Floor Tillering

[DC]

I'm getting the impression that as long as it bends like you want it and you don't over stress it, it doesn't matter how you get there.

[PatM]

   Of course.

[SLIMBOB]

Pearl. I go to the tiller stick first. Get the limb tips moving a couple inches evenly. Mark the limbs while locked in, and remove wood. Exercise it a little, and then check it on the stick at that same distance, and get it right before advancing any farther. I don't go to the tree until I'm 15 inches or so. By then it's pretty much fine tuning. Then drawing by hand to finish it.

[George Tsoukalas]

No t stick for me, PD. No locking down the rope and pulley either.
I flex it and mark it. Let it down. Remove wood.
I don' pull past 10" and don't pull over target weight.
It takes me hours to get to that 10" and target weight.
When I do, I string it at a low brace of 2-3".
Jawge

[PEARL DRUMS]

My point from the start was simple. We all know holding a bow at any distance for any amount of time breaks the wood down, especially before its ready to work that hard. So, whatever method you use, do it quick and don't flex and hold a bow until your sure its even. In my opinion all these little tricks, like this, add up to WOW! when your done with it. We've all shot bows that look like the next, but sure don't shoot like it. 

My THEE bow and A bow comment was not meant to be offensive, seems it was to a few. We all know, for example, you can take a stick of osage and beat the crap out of it while learning/building and still have "A" bow in the end. But done right, whatever route you take, it can be "THEE" bow.

[Badger]

  I think that we do whatever it takes to see the bows bend. Most of the time floor tillering is all I need to get a bow to brace. I don't usually have to bend it much. If the stave has a lot of character or I am not all that comfortable with a design I am building I go to the tiller tree once I get it bending a little bit on floor tiller. I have a variation of a tiller stick I use where I rest the tips on rollers and pull down on the handle with a crank for recurves or highy reflexed bows. I can scrape it right on the press and then just push the handle area up and down to excersize it a bit.

[George Tsoukalas]

I should have said that I flex it, let it down and mark it. Then remove wood. Jawge

[missilemaster]

 I pretty much floor tiller a bow with my thumb and finger, looking how it bends too of course. I run it down the limb to check for even taper.Thickness tiller, unless your doing an extreme pyramid design. I flex the limbs enough so they are where they will be at brace. the bow at this point is usually 8-10 pounds over weight. If neccessary, I heat temper it at this point. After that I futz with floor tiller again making sure everything is even and the same on both limbs and brace it. from there its just a matter of finessing the tiller and bringing it down a couple pounds.   I dont like using the long string because I think it doesn't give the true bend. because you have more leverage on the fades. Works for me.

[Badger]

  The outer and mid outer limbs appear to be stronger than they really are on a long string.

[webrx]

I'm a complete rookie, only built 8 bows, all with red oak, but, the last couple I have done, I have been able to go from floor tiller to brace height and the short string.  you can also kind of feel the bow bend while it is in the vice to know if it is flexible enough to put on a short string. 

I am probably doing it wrong, but I understood that the long string was used just to get it to bend enough to put it on a short string and to eliminate any major flaws (hinges or stiff spots) and it seems like (at least in my limited experience) that you can get to that point while in the vice and with a floor tiller without having to use a long string.

I am curious though about the comment on tillering while the bow is strung.  I have thought about doing that, but had not read that you could so was being conservative and unstringing each time I saw I needed to work on an area. 

Dave

[GB]

Dean Torges does some final scraping while the bow is strung in his "Hunting the BBO Bow" DVD.  It works nice as long as you don't need to get at the tips.

[PatM]

You can use a scraper almost flat and scrape right up to the string if you need to.

[SLIMBOB]

Once the string is on it, and I can reach the areas I need, I keep it strung. Scrape, exercise and check it.  No need to unstring as long as your careful. Cutting the string being the biggest setback.

[Badger]

  My scraper is worn down to about 1 1/4 wide, fits nicely on a strung bow   

[missilemaster]

  My scraper is worn down to about 1 1/4 wide, fits nicely on a strung bow   

  Mine is 7/8" An old metal bandsaw blade. I like it because its comfortable to use one handed.