Blank wall needs a tillering tree

[Living_waters]

One thing I have learned with certain woods, they dont like long periods of being held at max draw during tillering. My neighbor hates Mulberry because he says it takes lots of set. I found that if you are really conscious about the way you pull the bow (slow and smooth) and not hold it at full draw, mulberry takes very little set. Ash and some hickory performs the same.
I use a single pulley and aircraft cable with two loops one at the end where I can set back and get a good perspective of how it is bending and one up close so I can pull and reach the limb with a gizmo. I pull to an exact mark on the draw length scale, mark one limb quickly not holding it any longer than I have too. Exercise it a couple of times then mark the other limb.

[Pat B]

It also takes twice as long to pull the bow, and you hold it twice as long with a double pulley.
I built a 95#@30" war bow a few years ago with a single pulley tiller tree. I could only pull the bow about 12" by hand but had no problem pulling it on my tiller tree.
  It is all about personal preference anyway so how you do it is how you do it. I try to keep all of this bow making stuff as simple as possible and especially for the new guys that are just starting out.

[jtbluefeather871]

Well, I was up until 1 this morning tinkering with the tillering tree, finishing a couple of knives and starting another bow.  I can't decide if I want a nap, or to head out to the shop and get back to work... I'll keep all of this in mind and post some pictures when I'm done.  Thanks for all of the advice!

[John Scifres]

[George Tsoukalas]

Single pulley man here. My set up is placed in a wood vice. Vice is securely bolted to the table and the table is reinforced under the vice.  So there is no tipping  2 x 4 is clamped at the top. Good exercise. Remember if you want to make a 50 pounder your scape will read 25 lbs with a double pulley. Double pulleys... ...not needed. Info on my site. Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/directions.html

[George Tsoukalas]

Single pulley man here. My set up is placed in a wood vice. Vice is securely bolted to the table and the table is reinforced under the vice.  So there is no tipping  2 x 4 is clamped at the top. Good exercise. Remember if you want to make a 50 pounder your scape will read 25 lbs with a double pulley. Double pulleys... ...not needed. Info on my site. Jawge
 http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/directions.html

[Cuban Missile]

John I like how you have the center line marked out on the string.  That was one thing that killed me on my first bow, after that all of my strings have been marked at center.

[Pete W]

A note on pulleys. The larger the pulley diameter the easier the rope pulls and less line friction going around the bend.
 Small diameter block and tackles are much less efecient than ones with larger diameters.
 Also larger ropes are easier to pull than 1/4" para chord.
 If you mount the scale between the pulley and yourself your weight will be low due to the friction loss going over the shive. Mount the scale directly to the string for acuracy.

Pete