thinning vs narrowing vs piking

[willie]

In a nearby thread, a forum member advocated piking (as well as side narrowing, and of course thickness thinning) as a way to bring a bow to its desired finished tiller.

Just curious how many here use piking as a working method on a regular basis, as I have read pros and cons, and sometimes see piking mentioned as "less than optimum fix"

[Pat B]

I've only piked a few bows over the years. I don't consider it regular tillering method. I do reduce the thickness as my prefered tillering method and narrow on some occasions when I think a limb is getting too thin.

[Del the cat]

Nothing wrong with taking an inch (2 max) of each tip occasionally, as long as you allowed an inch extra in the first place!
Del

[bradsmith2010]

it really depends on the situation, but if it is called for then I use it,,

[PEARL DRUMS]

I'll take a thicker/narrow limb over a wide/thin limb anytime I can. 

[wizardgoat]

I do my best to read a piece of wood to determine width and length based on what design I'm after.
I pretty much never touch the width or length after that. Carefully and slowly tillering bows on a pulley system with a scale ensures that I hardly ever come in under weight. If I do, I'm more prone to grabbing a new piece of wood.

[George Tsoukalas]

I don't pike and do thin if the limb is not responding to thickness taper. Jawge

[Dictionary]

Piking is a last resort means of achieving weight if the bow came out too light. However, I tend to leave my bows a few inches longer than my desired bow length in case I come out too light.

[bradsmith2010]

its not just about coming in to light,, if the bow is shocky or slow,, maybe the design is a bit off, or the mass too much,,
reducing the length can sometimes make is shoot alot better,, increase performance to draw weight and make it shoot a bit smoother,,,, example one time I wanted to make a really long long bow,, so I did, wow it was a dog,, I cut the tips off and re tillered,, it shot much better,, when I weighed the tips I had cut off is was obvios why that length had not worked,,

[Selfbowman]

I'm with Pearl on this one. Also like Bradsmith comment .   
Arvin

[mikekeswick]

its not just about coming in to light,, if the bow is shocky or slow,, maybe the design is a bit off, or the mass too much,,
reducing the length can sometimes make is shoot alot better,, increase performance to draw weight and make it shoot a bit smoother,,,, example one time I wanted to make a really long long bow,, so I did, wow it was a dog,, I cut the tips off and re tillered,, it shot much better,, when I weighed the tips I had cut off is was obvios why that length had not worked,,

Long, long bow or not if it shot like a dog the tiller was incorrect. Making it shorter worked this time probably because your new tiller was correct for the shorter bow. A long, long, long bow (eg longer than it needs to be)  needs to be tillered elliptically.

[Pappy]

I pike in pinch  but usually do like Wizard said, start out with what I think the wood needs and most time don't stray from that much, if I happen to miss weight I will take a little off if the length if it will handle the draw length I am going for , if not ,turn it into a kids or ladies bow ,maybe a little narrowing  the with at the very end of the tillering ,but mostly thickness tapper.
 Pappy

[BowEd]

To me it's about being familiar with your woods' strengths and weaknesses for design and length as far as stress goes and part of the never ending adventure of bow making.Over all mostly thickness taper is done.Some narrowing too but mostly on the outer thirds of the limbs.All this done monitoring as you tiller seeing what the wood responds to.
Piking is done in most cases I see as a last resort provided the design and width can handle it.If not it's a woman's or kids bow.

[willie]

Lots of good input here, thanks guys. I actually thought that I would hear more "shouldn'ts", but it seems that most are willing to "pike in a pinch".
Beadman brings up a good point, about being familiar with your woods' strengths and weaknesses, that was along the lines of my reasons for asking the question. I will soon be working with a wood that I am not familiar with, and had a thought to build the first bow somewhat long and underweight/overbuilt. Piking might be a way bring the bow to its finish set/strain, after full draw has been reached.

Of course, once the material is worked into  a few bows, "I do my best to read a piece of wood to determine width and length based on what design I'm after." seems to be the easier approach.

MikeKeswick --  It was your comment in the hackberry thread that got me wondering about this approach for "new wood"

 

You can use any design but the key is starting width enough/long enough then side tiller,reduce length as you go. Watching the set is key. A Pyramid is normally where I start with a new wood because they are easy to keep strained evenly.

 

[bradsmith2010]

you are right, it was not tillered correctly for length,, cutting it shorter let me tiller more correctly with out loosing too much weight,,