Tillering Tree Question

[Honest Jon]

When tillering a bow (selfbow in my case), what do you use as the fulcrum point in the handle section of the bow.  I lower the center point of the handle about 1-1.5 inches below the center point of the overall bow length. Should the tillering rope pull directly down from the center of the established handle, the center of the bow length ....or somewhere else.
Jon

[WhistlingBadger]

I usually put my hook on the string and inch or two above center, approximately where the arrow nock is going to sit.  That said, I've tillered bows from the center of the handle, and they worked out OK, so it probably isn't worth worrying about too much.  Just makes a little more sense to me to put it where the arrow is going to be.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I start the tiller centered on the handle and middle if the string so pressures are balance to start an even bend. Once I get to about 6” shoot full draw I shift to center of the handle for a pressure point and there I intend my middle finger to be when drawing an arrow. The last couple inches I tiller in hand infront of a camera to see how it acts when drawn by hand.the last one you can do by feel and not need a camera but the camera makes it easier.

Kyle

[Pat B]

On my bows, the center of the handle is the center of the bow and I center the handle on the tiller tree. When I get near full draw I make sure the bottom limb is slightly stiffer than the top limb.

[willi]

what do you use as the fulcrum point in the handle section of the bow.

not anything that has so much contact that the bow cannot be free to tip side to side and not anything so pointy that the bow is hard to keep from tipping erratically
a soft leather or cork pad about an inch wide? (placement as per mo-coons advice)

I also have a small loop of string a couple of inches long that I can hitch to the tillering string that serves as a place to hook my pullrope. the hitched loop can slide on the tiller string with effort, but does not move without effort.

[Mo_coon-catcher]

His picture shows well how I attach the bow to the tree. I use a loop of rope and a caribiner to clip to the scale.

Kyle

[Pat B]

That's a good, non-static method, Kyle but the true view of the full draw tiller is on a hand held bow. That is a reason most of us like to see the back profile, the unbraced, the braced and the full draw hand held pics. The way the shooter holds the bow at full draw is the true picture of the full drawn bow...for that shooter.

[WhistlingBadger]

His picture shows well how I attach the bow to the tree. I use a loop of rope and a caribiner to clip to the scale.

Kyle

Interesting setup, Kyle.  It's almost the opposite of mine, which supports the bow with a wooden stand underneath and has the scale on the pull rope.  I might like your way better.  You have me thinking...

[Mo_coon-catcher]

After using both ways there are a couple distinctions. With the fixed scale you have to accommodate the scales movement into the draw length. Which is why I can slide and move the yard stick. Lower poundage scales move more for the same draw weight but the heavier scales are harder to fine tune your poundage. Once the bow is hooked up to the scale I pull the bow itself to my intended poundage and see where the back of the bow ends up and move the yard stick there. But the scale is always in one spot for easy reference and if the bow snaps the scale doesn’t go flying to the ground.

Kyle

[Kirkll]

I don't mess with self bows much, but here is a couple photos of my tiller tree. i mounted the bow mount section on the wall with 6 heavy duty wood screws. Then i have pieces of rubber that are flat or rounded . I typically tiller my limbs before the riser block is shaped.  like this

but i use the rounded piece for shaped risers.

When i built my tiller tree it was years ago when i was doing a lot of prototype work and running DFC charts on the different designs. So i kind of went off the deep end here and built a section below the bow mount with a track and put a light in it... if you look real close you can see the holes in the black plastic that are spaced exactly 1 inch apart. There is another hole in the string hook block that the light shines through as you crank the bow down . that hook is shaped like fingers would hold the string.

here is the whole set up.

 

I mounted a boat wench on a wood pedestal and use a pulley at the bottom.  I can use this with tje bracket hook, or just clip it to the string with a carbiner.