First time boyer with questions

[Widowbender]

Well I've been bitten by the bow bug...so I'm working on a red oak flatbow and I've gotten down to the short string today...

 

The limb on the right actually doesn't pull back straight(it twists), You can kind of see it in the pic. How do I correct this so it bends straight? Also how does the tiller look at this point? Thanks in advance for any advice or input...

David

[Pluck Yew]

David, taking into account I am new to bow making ..as I look at it the right limb seems to twist towards me.. conventional wisdom says take wood off the low side...away from the high end of the twist...this should correct the twist...    

Shawn...

[Holm-Made]

I wouldn't worry about the limb twist in a selfbow made out of a stave.  I've only made about 10 of them and it was a few years ago so I'm no expert but out of the 10 I bet 5 had a limb with some twist.  It's what the wood wants to do so let it.  It won't affect shootability as long as the tiller is good.  

Hopefully a selfbow guru will chime in here and back me up.  

[Apex Predator]

I would say tiller is looking good, so far.  I'm a little worried about your handle popping off though.    It's bending right up to the handle, so probably trying to bend through the handle.  If you have plenty of wood left to take off before making weight, leave the limbs alone within a couple of inches of the handle.  That way it will bend less.  This illustration helped me to wrap my head around correcting twist.  Hope it helps.

 

[Widowbender]

Thanks Guys,
Apex, thanks for the illustration...I'll try that...This is basically a test bow to get my feet wet, so weight isn't an issue...I'm just trying to get a shootable bow that will stay together...This is something that I want to get into because:
A. I have the equipment.
B. There is a hardwood sawmill nearby and I can
 get local hardwoods cheap.
C. I love bows and making stuff, so this is double the fun!!!

I'll add some new pics as I go along, thanks again...

David

[crooked river]

Yep...not to worry about a little twist, but if you must, the limb twists towards the weak side....and yes again, there is alot of bend real close to that glue on handle...might want to get it bending more towards mid limb.

[shamus]

[/QUOTE] I wouldn't worry about the limb twist in a selfbow made out of a stave. [/QUOTE]

A natural propeller twist is nothing to worry about; it's how the tree grew. BUT if you tiller incorrectly a straight limb will start to twist as one side of the limb is weaker than the other. That situation has to be corrected.  A bow will twist to the weak side, so remove wood on the other side.

So the question is: Is the twist just how the wood grew (a natural propeller twist), or has the limb thickness been improperly executed, resulting in a limb that twists as it's bent?

[Shaun]

I check for symmetry in thickness and for taper in both thickness and width from handle to tip.

I had to call Charlie Lamb when I made a glass bow to ask which side to take off material to correct limb twist on a glass bow. It is counter intuitive, the limb twists toward the strong side not the weak side. Take wood off the side the sting is going towards.

[George Tsoukalas]

Shaun, on a selfbow the limb twists towards the weak side. Jawge

[canshooter]

I have just made one of these myself, and my first handle popped off. The glue didn't let go, the handle split. I had read that the handle wood didn't matter so I used Cedar. Made a new handle out of Ash. much better now, the strength of the Ash reinforced the central region.

[Roy Steele]

Take wood off the other side.As you tiller it.
  or if it's a natural twist in the stave.One you did'nt create yourself by tillering or heat or steam..I just tiller the bow the way it is.
  This is what I normaly do.Sometimes I do both if it's really bad.