Reducing Old Selfbow Poundage???

[Scioto]

Just a quick question.  I have a 52# osage selfbow that I have been shooting for about the past 10 years. Lately, the poundage seems a bit heavier than I would like, and I would like to shave 5-6#'s off the belly and refinish.  Can I safely do this without screwing it up or causing any additional set?  Thanks for any input!

[PEARL DRUMS]

Piece of cake. You will need a tiller board or tree, a good scraper, a set of scales and of course refinishing stuff. How long and wide is the bow?

[Scioto]

The bow is 62" ntn and 1 1/4" wide at mid limb.  I am just concerned that the weight reduction will cause the wood to take on additional set. I have never attempted this before.

[PEARL DRUMS]

The wood removal will VERY minimal to take 5-6# off, very minimal. Set comes from overstressed/underexercised wood during tillering. If you scrape 8-10 equal amounts off each limb and exercise it well until you reach your target weight, the bow will look no differently than it does now. If you have never done any bow building I would suggest leaving it alone, or maybe get with somebody that has to help you through it. Its a simple process and very quick, but if you dont really know what your looking for it can get away from you quickly.

[glenbo]

Take it nice and slow with a sharp scraper as Pearl Drums suggested.I would reccomend a tillering gizmo to keep things even.After I saw one on the bowyers bench I easily made one.So simple but pure genius.Good luck,glen

[frank bullitt]

I will add to what pearl and glenbo said. Make some witness marks with pencil, just past the fades.

Then scrape from the marks, evenly, the entire limb just short of the nocks. maybe 6 swipes per limb, then string up and draw and excerise the limbs. Then do the gizmo check.

Post this over on the Bowyers section for more help! Keep us informed.

[scrub-buster]

I just took a 50# selfbow down to #30 so my son can shoot it at the Tenn. Classic.  I had built the bow a couple of years ago.  I just approached it like I was tillering a new bow and made sure to keep everything even.  I think the bow has a better tiller now than it did before I reworked it.

[Aznboi3644]

If your wanting to take that little off I'd just use some sandpaper.

[J.F. Miller]

depending on the type of finish you have on your bow, you could be losing and gaining nearly that much between summer and winter. my osage bows routinely gain 2-3lbs or more in the colder, drier months, lose it in summer under commercial polyamide epoxy finish. taking off 5-6lbs with sandpaper is an awful lot of sanding, but I guess you could do it, although I wouldn't recommend it because it's more difficult to sand that much and do it evenly. I would use a Bowyer's Edge or similar depth controlled finesse scraping tool. a cabinet scraper would be my second choice.

assuming tiller is correct, reducing weight is as simple as removing wood evenly from both limbs. the best way I know to do that is actually count your tool strokes. remove wood from the sides and belly. I would remove about 3lbs, then shoot several hundred arrows, check tiller and weight. you will lose a smidgen of weight from compression, and you should allow a pound or so for the finish sanding. takes a serious bunch of shooting to be certain that no more compression is taking place in a bow that is manipulated after being well used.  so, yes, you can do this without causing additional set if you work carefully.