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Help with avoiding set

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jameswoodmot:
There must be endless discussion of this but I can't find anything particularly useful after an hour of searching, any links to previous posts would be great.
Im happy with my tillering in general, the relationship between limb width, thickness and bend is fine. I can make bow with no set, but I can’t get any kinda weight out of a piece of wood and not have it banana.
I am mostly using Ash and Wych Elm, both of which I can make a fine 45lb bow from.

I've been trying for an 80lb ELB but I just cant get them to weight, I have seen plenty of bows in these timbers well over the weight I am looking for.

I keep coming across people talking about "treating the wood right" and "being kind" to it but I’m not sure how.

I've kept the section relatively wide and flat as I can on the belly, kept the length long. Tillered to the gentlest long string tiller, heat threated them and then started tillering, never pulling back further than I need to see the bend, exercising as im going and they just banana. Nice even set the whole way along the bow, no stiff or weak spots, the wood just can’t handle what I am asking of it.
Yet I know the species of wood can do what I want because I’ve seen it, Im just not sure where I’m going wrong.
My wood is good, my tiller im happy with, the dimentions match what I have seen before, so there is something im missing.

And I suspect whatever Im doing wrong here is also having a negative impact on the lighter bows I’m making.

Any pointers at all would be great, all I can do for now is just keep making the bows lighter in draw weight which isn’t what I’m currently after.

Cheers

sleek:
This is my favorite subject of bow making. I will give you an absolute solid rule of thumb I have learned. Every inch of set indicates a bow that was underbuilt by 25%. So increase the bows working area by 25% for 1 inch of set and you will find yourself with a much better bow. Some woods however just dont wanna work, and thats across all species of wood.

willie:
going from 45 to 80 will require almost twice the width

how wide and long are the bows you shoot for 80,  with those species?

jameswoodmot:

--- Quote from: sleek on May 24, 2025, 08:32:17 pm ---This is my favorite subject of bow making. I will give you an absolute solid rule if thumb I have learned. Every inch of set indicates a bow that was underbuilt by 25%. So increase the bows working area by 25% for 1 inch of set and you will find yourself with a much better bow. Some woods however just dont wanna work, and thats across all species of wood.

--- End quote ---

Talk about efficiency and arrow speed seems a bit controversial here from what I’ve seen, but it’s what I am most interested in achieving. It certainly seems the most complex aspect of bow
making.


I have another piece of elm that I’m going to aim for a heavy flat bow, just wide and long and see what I can get out of it.
The problem with overbuilding an ELB is it becomes a flat bow pretty quickly.
I’ve got the feeling I’m missing something in the tillering process, more than the design or materials. I’m seeing people make bows with the similar materials and dimensions as me and getting nearly double the draw weight.pretty sure it’s my skill that’s falling short, I just don’t know where

jameswoodmot:

--- Quote from: willie on May 24, 2025, 08:42:00 pm ---going from 45 to 80 will require almost twice the width

how wide and long are the bows you shoot for 80,  with those species?

--- End quote ---

The most recent was Ash, 77” long and about 1 1/2 - 1 5/8” wide (can’t remember exactly and it’s fire wood now so can’t find out)
Wych elm was similar volume but a little shorter and wider.

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