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Tillering technique

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SimonUK:
I just read Robert Hardy's book 'Warbow' and there is a bit at the back where the bowyer Roy King explains how he tillered an oregon yew warbow. I hope I'm not miss quoting him, but it seems he left the bow drawn to something like 26 inches on the tiller for a few hours.  Presumably this was to exercise the wood.

Does anyone else do this?  I was surprised the wood could take this without developing a lot of set.

Justin Snyder:
 :o And all this time I thought it was better to never leave it drawn unless you absolutely have to.  I will stick with the pull and let off method of exercising thanks. Justin

SimonUK:
Exactly!  I'm wondering whether I understood it correctly.

markinengland:
Simon,
I would have thought it would be very damaging. I do like to leave a bow strung overnight as I think this can help sink the string in, and is is a passive way of exercising the bow without huge risk.
Mark

Badger:
If a bow is left drawn for a prolonged period of time and the mc of the wood has gone up and down while the bow is braced it will do extreme damage. If a bow is really designed very well and not drawn into the woods plastic state, well inside the elastic boundaries of the wood it should have little effect. I am assuming this is a bow designed to draw about 32". I needed to drop the weight on a flight bow once by about 3# due to a drier climate. I put it on a tiller stick drawn to 28" and left it in the car for thirty minutes with the heater on. No measurable effect. If a bow is slightly underbuilt they will take set almost certainly, but they would overtime anyway. I think this just stablizes the bow a little quicker. Steve

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