Take a look at this weirdo...

[WhistlingBadger]

I started this bow over a year ago. It’s a very crooked piece of Rocky Mountain maple that I roughed out but couldn’t get straight enough to string without it turning inside out. After wrestling with it for a couple weeks, I finally got sick of it and put it away for a year. Got it back out the other day, steamed the daylights out of the main kink, got it pretty straight and stuck some pronghorn rawhide on it so it won’t explode when I start bending it. Going to make a very cool bow if it doesn’t break. (And yes, I say that about every bow I make haha)

So here's the bizarre thing:  It looks like one limb has a lot of reflex, and the other a lot of deflex.  There is no chance of steam bending the limbs to even them out without putting all the sideways kinks back in.  So it is what it is.

But can you see how the handle is right in a big crook?  When I put it in the tillering tree, compensating for that crook to put the handle at the angle it naturally wants to be held, the limb tips are actually pretty even.  I'll take a picture on the tree later to show you what I mean. 

How in the world would you tillering this thing?

[Pat B]

I'd try to straighten it out some otherwise you'll just have to imagine a good tiller.

[Hamish]

Wow! You have chosen to tackle a nightmare. 

[Pappy]

I would just foor tiller each limb getting them bending the same and try and get it to brace, then try and keep limb thickness even and carry on, the tiller will probably look weird as you already know but might surprise you how it will shoot. From the looks of it don't seem to have much choice. That's a nasty one for sure.  Looking forward to seeing the progress. 
 Pappy

[Pat B]

This kind of stave is a teacher if you are ready to learn. Please keep  us posted. 

[WhistlingBadger]

Hm, you guys are not exactly fueling my optimism!  ha ha     I have a month to wait while the sinew cures on another project, so I'll stay busy with this one, see what I can do, and not expect too much.  If I get a shooter, it will be a nice surprise. 

Come to think of it, I say that about all my bows, too! 

[sleek]

Hm, you guys are not exactly fueling my optimism!  ha ha     I have a month to wait while the sinew cures on another project, so I'll stay busy with this one, see what I can do, and not expect too much.  If I get a shooter, it will be a nice surprise. 

Come to think of it, I say that about all my bows, too!

Id attack that a different way. Let me find my favorite bow build ( i say that about all my bows lol ) and post it here to show you how id tackle that one.

[Hamish]

 For these ones you need to get a clear picture in your mind of how you think this stave in going to look with perfect tiller for its shape(rather than perfect tiller on a perfect stave)

I do this by doing a drawing of the stave before tillering, relaxed, and also how it should look strung and at full draw. If you don't do something similar, it can be hard to keep each limb doing its fair share of the work, even if the thickness taper is correct. If you put it down for a couple of weeks and don't have a drawing, when you start again it's easy to get confused, whether its bending properly, or whether one limb is taking too much set in relation to the other. Without a hard reference you won't be able to tell.

[WhistlingBadger]

Sleek, I'll look forward to seeing that.

Hamish, that seems like good advice.  I was just messing with it a little bit, and when I hold the grip comfortably, the limbs sit almost straight up and down, though one is several inches forward of the other.  So I think I'll put a block under the handle to get it sitting level on the tree, then try to get the limbs bending as evenly as possible.  The individual limbs aren't all that weird by themselves; they're just so different it's going to be a challenge to get them balanced.

[sleek]

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,53940.0.html

This is how I handled a similar stave. Killed my first and only deer with it too.

[Hamish]

Yes Sleek, that one turned out well. I like how you made it as symmetrical as possible. Much easier to tiller that way.