bendy bow tiller?

[John Malone]

Hello Guys. When you tiller a bend through the handle bow say an eastern woodland type bow where does the thickness taper start? In the middle of the handle extending to tips, or at the ends of the handle? Is it usually a straight continuous thickness taper? I know i can start at 3/4 and tiller till it bends right but i need an idea of how the belly taper works on those things as a starting point. I will start getting the limbs to bend then work the handle area as i was advised.

 Thanks for any help guys.

[fujimo]

i know this is not the answer that you want- kind of a kung fu panda answer.

but i let the tillering tree tell me where to remove wood- i dont use a fixed recipe..
you want a nice bend through the handle- but not too much that will take set etc.
a bend thru the handle is my favourite design to build!!
 Sorry   :D

[John Malone]

Thanks fujimo. I found a build along in  TBB4 that's for a d bow. It says leave the middle 5 inches 3/4 then taper to tips. So I'm assuming there isn't much of a taper in the handle proper if any at all.

[fujimo]

not much- the handle doesnt quite bend like the rest of the bow- i like to see it just start to bend at full draw- or close to full draw_ as it usually is narrower than the rest of the bow- it is an area prone to set if it bends too much

[BMorv]

Interested to see what you come up with Johnny.  I never built a bendy....

[mikkekeswick]

Don't narrow the handle area if this is your first.
You don't want the handle to bend at all until a couple of inches shy of full draw. Even then you shouldn't really be able to see the bend...but you will be able to feel it when hand drawn. A hint too much bend in the middle and it will shake your teeeeeth out!
As for limb bend/tiller - this is determined by the front view of the bow. A pyramid should have more or less a circular bend with every part of the limb bending the same amount (little less right off the handle). Bows with parallel width for most of their length should have an elliptical tiller.
Wood at a given thickness can bend so far before taking set and starting to break down, thicker can bend less and thinner can bend more.
Front view therefore determines what the tiller should look like. It's all in TBB. Getting your head around this concept is the key to good performing wooden bows.