Tillering for Longbow Limb Alignment

[Trad Longbow Joe]

It is has been a long time since I tillered a longbow for limb alignment and need some advice.  My limbs are twisting causing the string to lay off to one side of the center line of the bow.  I can't remember which side to remove wood to bring the limb back in line.  If the string lies on the shelf side of the bow do you remove wood from the shelf side or the opposite side of the limb. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[Roy from Pa]

This chart is for any stick bow. Remove wood from the side the string is moving away from. The string will drift towards the weak side of the limb.

   

[Trad Longbow Joe]

Roy, thanks I was removing from the wrong side!  :(

[Roy from Pa]

Oh Joe, I'd have never told anyone that.. LOL

Print that picture out above so ya don't forget...

[Pat B]

Does it only twist at brace or when drawn? If so the limb thickness is probably uneven from side to side.

[Trad Longbow Joe]

The limb thickness is NOW uneven from side to side.  But no worries, I will get the string back in line and shorten the bow a couple inches to keep the weight up.  It is 68" n-t-n now and I can go down to 66" if necessary.  It was an old bow that I made several years ago and the bamboo backing developed a splinter, so we ground off the bamboo and added a new piece.  Tiller was off and so was the string alignment, now just the string alignment!  Thanks for the input!

[Pat B]

The uneven thickness will cause the limbs to twist. The more you draw, the more twist will appear. Aligning the string is a different situation.

[Trad Longbow Joe]

Okay I got the limbs back in line, almost perfect.  String still lies slightly on the rest side, but very close.  I had to shorten the bow by 2" and reduced the handle to get more limb working.  Thanks for the input, I just need to make more bows so I don't forget this little item over time.

[Roy from Pa]

Check the depth of your string grooves. By making one side a tad deeper, that will move the string over too. Look at the picture I posted above.

[Msturm]

Roy your drawing just saved my most recent bow! Mahalo!

[Robertfishes]

I drew a copy of Roy's post on my shop wall back in 2009.. Thanks for posting it again Mr Roy.

[Trad Longbow Joe]

I'm still struggling with getting the limb twist out of this one bow.  Using the diagram and still can't get all the limb twist out.  Tried taking wood of sides and didn't get all the twist out so tried removing some off the belly and the same side as the diagram and worked nock depth still without total success.  Very frustrating.