Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Pat B on February 16, 2012, 03:25:54 pm
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I posted this on TG this morning and since we have lots of new guys(and gals) here on PA I thought I'd post it here too...
"I know most folks exercise their wood bows as they tiller them. How many sweat their bows once you get a good tiller?
By sweating I mean brace the bow and let it rest for a while braced. Once I get a bow to low brace and I know the tiller is right I will leave it braced for 45 minutes to an hour. As the tillering progresses the sweat time increases. By the time the tillering is done I will leave it braced for a few hours at least.
The reason I do this is when I'm sitting on stand or am at a 3D shoot my bow stays braced for hours at a time and I want to be sure it can take it."
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Honestly, I am conflicted. If the tiller is good, and getting it braced is not putting on more strain than pulling to full draw weight, it SHOULD not cause any significant damage. I just hate the idea of a primitive bow being braced unnecessarily. Something beat into my head by the guy that mentored me, maybe I'm overcautious.
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Once I get it braced I leave the string on until I'm done with the tillering session. If I quit for any reason I take the string off til next time. Ron
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When I get my bows to first brace usually I'm the one sweatin' not the bow.
I let mine set when I get them to shooting stage. I'll shoot a few arrows and leave it strung for an hour or so and shoot some more. Then I recheck the tiller.
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I tiller the bow till I think it is perfect (looking) @ 26" at least and then shoot it in. Maybe 20 - 30 arrows, and ill check tiller, see if one limb is stronger, one is weaker, pick what limb I want to be my bottom. It is strung and restrung, and shot alot when I am finishing and fine tuning it, but I don't ever leave a bow strung for longer than I am using it. The only bow I would consider doing this is a sinew backed bow to give the sinew some time to stretch, but even then I wouldn't do it. Just habit though, not saying it's the right thing or the wrong thing to do.
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John, that's the way I learned from the books I read when I first started building bows. But years later, after some serious thought I realized that the bow was going to be braced for hours at a time so I wanted to make sure it could take it. I would hate for a deer to walk into my shooting lane after sitting for 3 or 4 hours just to have my bow fold over or come out of tiller while sitting there. I have not seen any negative results from sweating and I sure feel better about a bow just knowing it could "take it!"
I do this in conjunction with exercising and shooting a little later in the tillering process.
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Once I feel I have a good tiller, from first brace on, I will "sweat" the bow frequently. Leave it braced while I take a break and do other things. I think this has helped me decrease my set also.
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I hear ya Pat. You turned me unto this last year unknowingly, some of us do read and remember what you say buddy! Its not uncommon for me to sit on stand for 6-8 hours a pop in November with my bows braced the whole time. I want to know the bow will hang tough with me or its not a bow in my eyes. If I have to treat it like a feather its of no use to me.
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I do this as well Pat, but not till almost full brace, a long time ago i printed the ferret's board bow build-a-long and he does it as that's where i got the idea, he did mention this was a source of disagreement with other builder's, Bub
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I will occasionally let a bow sit for a bit, but I usually wait till I take it out for first shooting. Then it's shooting and braced for 30 min or so. Or If I go out roving, it'll stay braced, and then I check it when I get home again. I won't finish a bow until after that, just in case I'm wasting my time. ;)
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I will occasionally let a bow sit for a bit, but I usually wait till I take it out for first shooting. Then it's shooting and braced for 30 min or so. Or If I go out roving, it'll stay braced, and then I check it when I get home again. I won't finish a bow until after that, just in case I'm wasting my time. ;)
Thats kinda what I do. Hey pat, I know this is completely off topic, but how is that sinew backed paddle bow drying? Is it gaining any relfex?
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I use this technique when working on that last 3 or 4 inches of tiller.
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TMK, I can't tell if it is gaining reflex because of the reflex set up I'm using but the sinew loop holding the handle down definately has less tension on it now. I just checked it not long ago. ;)
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I let mine sit at final brace for about an hour before I come back and recheck the tiller. That's what the bowyers bible taught me.
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Good point Pat.. It is like shooting your gun with a cold barrel to make sure it is "sighted in." Kind of the same concept in a backward way.. Maybe..
Cipriano
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I hear ya Pat. You turned me unto this last year unknowingly, some of us do read and remember what you say buddy! Its not uncommon for me to sit on stand for 6-8 hours a pop in November with my bows braced the whole time. I want to know the bow will hang tough with me or its not a bow in my eyes. If I have to treat it like a feather its of no use to me.
I agree. If a bow isn't going to stand up to rugged use, and less than desirable conditions, I'd rather know when I have control of the situation in the shop, not when I'm in the woods staring at the broadside of a buck. We're making tools after all, very beautiful, and precise tools, but tools none the less, and I expect all my other tools to stand up to some abuse. I take good care of my things, but I also expect them to work just as hard as I do.
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Excellent thread Pat and a must for a good hunting bow. This is a step that is sometimes forgot with consequences
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If I feel the wood is at equalibrium moisture I like to leave it strung for a few hours in between shooting it in and fine tuning tiller. If the weather is overly humid I try to avoid bracing and tillering unless Iknow the wood is very dry.
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I don't, mostly because our weather fluctuates so much. During the day, in the winter we might go from 28dgs in the morning to high 70's in the afternoon. And it's worse in the summer. I tiller and treat my bows like I do when I'm hunting or 3-D shooting. If I'm through pulling and shooting, I unstring it. I personally think that leaving them strung for long periods of time and I'm talking 10- 12 hours or more makes the wood "tired" and leads to unnecessary set.
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Pat
Since you are calling leaving it braced for an hour or so sweating ,I will say I do .
Not so much on purpose as just that I am a little slow !
What I call sweating a bow is leaving it under near full draw tension for an extended time !
I don't usually do that !
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Interesting. I suppose I do "sweat" my bows during the tillering process,but it's unintentional. Once I get the long string on,I generally leave it braced until it's time for the short string,then,it stays braced for however long I work the bow,which could be quite a few hours,even all day. The way I work my bows gives me complete confidence in that ,if they have made it through the tillering process,shooting in,and tiller tweak,they will make a dependable ,no worries, weapon. JMHO God Bless
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8) Pat The answer is Yep >:D
Katt
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Yepper, conditioning is the word that I used to use but I like yours better ;)
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I "sweat" my bows too Pat. Based on no scientific study I feel it "encourages" the bow into a smoother draw--maybe at the expense off loosing a pound or two.
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I do it pretty much just like PeteC. All my final scraping is done with the bow strung.
George
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While I'm tillering I brace the bow when appropriate after wood removal, put it on the tiller tree and exercise it, check tiller and mark the stiff and/or weak spots on the limbs, unbrace it and tiller more. I will do this 10 or more times in a tillering session. This can be pretty stressful to a new bow so if it can take this kind of a workout, sweating is nothing.
My tillering process is slow. Once I get to floor tiller I use only a scraper to tiller the bow. I have wondered for a while now if the scraping burnishes the wood as wood is removed. Since I've started tillering this way my bows have had less set. It could be that I am going very slow and I exercise the limbs well between wood removals but I still think the "burnish action" of the scraper helps some too.
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... tillering process is slow ...
Amen.
Like some of the others have said.
I don't necessarilly exercise, sweat or condition a bow, but I take soooo long, by the time I finished tillering it, the poor thing is begging for me to stop teasing it and let it fling an arrow :laugh:
Del
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I don't in a precise way,but do tiller in 3 or 4 sessions,from floor tiller to finish and alway brace and un brace when I am scrapping,I will leave it braced for a while in between scrapping but never really leave it for long periods of time. [maybe an hour] Since I started doing it is several sessions I don't have much trouble with things changing after I call it finished and shot in. :) I think I read the sweeting thing in Dean's book one time. :)
Pappy
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Over the years I have given away a few bows to guys who really don't shoot. Some of these have been left braced for years. In most cases you can take the string off and they still look like they are braced. I gave my nephew a little osage bow, kids bow, he never took the string off but when I finaly did it had barely taken any set, he lives in a very arid desert area and there was a considerable safety factor allowed in the bow.
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I do most of my finish tillering with the bow braced so my bows will be left braced for hours at a time while I am making them. I braced a short Anishinaabe bow I made last year and left it braced for nearly a week. It's going to be a display in an office and it will be braced all the time so I wanted to see what an extended bracing would do to it. It took about 1" of string follow which it reclaimed in a few hours. I'm sure that being braced for years will take its toll.