How do you prevent set?

[BHTGdogs]

I have been trying my hand at building board bows and keep gettin about 2" of set.

[Apex Predator]

Make sure your boards are dry, never draw it past your intended final draw weight, never draw it further than required to see that your tillering needs adjustment, and tiller it properly for your intended design.  Take your time.

[James Wrenn]

If you are starting out with a straight board you are going to get some set.It is normal.Most strait looking bows built from wood started out with reflex in the them.The set is there it just don't show as much.An 1 1/2 of string follow cost you about 5fps but often makes the bow nicer to shoot.If the bows shoot well I would not worry about it a lot. jmo

[Jeremy]

Apex listed 5 of the top Commandments for bow tillering!

Really though, 2" of set with a board bow is pretty good.

[BHTGdogs]

They do shoot nice I want to try steaming one to put in some reflex but I cant get the feel of it.

[wingnut]

What wood are you using?

Like with anything, the better the ingrediants, the better chance you have of success.

Mike

[buckshot95]

If you follow the commandments. you should come out to have around 2" of set. 2" is really good don't want anymore then 2". You will all ways have string follow.

[George D. Stout]

All the string follow bows I shot were great shooters and whisper quiet.  They don't jump on the shot like a reflexed bow.  Everything is a trade-off, but I like the string follow.

[Apex Predator]

These guys are right on.  I should mention that you should start with some reflex.  I am building one now that I glued in 2 1/2" of reflex.  It stood with 2" out of the form, and I expect it to be straight when I finish her.

This is my starting profile.

 

[wingnut]

Kinda tough to glue in reflex in a board bow.  It's one piece. .. .LOL

If you back your bow with hickory you could put a some reflex in.

You could heat bend some in but with red oak, I'm thinking you should be pleased with 2".

Get a good pignut hickory board and give it a go.  If it's dry, it will work well.

Mike

[Apex Predator]

I think I'm gonna just shut up now!  

[BHTGdogs]

how can I tell when a board is dry there ir a local saw mill where I can get about any wood in Il. what would be some good wood?

[BHTGdogs]

Ttt

[loco_cacahuate]

I just finished a Hickory backed Ash board bow, glued in 2" of reflex, ended up with about 1" of string follow.

[jimneye]

If you live in IL see if you can get a hedge board.  I grew up in Carrollton by the way.

[BHTGdogs]

The sawmill does not get much hedge. your along way from home lol

[The Gopher]

the guys are right, a little string follow is good, don't get wrapped up in being perfect or what other people think the perception of perfect is. you need to ask yourself what this bow is supposed to do. does it shoot an arrow to the spot you want with enough force to kill what your after? if it does then nothing else matters. But, the two most important things to remember are never pull the bow past your intended draw weight OR your intended draw length. this caught me when i built my first couple board bows cause i woud think, "lets just see what the draw weight is at my draw length" Big no no. good luck