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Topic Archives => How To - Resources => Topic started by: Lost Arra on February 08, 2006, 10:54:00 PM

Title: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 08, 2006, 10:54:00 PM
I am tillering an osage stave that has about a 30-45degree prop twist in the outer one half of one limb. It seems to be a consensus that if the tips and handle line up, which they do, then a little twist should not be a problem.

Now on the tillering tree the twisted part looks like a paddle and makes it a little hard to see the bending.

My question: Do I scrape my facets in the usual manner in the twisted area or does one side of the limb get more than the other? If the limb is twisted to the right, do I scrape a little more on the left side?

I hope to get some pics up tomorrow to help with my question.

Thanks
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Luke Vander Vennen on February 08, 2006, 11:01:00 PM
Just my opinion, but if the limb is twisted that much, I would get a heat gun working on it. It makes it easier to see the tiller and, in my opinion, makes it just that much safer.

My two cents
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: NorthShoreLB on February 08, 2006, 11:42:00 PM
I would do the same as Luke.

In the long run I belive is less work, and less room for mistakes  :bigsmyl:    :bigsmyl:  

  Manny
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Hun on February 09, 2006, 01:33:00 AM
Arra, just outer one half is hard to envision. Probably it's the whole limb twisting  right? Look down the limb and see if the twist starts in a certain part of the limb and than stays flat but twisted the rest of the way. You can get a heat gun or use steam to heat the area say 6 or 8" at the place where the twist begins. Use a vise to hold the bow and take a padded wrench and straighten the twist a little past flat.
If the whole limb is gradualy twisting you cuold just move the tip. You will still have the tillering hassle though. Good luck, Ferret posted some pics of the method recently.
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 09, 2006, 09:03:00 AM
Well it looks like there is not a consensus on leaving a twist in a limb.

I guess I'll get the heat gun out tonight.
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: T Folts on February 09, 2006, 09:44:00 AM
You can also make a reflex form to induce reflex, straighten twist and line up the tips all at the same time.

Terry
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Ted Fry on February 09, 2006, 11:42:00 AM
Lost arra , I would leave it as is , keep both sides equall thickness . Temptation is to thin one side, however that will put more stress on that one side . If you keep it the same you will notice that even though the twist is there it will pull straight with the axis of the bend.
To make it a bit easier to tiller measure every six inches from the string grooves and check each measurement from the center of the belly to the string to the same measurement on the opposite limb .
The measurements wont lie like the eye will
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: George Tsoukalas on February 09, 2006, 07:10:00 PM
...and sometimes you need to turn it around and look at the other side. Take a peak at Aerobow on my site. jawge
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 09, 2006, 11:24:00 PM
George: I did look at Aerobow and that's why I didn't heat gun this stave yet. I will post pics in the morning but I think it can be done without heating/wrenching.
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 10, 2006, 09:55:00 AM
This shows the twist  at the end of the stave.
I think I'll take another photo with it on the tillering tree. It might show better. It is a little more twisted than this photo shows.

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/twist02.jpg)
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Slim Buttes on February 10, 2006, 10:37:00 AM
You call that a twist?
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 10, 2006, 02:19:00 PM
It's really more exaggerated than that photo but then again, maybe its not twisted that much. It's on the tree that it is giving me a problem:

Both of the following photos are with the twisted limb on the right side. :

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/twistrt01.jpg)

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/twistright01.jpg)
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Ted Fry on February 10, 2006, 02:21:00 PM
I hope the rest of only get wood with that much twist
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 10, 2006, 02:22:00 PM
Here it is with the twist on the left side.
I had planned to not heat correct it but I didn't want to get too far along and wish I had..

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/twistlft01.jpg)

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/twistleft01.jpg)
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 10, 2006, 04:01:00 PM
All right,  all right...... maybe I've just been spoiled with the other bodark I've used in my novice bow building.

Ted: I took your recommendation with the measurements and things are starting to come together much better.  I will have it on a short string soon as it is getting easier to ignore the twist, especially since you and slim are making a joke of it.    :bigsmyl:
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: George Tsoukalas on February 10, 2006, 08:45:00 PM
Your doing a fine job. Don't think of it as twist. Think of it as character.  :)  Jawge
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 10, 2006, 09:58:00 PM
George: sometimes I do better if I don't think at all!   :bigsmyl:  
Someone here (I think it was Stan) called it "paralysis by analysis".

This afternoon after looking again at your Aerobow and with Ted's encouragement to skip the heat gun I just jumped in with both feet and now she's done. 62" and a little over 60#@28 right now but I've only shot about 20 arrows and I'm not finished sanding so I'm hoping for about 55#. I really need some advice on shaping limb tips. Mine always look like "thumbs".

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/Scifres01.jpg)

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/Scifres02.jpg)
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: the Ferret on February 10, 2006, 10:03:00 PM
Dang Bob you are getting good at this game. Nice looking bow. I have a thing on my website about shaping tips and overlays that may help.

 http://groups.msn.com/ferretsarcherywebpage/installingtipoverlays.msnw
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: rocdoc on February 10, 2006, 10:03:00 PM
Nice job Bob!!!

I knew I should have given you some 'trashwood' at McAlaster....then you wouldn't have know any better.  That's not a twisted limbed bow, it's just Osage ;-)
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: rocdoc on February 10, 2006, 10:04:00 PM
You wouldn't have knowN any better either ;-)
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 10, 2006, 10:24:00 PM
Doug: you are the one that spoiled me!  1/8" rings and straight as a string for my first osage bow. I thought all osage was supposed to look like that!

I had planned on bringing this to OJAM for advice but I couldn't wait.
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Timo on February 10, 2006, 10:47:00 PM
Dang that's a perty tiller! Nice job!  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Linc on February 11, 2006, 07:03:00 AM
S-w-e-e-t looking bow ya got there Bob.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: John Scifres on February 11, 2006, 10:55:00 AM
Bob,

I've been sending people wood for a lot of years.  This year has been great for seeing the chunks of wood I send out turned into bows.  I had one customer email me a pic of a doe he killed with a bow made from some wood I sent him.  Then HunterDFK makes that awesome ambush bow.  And now this!  What a great tiller.  Congrats.  Great job.  Those tips don't look bad to me.

John
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Bowchef on February 11, 2006, 11:04:00 AM
If you get more of that "twisted" wood that you don't want to mess with, just give me a shout.  That is straighter than anything I have ever had.  I'm with Ted.  Tiller it and shoot it.  That slight twist won't hurt you at all.
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Ted Fry on February 11, 2006, 01:38:00 PM
Looks like another beautiful wood bow to me.Great job on the tiller
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: badger4x on February 11, 2006, 01:45:00 PM
That twist doesn't look like anything I would worry about much. Looks pretty good actually. Steve
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: NorthShoreLB on February 11, 2006, 01:46:00 PM
Beautifull Tiller !!!


that wasn't a twist  :bigsmyl:  You try trick us  :bigsmyl:  

60# 62"  that's nice


  Manny
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: George Tsoukalas on February 11, 2006, 01:54:00 PM
Outstanding. Well done. Great tiller. I basically shape the nocks to fit my stringer which I rearely use these days anyway. There's some info on my site. Check the buildlalongs. A 4 way rasp works well for nocks.  Jawge
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on February 11, 2006, 05:26:00 PM
J Scifres: I hope to send you a photo of something shot by this bow!  Sorry I failed to give credit to the source of this wood (while I whined about the "twist").

I know the twist didn't look like much to the experienced guys here but it had a novice like me worried at first. Even at first brace it looked pretty shakey, kind of like an old recurve that had been improperly strung.  

As the tillering progressed I kept thinking about a sentence in Dean's book:
" The only meaningful criterion which should be applied to the tillered bow is what it does at full draw."  
And to tell the truth, this bow looks it's best only at full draw.
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: rocdoc on February 11, 2006, 08:58:00 PM
Bob....you'll find that a LOT of the bows you make will be that way.  I've noticed that the earlier in the tillering process that I try to string the bow, the more likely it is to show some twist...that's one of the reasons I try and get my bows to within about 10 lbs of their target weight before I string them.

GREAT JOB!!!  I can't believe you are already turning out bows with such an expert eye for tilleing!
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Tim Clark on February 11, 2006, 09:51:00 PM
Ditto every good thing said. What could I add? Wonderful tiller, and I would take issue with your statement that the full draw pic is the only good looking one. That braced pic is spot-on also. Well done, Bob. Well done.
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Terry Green on May 04, 2007, 08:31:00 PM
TTT for final pics......
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Lost Arra on May 04, 2007, 09:23:00 PM
I forgot to add the final photos of the finished bow before it moved to another forum:

  (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/DSCN0266.jpg)

  (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/DSCN0259.jpg)

  (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/LostArrow/DSCN0260.jpg)
Title: Re: tillering osage limb twist/ its a bow (photos added)
Post by: Terry Green on May 04, 2007, 09:40:00 PM
Moved to the 'How To' forum.

Wow!........what a BEAUT!!!!!!

Nice Job Sir!!!!!   :notworthy:    :notworthy:    :notworthy: