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Tillering warbow with reflex
WillS:
Cheers Del. I actually tiller upside down, with the string anchored at the top, and the tillering rope pulling the handle down. It seems to make life easier (on straight staves..!)
I'll have a crack at tilting it, so the tips are lined up regardless of the handle and see if makes visualising it a bit easier.
S'awkward though, with it being ash. I'm used to having proper D-section profiles for longbows, which doesn't work with ash. It makes removing small amounts of belly wood but keeping an even keel and rounded edges quite tricky. I can see myself taking too much off very easily.
This is going to require a LOT of tea.
adb:
I've found tillering heavy war bows with reflex to be very challenging. Tillering a stave with reflex in one limb would be even more tricky. I think you might have trouble with the reflexed limb wanting to roll over at low brace. Getting it to full brace and making weight will be tricky! Once you get it bending, it'll be better, but getting it there is going to be a challenge. Watch you don't get the stave banding too much in the middle too early. Can you heat correct both limbs first, so they're more even? That's what I'd do. Good luck!
WillS:
Thanks Adam. It's definitely trying to flip on me! I had to abandon tillering for a bit as it just wasn't behaving. I went back to floor tillering it and really leaning into the thing but it's a bit of a monster.
My worry at the moment is that the last 8 inches or so are thin enough to bend quite comfortably, while the rest of the stave is far chunkier AND reflexed, so I'm in real danger of inducing far too much strain on the tips before the rest of the bow starts to move the way it should. This has taught me to keep the last third pretty heavy on a stave like this.
I'm toying with the idea of heat treating, as it will certainly help overall. I had wanted to finish this bow without using any heat though, as all my other bows had to be subjected to so much dry heat and steaming that it would have been really nice to avoid all that. Of course, if we all got what we wanted when making bows it would be pretty boring...
I'll keep you guys up to date with this, and hopefully have some pics to show what I'm working with at some point. Thanks for all the pointers already!
Del the cat:
Steam is (IMO) a lot gentler on the wood than dry heat. May be worth investing in a cheapo wallpaper steamer and finding some offcuts of insulation board etc.
Gotta admit that getting the two limbs to match will make it much easier to tiller.
Keeps some width on those tip too to allow for any string line adjustment.
I tend to tille rfrom the middle out... but that's just the slightest flexing near the middle whilst exercising it at full draw weight and watching it up close (not easy on a big warbow)
Good luck!
Del
WillS:
Right, got some pics for anybody who's up for offering some tips! I've put it on the tiller upside down (to me!) because I think most of you tiller this way, so hopefully that's easier to visualise for you.
First pic is the bow under no tension and second is under about 50lbs, or just enough to get the tips moving.
My worry at the moment is that deflex area on the right limb. To my inexperienced eyes, that screams "hinge" but as it's deflexed without any tension, do I still treat it as a hinge?
Basically, where would you guys go from here? This is kicking my ass at the moment, as I'm aiming higher than I have before, and the stave is a tricky one as well. Heat treating isn't out of the question yet, so if that's the best advice then of course I'll do that. But I'd rather not!
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