Tillering for low set

[PatM]

Is the reflex dried in or was it actually reflexed in the tree?

[BowEd]

willie...I think what brad means is there are three ways to get reflex that holds the best on wooden bows.Natural/glued in as in laminates/ heat induced/and dried in.While tillering the reflex that holds the best/takes the least set is in that order I just stated in my experience.Brads' points and questions are all lagitimate.

[Badger]

willie...I think what brad means is there are three ways to get reflex that holds the best on wooden bows.Natural/glued in as in laminates/ heat induced/and dried in.While tillering the reflex that holds the best/takes the least set is in that order I just stated in my experience.Brads' points and questions are all lagitimate.

   I would agree with this and Brads post.

[penderbender]

Stick bender, the whole "needs to be high ring count" with yew is a wives tale. Cheers- Brendan

[DC]

Jawge- no I hardly scraped it at all.
PatM- You got me there, I can't remember what I did this morning let alone 3 years ago. But it was a sapling and I don't remember cutting a curved sapling. Maybe it is dried in. If it is dried in reflex will it start to behave once it straightens out?

I'm beginning to think that it might be moisture.  I'm going to put this in my warm box for a month or so and then take another shot at it. I've got other wood to work on so there's no loss. It will eliminate the doubt. I'll keep weighing it. We'll see. If it still takes set after that I'll assume it was dried in reflex that's pulling out.

[PatM]

I just don't consider dried in reflex as representing the actual shape of the wood inherently. The outside must shrink longitudinally so stretching that back out is not like belly set imho.

[willie]

thanks Ed, I had not thought, before now, to consider three different types of reflex. (natural, heat induced and dried-in.)
The first must be inherent in the wood as it is laid down in the ring growth? And the second being induced by heat, perhaps the heat also helps it to set it up harder or "lock it in", at least more so than the third, which may be a result of differences in the way the most youngest (and wetter?) sapwood dries with more shrinkage than the older wood underneath?  just speculating as to the causes, but it makes sense, I suppose, that the wood should be treated different, depending on how the reflex was formed.
These differences would make me want to reserve the better kinds of reflex for the more highly strained parts of the bow.

would your observations hold true for set taking in a bow with a straight profile? or is there something about making them hold in reflex that seems different?

I just don't consider dried in reflex as representing the actual shape of the wood inherently. The outside must shrink longitudinally so stretching that back out is not like belly set imho.

Good point Pat, I often wonder just how much compression damage is "hidden" by a strong back

[Badger]

     Even thugh wood just not holding its shape and taking set looks the same there is a difference. Set tends to creep back into shape when the bow is rested while a bow just not holding its shape won't creep back as much. In most cases we have a combination of both taking place. Wood not holding its shape isn't neccessarily the fault of the bowyer or the design.

[DC]

So would the wood not holding it's shape show itself earlier in the tillering process. As in it will go back to it's natural shape right away where set will happen later when the wood is actually being strained.

[bradsmith2010]

also it would be helpful to see the low braced profile,, and being pulled to 40#,,, that being said,, I know the profile is not exactly what you want, but I see a great shooting bow in there,,

[DC]

Your wish. The low brace is now 5 1/2", I was fiddling with the string on another thread. 40# is now 18". I'm further into this than I thought. Dern near finished. It's holding 1/4" of reflex.

[bradsmith2010]

thats looking good,, remind me the length and your taget weight,,
since the bow was not taking any set into the handle area,, maybe you could work that a bit,, but I am gonna let the tiller experts comment on that,, I am not so good tillering from a photo,,  I figured your bow is roughly 65@28 right now,, so you have some weight to work with,, but not sure of your draw or taget weight ?

[DC]

66" NTN and I'm shooting for 40-45#

[DC]

Just a little thing. I'm now tillering a Douglas Maple bow and I'm not to brace height yet. This one is just the opposite to the Yew. I've got the tips moving about 5 inches and I've 'gained' a half inch of reflex. Reaction wood I guess. Goes to show, maybe fretting(bad choice of words) about set in the first few inches is a waste of time. Looks like it can or can't come from too many variables.

[willie]

could well be DC, the bow I am presently extracting out of a hickory board, is doing weird things as it gets thinner.

just out of curiousity, did the maple tree you took the stave from have a sunny side and a bottom side? ie was it a leaner?