Almost finished! Got a question, though...

[gudspelr]

Well, my first bow, a glass back/belly R/D longbow is in the home stretch.  A couple nights ago I spent 5 hours straight sanding, filing, and rasping.  Got it to a workable point and took it to my friend's place yeterday and we strung it up for the first time.  Needless to say, I was a touch nervous...  Thankfully, all went well and I don't have any lasting marks on my face   .

We put the bow scale on it and I started pulling-also a little nervous at that point.  It came out a bit heavy-65# @ 29", but I have all the finish sanding to do, including rounding the edges.  I read on another thread a little while back that you can take pounds off pretty easy with rounding the edges?  Also, When braced, the bottom limb was about 1/4" stiffer than the top limb.  I think I remember this being acceptable?  Should I look to adjust it a bit?  Lastly, got a question on brace height.  It measured 7 1/4" braced-should I look to get it a little more?  I'm going to be sanding my grip down a bit more which will get me a little bit, but I think I heard somewhere that it might be a bit smoother with a little more brace height?  Any advice is very appreciated.

And on another note, I couldn't stand having it strung up and not shoot it, so we grabbed an arrow (I think a bit light for my bow) and headed to the target.  Shot pretty darned good, even without any nock adjustment from his old string.  Gotta be honest, pretty surprised that everything worked out so well.  Thanks to all on this site for the advice and patience with us new guys.


Jeremy (now with a bow    )
 

[walkabout]

i think 1/4 inch positive tiller is ok, usually i shoot for near this with all wood bows. im sure with a lam bow its ok as well. glad it turned out well though, first bows are always a thing of beauty.

[Apex Predator]

How long is the bow nock-nock?  Most of mine R/D longbows like 7-7 1/4 brace.  One quarter inch tiller is in the normal range.  Normally you can loose 3 pounds or so with aggressively rounding the edges.  How much weight does she need to lose?

[gudspelr]

Thanks for the responses-it's 64" nock to nock.  It's not essential to take weight off-I can shoot the bow at it's current weight, but was thinking if I got it at about 60#, it'd be a bit easier.  I'll just start rounding I guess and see where I end up?

[Jason Scott]

Sometimes I have to shoot a bow a lot before I settle on a good tiller. Shoot it a lot, mess with the brace and nock adjustments until you are satisfied with the feel, sound and arrow path. Do this while you are rounding the edges and adjusting the tiller. I will take my 100 grit sanding block out in the back yard while shooting and unstring the bow and sand a little here and there then restring it and shoot some more. Doing this cycle over and over until it's right. Especially for the first bow off a new form because I don't really know what to expect. If you slightly trap the belly you can take a few more pounds off and it may not loose any speed.