Shagbark Hickory tiller help

[firewood maker]

This is my fourth attempt at making a bow.  My daughter has two and one is firewood. This one is 70 inches and is 52 lbs at 28 inches. I have pulled it to that distant abo 80 times.

Any help with the tiller would be great.

[formerbutcher]

Looks good to me, i would get rid of that stick and make a tiller tree with a rope and pulley, much safer and easier on the bow too !

[Pat B]

Have you braced this bow yet or is it still on the long string?  Tiller looks very good but if it is on the long string, that could change.

[walkabout]

i agree, if itson the long string the tiller could change, if its already braced looks pretty good.left limb 1/3 near the handle looks a little more bent than the rest of the limb. remember that if you go from long string to short the tips will bend more so dont get too impatient with them till braced. good luck and let us know if you need any more help

[firewood maker]

Thanks for the help. The bow is on a short string. I have seen the pulleys tiller trees used on this site. I am new to the site but you are right and I am going search and make one.

Walkabout I see what you mean about the left side 1/3.  I am going to check that again.  

Should my tips have a little more bend?  My first attemts at bows I put to much bend in the tips.  Now I wounder if I went the other way.

Thanks again

[walkabout]

i dont worry about the tips till the very last stage of tillering, they bend alot more once you get it braced at about 6 inches. i still leave 3-4 inches of the tips stiff so i can narrow them later to reduce handshock so keeping them around 3/8 inch thick is good. i suggest if you dont have one make yourself a tillering block by drilling a hole in a 6 inch long block of straight wood to fit a pencil in snugly, just set it against the limb where it bends the most then twist the pencil till its about 1/32 away from touching. run the block up and down the limb and itll mark the stiff spots. i use one of these and it sure beats doing it by eye,lol.

[firewood maker]

I like the tillering block idea.  I am more of a measure type builder then an art/tallent person.  Which I think is part of my bow building problem.

I will make a tiller block and try that my next days off.  

Bye the way, the wood I used for this project is from scrape milling edge.  It was alittle thin in the handle so I added a piece to thicken it.  I figured free was agood price and I seem to make firewood better then bows anyway.

I will let you know how it ends up.  Maybe this time it will be a hunting bow.

[walkabout]

most of my bows are red oak board bows from 1x2x72 from lowes, i add a section anywhere from 8 to 10 inches long on the belly for a handle/riser and it works really well for me. i dont have access to raw staves right now and we dont have anywhere close that sells hickory or any other bow wood so the oak is what i get.lol its challenging at times but im getting pretty good results now. anyway my point is that you work with what you got,lol.another tip is to use a hunting knife held at 90 degrees to scrape rather than using a surform rasp. it takes off less material and if you got the right knife it ends up very flat. i scrape stiff spots anywhere from 10 to 20 times depending on how stiff and whether or not the spot is flat. when it comes to final tiller taking it slow like this helps to save them from becoming firewood.anyway hope this one turns out well for ya, keep us posted.