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Thoughts on tillering

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Selfbowman:
Thanks Del I’ll be trying that method.

upthecreek:
Seems to me this is what Dean Torges was trying to teach us long ago.

Aksel:
I think I agree the faster and smoother you reach a good tiller the better.

For me the first step is good floor tiller and thickness taper. Then I can go straight to a low brace with an even bend.

What changed my bow making most is I did away with the tiller stick/ tiller tree. I instead check the bend in the reflection of a window. I often felt the tiller looked slightly off in the hand compared to a tree and would spend time tweaking the tiller after I had reached or was close to FD. By tillering the bow in my hand I reach the tiller I want fast and I can judge by pulling the bow if bend is out of balance.

Last trick -to curb my impatience- is to keep the belly surface smooth with a scraper to avoid creating weak spots.

Switching to reflection-tillering reduced the set of my bows often from 1,5 -2" down to 0,5-1"

Only downside of tillering the bow in the hand is that I get used to making bows of the draw weight I prefer (around 45-55 lbs). It would be more difficult to make a bow much heavier and I would probably have to use a tree for that.

RyanY:
The question I have about your premise Kidder is, to what degree does it make a difference? I think as people gain experience making bows, the tiller starts out even earlier in the process. I have seen or at least heard of bows failing later in the process where, even though final tiller looked good, there was a hinge that later broke the bow or failed in compression. A though experiment might be, how much would a bow that was tillered very carefully through normal means differ in performance/set from a bow that was cut perfectly to shape from the beginning? The only example I can think of would be bows by David Dewey where he used his spreadsheet to create dimensions and cut out the bow. I know Steve (Badger) tested one such bow and it was fast for the time.

Selfbowman:
I have found that if you don’t get your heat treat on the belly even you can alter the the tiller at that point. I have corrected it sometimes by going back to the caul and putting more heat in that area. If you have gone to far with the draw it could cause a hinge. This reheat is not always a fix. As far as a bow failing after a good full draw it’s probably due to a knot or some other wood defects. I usually get the heat treat pretty even while getting the bow to match the caul. Some always pulls out though. Maybe a inch on each limb. This happens when it comes off the caul before I put any strain on it. So my cauls  have changed slightly over the years to accommodate for this. This is with dry heat I haven’t tried steam that much because my wood is dry. I’m a firm believer in heat treat though .

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