Red oak board bow, critique welcomed

[Pullonmylimb]

Tried my hand at another board bow.  This is my 3rd ever.  65" nock to nock.  Pyramid shape.  started 2 1/2 inches wide fade to 1/2 at tips, 3/4 thick.  Wound up 2 1/8 wide at fades and 3/8 thick.  I was shooting for about 35#s at 28, wound up with 30#.  Took a long time to hog off the extra wood.  Also found that my scale reads higher after the pulley than it does pulling the string directly.

I understand that with a pyramid you tiller from the sides of the limb and keep the thickness uniform.  The limbs started getting narrow so I wound up taking from the belly.  This bow obviously started with way more wood than what was needed.

Made the handle section really long, like 9 inches.  This is way more than I should need and effectively shortened the limbs a bit.  The string angle at 28" is just short of 90 degrees.

Anyhow braced.
 

Full draw.
 

I think it is bending too much near the handle and not enough mid limb to the tips.  The string angle was getting steep though and i didn't think making the tips bend more would help.

Wound up with about 2 1/2 inches worth of set.
 
mostly in the first 6 to 9 inches from the handle.  Probably because this is the part of the limbs that is bending the most.

Let me know if my observations are on the right track.

I didn't finish the handle yet because it will require a lot of rasp work and i'm not sure if its worth it.  May just start another and get some more tillering practice.

Thanks,
Greg

[hova]

i dont see why it wouldnt work. looks good so far , and good job on it.

-hov

[okie64]

Yeah, youre on the right track. It needs more bend midlimb to tips. All the bend being so close to the fades added more set than it would have taken had it bent more toward midlimb.I never worry about string angle, I just take wood off where it looks like it needs to bend more.JMO

[Dave Bowers]

Tiller might be a touch off, but its looking good imo.

[Flyboy718]

Nice...I envy you, I am now ready to tiller my first red oak board bow, I hope mine looks as good as yours.

[mike hall]

Hmmmm..... if ya look at the braced pic and the draw pic I'm not seeing much bend near handle. Looks like most bend is mid limb. Not a pro but from the pics thats what I'm thinking. Is the left side your bottom limb?

[Pullonmylimb]

mike it just starts to bend slightly about 3 inches out from the fades.  I wasn't sure how much bend to allow in that area.I left the limb taper up a bit into the fades, which i left very blocky and unfinished because i didn't want to waste time shaping if the bow wouldn't tiller out.

I didn't have a particular limb pegged for the lower but as it stands the lower will be the left.

I'm working on rasping out the handle.  Hopefully i will get roughed out enough today, twist up a string and shoot it.

I had this bow in mind for a nephew but i think I can do better and his birthday isn't until may so I have some time.

[PEARL DRUMS]

The left limb needs to bend more about 4-6" away from the fades, its almost flat. Other than that its not too far off! Go slow and remove little with oak or you will be wayyyyy under your draw weight.

[Mike Most]

I dont know if you have made one but look up Tillering Gizmo here and It will help you alot.

Good luck

Mike (Eric Krewson made it)

[PEARL DRUMS]

Listen to Mike, the Gizmo works. It took a bow or two of using it before I let it tell me where to remove wood. Come to find out that dang thing is right!

[mike hall]

Is the tillering gizmo from Eric Krewson? I hear it works.

Nice bow for your 3rd. I'm sure your nephew will love it. My kids like the bulbus type (Torges) grip.

[hova]

without knowing the front profile of the bow , its hard to say if your fades are too flat. some bows are supposed to come out like that. youre at 65" ntn , and it doesnt look like you have a whole lot of set , so just bust a gizmo out of some scrap , and see what you think. i think it looks good , and if youre not getting much set , removing wood at the fades is only going to lower your poundage and increase the risk of set.

an unbraced  and front shot would help a little moree.


-hov

[Pullonmylimb]

Made up a gizmo.  It definitely shows im a bit different limb to limb.  I mostly used my grid and it shows the same thing but not as precisely as the gizmo does.  The gizom is showing up where it looks good to me otherwise.  The limb bend is reduced as i travel out the limbs.  I'm guessing that the bend should be more consistent through the limb and limb to limb in a perfect world.

I don't think the gizmo will help me up at the fades since the limb thickness changes.

Took some profile pics to add.  Handle is still very blocky.

 

 

 

Thanks for all the advice so far.

[PEARL DRUMS]

The gizmo will work from fade to tip. It shouldnt touch the whole distance if you got her tillered right. Thickness has no bearing on the reading it gives, it simply measures bend.

[shamus]

Regarding tiller: you're 90% on target. Given the pyramid profile; get the outer third of each limb to bend more. Pyramids have more of an arc-of-circle tiller rather than elliptical. All of the limb should be doing an equal amount of bending with a the last 4" of limb being stiff.

   Thoughts on fadeouts and handles  Hope that helps.

[Pullonmylimb]

shamus i checked out your link.  looks like a simple layout for the handle.  I may try it on my next bow.  One question i have is where would you put the arrow pass?  Looks like a 4 inch grip and a pass at 2 inches above center.  Do you have to tiler any different for a pass this high?  I don't remember where now but I remember reading to put the pass at 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 above center.