Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: recurve shooter on June 01, 2008, 04:03:23 pm
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i broke like the 4th bow yesterday on the tillering stick. how do i keep from doing this? it is REALY starting to anoy me. >:(
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Quit Bending them so far before they are ready!!!!!!!!!
>:D
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Slow down and think about every scrape you make on the stave. If you keep doing the same thing with not so good results, rethink your next move. Pat
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Use hickory. ;D
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yeah, thats what i thought. i got to start being more patient. i ruend a really cool snakey bow yesterday and it really made me mad.
and jackcrafty: hickory is my favorite wood, unfortunatly, due to logging years ago, there aint much of it left down here. send me a stave and i'll make it shoot!! ;D
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Dang, Recurve Shooter....it's a shame about the logging. However, being a scavenger of neighborhood woodpiles, I can't believe you ain't got no tree-slaughterin' neighbors? We got plenty around here (mostly mesquite and mulberry though). :-\
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lol. i have heard that mullberry is better than hickory, but i dont believe it. most of the tree murderers around here just kill the junk bushes around the edge of the yard. no good wood. i got to go murder that myself. the two bows i messed up this weekend were persimon (or dogwood, not sure which) and pecan. i got over anxeous with the drawknife and the pecan developed a hinge. the percimon was comeing nicely, but i was checking it on my tillering stick and it broke. it sucks. i got a trucklode of oaks around here, i guess i'll start messing with them. ;) well, thanx guys. looks like i just need to go a little slower.
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i think if you are tillering with a drawknife...that might be a biig part of the problem. I think the idea is to use the drawknife to get the stave into shape, then use a rasp and scraper to turn it into a bow...
and other than that, i agree with what El Destructo said: don't bend it so far until it's ready...
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yeah, i need a rasp. what brand and type to yall recomend?
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Another thing is you need to sit back and absorb some of the information on this site.All the wood you have been breaking is some of the easiest to make a bow with. You tend to ask questions but then say you don't believe the advice you are getting. What you need to do probally is to start building and breaking some bows. That way you can get the answers you need yourself.
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Another thing is you need to sit back and absorb some of the information on this site.All the wood you have been breaking is some of the easiest to make a bow with. You tend to ask questions but then say you don't believe the advice you are getting. What you need to do probally is to start building and breaking some bows. That way you can get the answers you need yourself.
??? wadaya mean by that? everything i know i learned from this site. i listen to everything yall say and do my best to follow yer advice. but anyway, i do need a rasp, more patience, and, well, more patience. :P
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yeah, i need a rasp. what brand and type to yall recomend?
I use a Ferriers rasp......and love it....lots of the Others like and use the Nicholson #49 Rasp (i believe) and swear by them....it is a personal Preference....until you get a good handle on how to use a Drawknife...I would only rough a Bow out with one...and then go to the Rasp ....and Scrapers....it is really hard to tear up a Bow with a Scraper....but I bet if someone was persistent enough ....they could!!!!
Remember.....ask...listen....try....ask more....and mostly....take your time....if you are anxious.....or your mind is somewhere else....drop the Rasp or Scraper....and go dwell on what it is you are thinking about....or settle what is bothering you....you must be "In The Mood" to build a Bow.....there is no room for shortcuts......or good enoughs....you have to be there 100 %......or you might as well just cut it up in 16" pieces and put it in the Wood Pile......JMO
Michael "ElDestructo" Roberts
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could also be your wood is too dry...?
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i made my first bow over a period of 3 months. take it slow and work only when you feel like it and if you get mad or frustrated walk away.
Sometime i make shavings for weeks without stoping then i wont touch it for a few days. i never want to rush it
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I used to use a tillering stick and broke my first 3 bows. Then I followed Jawge's advice and built a tillering tree with a pulley system. I have not broken a bow since.
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never heard of a tillering tree. details please?
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Here's a copy of some plans that Tim Flood made.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/dlgren/tillertree.jpg)
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Definitely make firewood with the t stick. That's about all they are good for. There's more tillering info on my site. If you have the wall space all you need is to make a shelf to hold the bow and secure (and I mean secure) a pulley on the bottom. Bow rests on shelf. Attach a stout cord to the string and tiller away. Jawge
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I agree with the others, only use the stick with a really long string and only use it until the tips are bending to aproximate brace height. After that go to the tree. This is what I learned from Gary Davis.
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recurve shooter, I sent you a PM
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You gots to get you a tillering tree. The sticks put way to much stress on a stave.
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A.P. please explain what you mean: the stick puts too much stress on a stave? How do you find that?
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Where are you getting all the staves your breaking? You couldn't have accumulated that much seasoned wood yet? Are you working with green wood or something? Just trying to help....Trust me, Ive broke way more than my fair share.
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broke 1 today...r/d trilam, maple and yew w/ walnut power lam and riser accents...looked real good until it broke! Now it's guinea pig for the rit dye i bought...
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I never use a tiller stick. Only a tillering tree. I don't like to leave a bow statically drawn, especially at longer lengths, for anymore than necessary (ie. a few seconds). Get your bows up on the tree, and watch them bend. Forget the tiller stick. I never understood those things!
Get yourself a good rasp, also... a Nicholson #49 or #50. Worth every penny.
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i agree with michale and george 100 % but i think ya need to go a step futher what you read here is gonna help,,, but if i was you i wouldnt touch another stave till i sit my butt down and read all 4 of the tradational bowyer bibles!!!!espically voulm 1 the tillring chapter and then get the proper tillering stick rasp and scraper! ::) amen have fun bro
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yeah, i guess i exadurated. i only ever broke 3 on the stick. my wood is probably still a little green, but its fairly dry. they keep breaking mid limb. and yall are right. i need to get all of the bowyers bibles. the library here only has the first one. i need to take the time to read it again. and get a rasp. anyhow, thanx for the help. i'll let yall know when i get one to come out right. ;)
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The more bows I make, the less I use my tillering stick. I'm using it now mainly to check draw weight at about 80% draw. To determine final draw weight I add 2.5# per inch. I tiller my bows over my knee and by looking in the mirror.
BCBull made a good suggestion about reading TBB series. The books really advanced my knowledge in a VERY short time.
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The stick requires you to be right on top of the bow when drawing a bow for the first few times. It can be dangerous. They require you to draw it and lock it in the notch you want and then prop it against a wall or something. You then have to step away and have a look. Most times you have to re-adjust the whole setup because it's not square on the wall. The soon to be bow is being held at draw for quite a long time, and induces set early in it's life. With a tree you can exercise the limbs, and check tiller with a very short time at draw. Tillering is drawing a bow until you see a problem. The less time you have one drawn with un-equal tiller, or with a hinge, the less set the bow will take. Just my two cents.
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What's a tillering stick? I don't have one. :)
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I will set up a tree when i get a real shop, but so far I just tiller for shape in the mirror or a reflective window, then use the tillering stick on a scale to judge the draw weight.
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so I dont actually hook the string on any notches, and leave it at draw, I just hook the string in a groove at the top, pull the bow down toward the scale, and read the poundage...it's just like you see Jim Hamm doing in his chapter on Tillering.
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I have one bow I made from red mulberry backed with prarie rattler that is a hot shooter. Has quite a bit of setback which helps I'm sure. Also just finished a takedown of mulberry backed with maple. It also is a hot shooter. Mulberry is about as pretty as osage. I agree on the hickory, also elm. Clint
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Look up floor tillering.
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I don't think a tillering stick used for measuring draw weight is gonna hurt a bow near as much as using one to actually tiller. I see the tiller much better on a tree. I can draw it multiple times and really see the limb working.
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I don't think a tillering stick used for measuring draw weight is gonna hurt a bow near as much as using one to actually tiller. I see the tiller much better on a tree. I can draw it multiple times and really see the limb working.
but how can you mark the Spots that need attention on a Tree....and how can you use a Tattle Tale on it....when you have to be standing back pulling on the Rope???
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You look at it and remember where the flat spots were. Then mark it, unless old age is setting in and the memory doesn't last that long. And then, do you know what the next thing is to go? ::) ;)
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You look at it and remember where the flat spots were. Then mark it, unless old age is setting in and the memory doesn't last that long. And then, do you know what the next thing is to go? ::) ;)
The Wife is waiting for that to Happen!!!!! >:D I have a Tree....but I find myself exercising it and just looking at the Bends on the Tree...and I always end up reverting to the Tiller Stick clamped in my Vice....to use my Tattle Tale on it to mark the spots that need attention.....what was I saying.......awe forget it ....I'll remember here in a Minute!!!
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the only thing i use the stick for is to sight down the limbs at partial draw, to see if their twisting. other than that, it sits in the corner.
but how can you mark the Spots that need attention on a Tree....and how can you use a Tattle Tale on it....when you have to be standing back pulling on the Rope???
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i have a friend that marks em for me ;D plus it always is nice to have 2 sets of eyes lookin at the thing....
Phil