How much wood do you remove?

[DC]

I was watching one of Del's videos and noticed that he was keeping a tally of trips to the tree. Got me thinking. I use a Torges type scraper and I'm wondering if it's removing wood too fast. On the average I've noticed that I get somewhere in the neighbourhood of one inch of drawlength gain on every scraping session. This is when I'm tillering for weight loss, not when I'm correcting some little thing. Does that jive with the drawlength gain you get for every trip to the tree?

[Badger]

Once I get into final tillering I think I pick up no more than about 1/4" per trip. Nothing wrong with going faster if you know exactly where the wood needs to come off. I used to think of it as removing wood to loose weight for final draw weight. Now I just think of myself as perfecting tiller until I hit final draw length and have to stop. I hate it when I hit perfect tiller too soon because it makes it harder to find spots to remove wood.

[willie]

I hate it when I hit perfect tiller too soon

I can think of a few thing I hate worse

[DC]

I've been using your perfecting method and I really like it but I just seem to overshoot my mark. Everything will be going fine and then there's a thin spot. Usually on one side of the bow so I'm not holding the scraper level. I would use a cabinet scraper if I could but my hands won't take it. Tie that in with not being able to stand a dull scraper. The feeling of a scraper skating across the surface drives me nuts. So I'll have to get some self control and limit myself to one or two scrapes.
 When you are scraping what do you hold the bow with? A bench vice?  When the bow is in the vice(or what ever) can you get at both sides? Do you, or do you do all your scraping from one side?
 I'm finding these RD's quite difficult to tiller, especially if the limb gets thin, so any fine nuances that people have would be a help.

[DC]

I hate it when I hit perfect tiller too soon

I can think of a few thing I hate worse

I'm with Willie here but I can understand what you're getting at. There you are at 10" draw with a beautiful bend and the only place to remove wood is-- everywhere

[mmattockx]

I was watching one of Del's videos and noticed that he was keeping a tally of trips to the tree. Got me thinking. I use a Torges type scraper and I'm wondering if it's removing wood too fast. On the average I've noticed that I get somewhere in the neighbourhood of one inch of drawlength gain on every scraping session. This is when I'm tillering for weight loss, not when I'm correcting some little thing. Does that jive with the drawlength gain you get for every trip to the tree?

What is a Torges type scraper? Have you ever measured how much wood you are taking off with a caliper? Why would counting the trips to the tree matter to anything? 1" of draw length for each scraping session doesn't sound like too much to me if you are trying to knock weight off.


Mark

[DC]

It's kind of a cross between a spoke shave and a cabinet scraper. Hang on, I'll take a picture---There ya go I like it because I have arthritis in my thumbs and a cabinet scraper does me in.
Counting trips just made me think about how much wood I was taking off each trip and made me wonder if I was taking off too much and losing track. Especially when the limb is thin just one or two scrapes can make the difference between good job and a hinge

[willie]

sometimes when I get close, I just use a small sheath knife and only pick up the bow occasionally when I am not too rushed. more time measuring and looking at tiller than scraping.
what looked good last nite, is seen in a new light in the morning over coffee 

[Dances with squirrels]

Yep.

I have Dean's Bowyer's Edge tool and use it a good bit, but if the tiller is close and I'm just inching it down the tree I like a regular cabinet/card scraper. I seem to get a better feel for what I'm accomplishing with each stroke. Also, on some bow's like the snakey one I'm working on now, the Bowyer's Edge won't work right in all those bends.

I never bothered to count trips to the tree or how many work sessions it takes to move another inch. I'm probably the world's slowest tillerer... and I'm ok with that.

[mmattockx]

It's kind of a cross between a spoke shave and a cabinet scraper. Hang on, I'll take a picture---There ya go I like it because I have arthritis in my thumbs and a cabinet scraper does me in.

Ah, similar to a standard scraper with a holder. I use a scraper I made out of an old circular saw blade. It is thick enough it doesn't bend at all, unlike a regular card scraper. Instead of a bend, I put a radius on one edge (the edge has an arc to it instead of a straight line) and it presents to the wood very similar to the card scraper when it is bent a bit. Mine is way easier on the fingers because all I have to do is drag it on the wood instead of forcing the bend at the same time.


Mark

[Del the cat]

I was watching one of Del's videos and noticed that he was keeping a tally of trips to the tree. Got me thinking. I use a Torges type scraper and I'm wondering if it's removing wood too fast. On the average I've noticed that I get somewhere in the neighbourhood of one inch of drawlength gain on every scraping session. This is when I'm tillering for weight loss, not when I'm correcting some little thing. Does that jive with the drawlength gain you get for every trip to the tree?

What is a Torges type scraper? Have you ever measured how much wood you are taking off with a caliper? Why would counting the trips to the tree matter to anything? 1" of draw length for each scraping session doesn't sound like too much to me if you are trying to knock weight off.


Mark

I was just counting my trips to the tree, 'cos my guess is that a lot of newbies don't do enough checking or exercising the bow.
One guy I was helping, just got hypnotised by the soothing process of using a spokeshave... left to his own devices he'd have gone right through the limb
In my vids, I just show how I do it... I'm always at pains to say there are other ways, gotta find what works for you
Del

[George Tsoukalas]

On the long string I alternate a surform or rasp with a scraper-like tool. Once I string the stave for the first time I use only a scraper-like tool. No aggressive removal tool. I count the strokes...usually 20-25 and then check tiller.

I exercise the stave 10-15 times at short pulls  to let the wood removal register.

Jawge

[Selfbowman]

If I need to take off 10-15 pounds and the limbs are pretty straight I use the 4x36 sander or disc sander. It’s just wood that needs to be removed. I’m lazy and have a sander. I also use scraper from planer blade, French curve scraper if need be, not picky about how it comes off . Arvin   

[PatM]

If I was working on a bow of lower weight and less material I'd just be sanding instead of scraping, especially if it was overall reduction.

[PaSteve]

What PatM said. Taught myself a few costly lessons final tillering lightweight bows especially kids bows.