Negative Tiller ???

[bowhntineverythingnh03743]

Hey everyone,
 Hope everyone is doing well and having a great start to the hunting season. I have been unsuccessful thus far but I am going to grind it out and figure the deer out on my land.

While sitting in the tree stand I have been thinking about attempting my hand at a fixed crawl for shooting. My question is guys, would one have to build a bow with a negative tiller because there is so much stress on the lower limb? Would a negative tiller quiet the noise that is usually associated with crawling down the string?

Any advice would be awesome!

Thanks guys and good luck hunting!

[YosemiteSam]

Not necessarily.  A workable crawl can be done with a combination of raising the nocking point a little higher than normal and crawling down the string.  Depending on your arrow speed and shaft length, you may or may not get a perfect point-on at 15 yards but you can at least get it to a workable gap not much bigger than your hand from 0-20.  The extra bit of nock-high can put them slightly out of tune if you're bareshafting.  But it will straighten out in a few yards.  Of course, that might do something funky with broadheads...  Have to play around with it for a while to see what your setup can do.

Alternatively, go for long, heavy arrows.  Everything else stays the same but slower, longer arrows have smaller gaps, too.

[Bowjunkie]

If you're going to stress it MORE, why would you make it weaker?

As always, my advice is to hold it on the tillering tree how it will be held when shot, then adjust it so that limb strength is balanced at full draw. Don't use premeditated measurements or side profile generalities to guide you. Use balance. Let the bow tell you what it needs to achieve balance. And let the measurements be whatever they'll be.

[jsweka]

I've made a number of bows for my good buddy Gary Hall (D&M arrows).  He went to a fixed crawl and when shooting those longbows they sounded like a screen door slamming shut.  The last bow I made for him, I gave it about 3/16" negative tiller.  When it was done, I shot it and Canopyboy shot it with our regular split finger style of shooting.  It sucked!  But when we changed and tried Gary's fixed crawl, it felt great.  Gary seems to love it and it shoots great for him.

So my conclusion is yes, if you're building a bow that will be shot with a fixed crawl, give it some negative tiller.

[Bowjunkie]

There are still too many variables up in the air to make a statement that narrow, IMO.

[mwosborn]

Originally posted by Bowjunkie:
There are still too many variables up in the air to make a statement that narrow, IMO.

There certainly many variable involved.  However, with glass bows (and less variability) you might be able to argue that conclusion made by jsweka.

The glass bows I have made with even to negative tiller shoot better with a fixed crawl than those with positive tiller.  Self bows I have not shot with a fixed crawl.