Fresh outta the oven

[Thomas Pierce]

This is a follow up to my   previous post  about making a bamboo backed hickory longbow. Here are pictures after glue up!

   
 
Riser
   
Tips

I already tapered the limbs something like fourteen inches in, but just from flexing it on the floor I can tell it's crazy strong! Where should I start taking out wood? Sides? Belly? Both?

[takefive]

Unless your bow is wide at the fades, like more than 1 3/4", I'd start taking wood off the belly.  Don't take much off the inner limbs for now, especially where your handle fades meet the belly.  I'd want to get the mid to outer limbs bending first.  Do you have a tillering Gizmo?
I'm hoping Roy from Pa. will weigh in here soon.  He's made a lot of bamboo backed R/D bows and will give you some great advice on tillering it.
Your glue up looks good  
I just put one in the oven 1/2 hour ago, too.  

[Ice Mike]

Looking good!

To add to what takefive said, if you have a scale then I would pull with it attached on the tree. Pull to your target weight with the long string and then mark the draw length. Pull the string to that length and put it in the tree groove and step back. You can start off belly tillering by eye but when you get to the short string you'll want to use the gizmo. Never pull the bow past your intended target weight if you can help it. This will help keep the set down.

[Pat B]

How thick is the hickory?  One concern I would have is that your fades are too steep. They won't allow the working limbs "fade" into the rigid handle. If the handle area bends at all the handle will pop off.
 I'd work on the limbs to get to floor tiller making sure both limbs are bending evenly and together. It is difficult to do this precisely at floor tiller but get it as close as you can.
  Next, go to a long string, just longer than the bow(not much slack). When you have both limbs bending well out to about 6" of tip movement its time for a low brace(about 3") to see how the string tracks.
  If everything is good go to full brace and continue tillering until you get the limbs bending evenly and together(easy to see now). A tiller Gizmo will come in handy from here on.

[Thomas Pierce]

Yes! Here's my gizmo:
   
The hickory is 3/8" throughout. Just made one pass over my belt and the limbs are moving about five inches @ 35#. I'll probably have to wait until Tuesday to keep working on it, but I'll keep ya'll posted!

[D]

In my experience its a bad idea to tiller with a belt wander. I think thats what you ment by made a pass over the belt. They can take off to much material to fast. Learned that the hard way on my first one I ever tried. Now I just use a scraper.

[takefive]

A Gizmo is a 6" block of wood with a hole drilled to fit a pencil in it, 'tho some guys just use the block without the pencil.  You run it along the belly while your bow is bent on the tree and it will show you if your limbs have a nice even arc or if there are weak or stiff spots.  You'll find the thread for it if you do a search on here.
It really helps with tillering, but you have to read between the lines a bit depending on the style of bow you're making.  On your R/D bow, you'll probably want to keep the last 8-10" of the tips a bit stiff.  So you have to ignore the Gizmo in that area and go more by eye and feel.

[Thomas Pierce]

Ohh, that gizmo. No, I'll have give that a go. As for the belt sander, you're absolutely right, I gave myself a little scare this morning.. regardless, I've got a lot of wood to remove so I've not ruined it yet.      

EDIT: As for the fades, I just cut them 45° after I got the riser out of the oven just so they wouldn't be square. I'll probably halve that angle and try to bring the hickory down a pinch below the riser to absorb some of that bend.

[Ice Mike]

Very good advice from takefive there on the differences on the tiller depending on the shape of the bow..I'll add this..

With the pronounce R/D design like you have there, you want a finished elliptical look to the tiller, not a circular type of tiller. Also, MOST of the working limb will be mid limb or so. You'll know if you start taking out too much in the mid limb area because they will start trying to hinge at the fades. Go really slow and keep looking at were the work is being done while you are bending the bow on the tree. Don't just look at static bends, watch it in motion. If you start seeing the work load shift from the middle of the limbs to further back toward the fades, then REALLY slow down and be careful!!