2nd Attempt Under Way

[D.A. Davis]

So, it's more important to make sure and have the center of the bow in the right place, and do whatever you have to do to keep the limb butt intact.

Thanks for the help Kenny.

I'm working on this bow,and am already planning on the next one.

[D.A. Davis]

Ok, here's some pics of my bow on the tiller stand.  It looks to me that the left limb is a little stiffer than the right.  Do I sand the sides of the limbs over the full length, or just in certain places?

 

 

 

 

 

[D.A. Davis]

I've got another question about tillering.  When you get past the long string, and go to the short string, do you put an actual bow string on it, or do you make a string to length from cord, like my long string?

[Apex Predator]

With these glass bows you just need to string it with the normal length string.  You are dealing with a whole other animal here.  Set is measured in fractions of an inch instead of several inches.  If it were me, I would narrow the outer third of the limbs to get all but the last 4-5" bending more.

You won't find many glass bows with the aroow pass being right at the center of the bow.  Mine are typically 1 1/4" above the bows center.  Decide where you want the shelf and tie in a nocking point on the string.  Use that nocking point to determine where to pull from when checking tiller.  It can make quite a difference.

[D.A. Davis]

Thanks Apex.  Do you put your nock at zero, or do you set it above zero,1/8" - 1/2", like a bow is when it's set up to shoot?

[Apex Predator]

I start my tillering/timing with the nock 3/8" above square for a split finger tiller, and 5/8" above for three under tiller.  I draw the string where a shooter's middle finger will be.  If building a straight, dished, or mild locater type of grip, I will leave the riser block square while tillering.  If wanting a deeper grip, then you need to shape it first and make some sort of holder on your tiller tree to simulate a higher wrist grip.

[fish n chicks]

Originally posted by Apex Predator:
I start my tillering/timing with the nock 3/8" above square for a split finger tiller, and 5/8" above for three under tiller.  I draw the string where a shooter's middle finger will be.  If building a straight, dished, or mild locater type of grip, I will leave the riser block square while tillering.  If wanting a deeper grip, then you need to shape it first and make some sort of holder on your tiller tree to simulate a higher wrist grip.

Apex I have also found leaving the riser square while tillering to be the best route as well. Of course the bow usually ends up back on the tree after shaping the riser cause I like looking at curves, and for that I have found a 1" dowel glued to a scrap 2by gives me the fulcrum I need to balance a bow. I then placed (2) 1/2" dowels about 1/4" lower than the 1" dowel to keep the bow for over spinning one way or another if not centered. Mind you i'm not referring to the center of the dowels, but the top height that would be in contact with the bow.

Like this:

   

The fulcrum point becomes your hand's web point if doing locator grips. Otherwise center the bow, use a level once it's been slightly strung up on the tree to get it balanced, step back and think sexy time.


By the way D.A. that bow is coming along beautifully!! I have been following your threads and i'm glad to see you're progress. It's impressive and makes me want to make one right now! Cant wait to see her being shot.

[Jason Scott]

You have plenty of room to make any style grip you want on that riser. Its ok to take some of the glass off where the heel of your hand touches.

[Jason Scott]

By the way the pictures look, the scale you have printed and stuck on the wall, the right side print is out further than the left side by at least an inch. This would make the left limb look stronger because it is not to the same red line as the right. Even though, you still want one limb a little stronger even if the print scale spacing is right. First thing I do after roughing in the string nocks and taking the sharp edges off the glass is string the bow with the correct length string and check for brace tiller at the fades. Then I'll take it to the tree and see how the limbs bend. No need for long string on a glass bow like Apex said. If things are close at that point I pick a top limb and make the shelf and shoot it a few dozen times and put it back on the tree. Don't get to happy about perfecting the tiller too fast, sometimes things will change on you after shooting a little and you can't put material back that you already took off. I had a bow once that decided to change which limb would be on the top after rough shooting which forced me to reduce the top limb I had already designated to get it back to possitive tiller. I lost quite a bit of weight getting it back. So now I made it a practice to excersize the limbs before I cut the shelf, giving the bow a chance to settle in and make its mind up.

[D.A. Davis]

Thanks for all the shared knowledge Jason.  That's what I like about this Board.  People are always ready to take someone under their wing and share the knowledge they've accumulated over the years.  

I'm trying to be real patient with this one.  It's hard.  Impulse makes me want to hurry and get it done so I can shoot it, but common sense tells me to take my time, and get this one right.

Oh, I think I'm going to go with what Kenny said and put a grip cap on it.  I fitted one last night for the bow out of scrap walnut, and I really like the looks of it.  Thanks again for all the help.

D.A.

[D.A. Davis]

Ok guys, I need some opinions.  After taking Apex's advice and narrowing the outer third of my limbs, I braced my bow with a 63" string (66" bow)and took measurements at the fades to check the tiller.  First, I measured and marked the fades on both ends, so to insure that I would be measuring the tiller at the same location on both fades.  Now, I had already determined that I had one limb a little stiffer than the other.  My tiller measurements were 6 5/8" & 6 7/8".  

Here's some pics after the limbs were narrowed, and with the bow braced with the 63" string.  You can see that the right limb is slightly stiffer.  Now, this was done with the bow drawn from the center position on the bow/string.

 

 

 

 

[D.A. Davis]

Ok, now again, I took Apex's advice and measured and located where my shelf will be (1 1/4" above center), and I put a arrow nock point on the string at 1/2" above the arrow rest.  Apex recommended 5/8" above, but in all my years of shooting, both traditional and compound, I've never seen a bow nock set above 1/2".  Anyway, then I located where on the string my middle finger would be with the nock point where I had it set, and drew the bow from that point.  First, I did this with the stiffer limb to the bottom of the bow, but it was way off.  So, I remeasured everything and put the stiffer limb to the top, and this is how it came out.

 

 

 

 

[D.A. Davis]

Now, my question is, am I close enough to go ahead and shape my riser?

[Trux Turning]

Looks really good-it's bending nicely--if I'm that close on the fade measurements I  just figure out which is the stiff limb- put that at the bottom and cut out my shelf and shape the riser- once I have that done I work on the tiller to get it right where I want it-as you can see your tiller will change depending on where you pivot the bow from and pull the string.This one is already close from the looks of it.

[Apex Predator]

I'd say go for it!

[D.A. Davis]

In the picture up above I've got the stiffer limb on the top.  When I changed it this morning to the bottom position, the tiller wasn't as good.  But, my tiller measurements are close, so I'm going to go ahead and shape my grip and shelf.  Also, I drew the bow just to get a feel for the poundage, and I think I'm going to shorten the bow from 66" to 64".  This will give me a little more poundage.  Well, since I was planning on putting a grip cap on the bow, I went a head and put it on the bow along with an accent along the back of the bow.  It's under heat lamps now.

[Swissbow]

Looking good to me. I'd say if your not to far from your target draw weight, choose the top limb and start with shaping the riser.

----------
Andy

[D.A. Davis]

Well, I've got the tiller worked out and determined which limb is to be the lower limb, and put the riser accents on it.  I put a grip cap on, and started getting the riser shaped up.  It's a long way from being finished, but here's where I am as of today.

 

 

 

 

[Kc kreger]

Keep us posted!  Arkansas is not that far away from Blanchard, OK.  I could come pick it up in person when finished.  Oh, but my inititals are KCK, darn it.  The devil is always in the details!

[D.A. Davis]

I don't think I'm going to have the poundage I'm looking for at 66".  How much added weight can I expect if I shorten the bow to 64", or even 62", if possible?