learned and probably could use some fine tuning. As far as that goes I may be going about it completely wrong.

I think sometimes I have a tendency to over tiller using this procedure. Anyone else have a problem with this step or is it just me?

[lesken2011]

I just use the push/pull method as though I am stringing the bow. I place the tip of the bow at my instep of my right foot, hold the handle area with my right hand and my left hand on the other tip. Then pull toward me. You can do that in front of a mirror, if you need to as well. I don't usually need to, though. Not sure if this is right, but the way I do it.

[Pat B]

With one tip on the floor and the other tip being held in my left hand I push the handle so I can see the bend of the lower limb and feel the tension on it. I then flip it over and check the pther limb. All I want is about 4" of tip movement. If both limbs look and feel similar I gop to the long string.  Floor tillering is used to check that you don't have a hinge in the limb before stressing it and that both limbs are at about the same stiffness.

[Del the cat]

I don't 'floor tiller' as such.
IMO trying to eyeball the curve of a bow looking down it is daft when you can just stick it on the tiller with a long string.
I just lean on it to see if it flexes at all.
What I do is rough it out and check the thickness every 6" or so along each limb to make sure they are roughly even. If that looks vaguely ball park, and it flexes, stick it up and see how it actually bends.
'Floor tiller' is a bit of a misnomer to me, floor check is IMO more like it.
Too much work at that stage is IMO asking to end up with an underweight bow. Which is the curse of the newbie
I'm sure some will dissagree... I have no axe to grind, just sayin' what I do.
Del

[steve b.]

What Del said.  A few bows ago I tried to do the 4" floor flex thing.  When I strung the bow I was at my intended weight and went under after finishing.  Now I do the floor-lean thing, and get to the short string as soon as possible.

[Dances with squirrels]

I agree emphatically with Del. I spend extra time to do my best to establish accurate width profile, thickness, taper, facets, and only push against the floor a couple of times. I want to see just a few inches of movement by pushing pretty hard, then that's it, I'm off to spend my time on the tree. Sometimes I may push each limb against the floor just once, sometimes not at all.

On the tree with the string longer than the bow, you'll stress the limbs no more than by floor tillering. Besides, I prefer the view on the tree where I can better see it, and see the limb's strength relative to one another.  I'm big on syncronizing the limbs, the earlier in the tillering process the better, and I'll learn almost nothing about the bows relative limb stength by floor tillering. Put it on the tree and I know precisely which one is stronger and needs worked first... I know with just 2-3" of tip movement.

I too used to spend too much time floor tillering. My bows would more often come in under weight, and I think I was mostly wasting my time. ... or maybe I'm just no good at it

[Fred Arnold]

My procedure has been a combination similar to that stated by Pat B (although I may have been bending more than 4" by applying too much pressure)  and I also measure the thickness per Del the cat's explanation. A couple of my osage bows have come in underweight so I need to compensate and try to leave them a bit heavier before stringing.

One of those underweight  is an osage T/D sleeve bow that is pulling 45@28 but I plan on piking it and flipping the tips which should easily bring me to the 50#@28 I was shooting for.

Have a few more billets and staves trimmed close to dimensions curing and ready to proceed so I appreciate your input.

[Pat B]

IMO, floor tillering is a preliminary to long string just to be sure the limbs bend and somewhat evenly.

[blackhawk]

With enough experience you can skip the whole long string process of a tiller stick and tree with a square edge or gizmo..so no more back n forth monotony...with enough practice and bows made you'll be able to go from floor tiller to a 4" brace and be almost dead nuts braced tiller,and sometimes right on the money with no more scraping and be able to exercise it out to full draw..95% of my tillering is all done on the floor,and Im still able to hit intended weights...I'll  floor tiller to where I feel I have 5-10 pounds left,and then brace it about 4"...you'd be surprised how fast and easy you can make a decent bow if you just trust your eye and instincts...tiller sticks,trees,squares,n gizmos are overrated and a crutch over complicating making a bow,but are good for those learning to intermediate levels imho.....I'm all about the KISS philosophy

[lesken2011]

One reason I use the push/pull method is that it gives me a sense of where I am poundage wise since that is how I string them I kinda have a feel for the weight. Of course I don't do this till everything is pretty well evened out like limb thickness, etc. I don't need much movement...probably 3 to 5 inches, then to the long string.

[JonW]

For me it's pretty much what Chris said. I exclusively tiller on the belt sander and go from a floor tiller to brace. With a trained eye you can skip all the long string stuff.  If your brace is good most likely the rest of the bend will be as well. On another note I'm a firm believer in doing what works for YOU.

[SLIMBOB]

What pat said. Floor tiller gets the limbs bending evenly.  Little if any long string. I get it strung up low brace as soon as I can wrestle a string onto it. That's when my tillering really starts. +1 jonw...whatever works, works.

[chamookman]

I agree with Blackhawk and Jon. I do an aggressive floor tiller and then jump close to full brace. You do have to have a bow or three under Your belt to get the feel tho. Bob

[BowEd]

Floor tillering one limb at a time works with your arm sort of muscle memorizing the pressure it takes for a certain amount of bend.I take out fllat spots with it too.My bows are'nt on the long string very long.Sort of do it just to check how many pounds it takes for 6 to 8 inches of tip movement at or just below my intended draw weight.Which then it is ready for the short string.At that stage it still is usually 10 pounds above my full draw length weight.I've seen blackhawk do this floor tillering his way and he's got it down I tell ya.[Like he needs encouragement...LOL.]He'll look at both limbs at the same time.It does help to not overstress your limbs prior to the short string.Less set.I know of an older fella who teaches bow making that strings his future bows close to 80# or more,and then at 6 or 7 inches to boot.Says he wants the bow to show him tiller.It does alright....LOL.His bows most times always follow the string a bit even prior to pulling it to full draw.

[jimmy]

Blackhawk, I agree with you.  I don't ever use a long string any more.  I just work it down to where I get good, even flex at about 4 or 5 inches and then brace.  A lot of the time I just make minot adjustments and/or scrape into weight at this point.  But it does take lot's of practice, not something that happens overnight, and my bows are pretty simple.