First Time Bowyer Advice

[deadsilence]

i wish i hadn't shaped the handle but its hard to change an 80 year olds mind when they get set on something.  so we did it.  

So keep removing material from the entire right limb, no specific section?

[Carson81]

Ben has some great advice. I will second his suggestion for you to get some low stretch bow-string material. If you continue tillering the bow with a string that stretches badly, you will end up with a whip tiller when you do go to brace the bow with real bow string. This is due to the effect of string angle on the limb. A stretchy string is giving you a full draw type string angle when the limbs are just barely bent to brace height.

[takefive]

If you're going to use a block of wood to check the bend of the limbs, make it 6" long.

[Jomohr84]

Maybe a bit late to add, but poorfolkbows.com has some great in depth build alongs for board bows, lots of good info there.

[deadsilence]

So i have done some more scrapping and I can clearly see that i need to work on the middle third of the left limb more but is the right limb starting to take the proper shape?  Am I correct in saying that I will have to keep removing from the right limb and the middle third of the left limb until both look the same at this draw distance?
 

[LittleBen]

Middle third of left limb needs scraping and most of the right limb needs scraping. Just leave the third near the handle alone for now on both limbs. Both limbs are bending way too much near the handle.

It doesn't look like much has changed since the last photo except the bow is drawn farther.

Get those limbs bending evenly, and get the right limb bending more. It is currently way too stiff.

[deadsilence]

Originally posted by LittleBen:
Middle third of left limb needs scraping and most of the right limb needs scraping. Just leave the third near the handle alone for now on both limbs. Both limbs are bending way too much near the handle.

It doesn't look like much has changed since the last photo except the bow is drawn farther.

Get those limbs bending evenly, and get the right limb bending more. It is currently way too stiff.

I see people talking about count scraps, etc.  If I did that i would be in the thousands by now.  I feel like i have removed a ton of material with little to no change in the bending profile of the limbs.  There is to a change, I got a new tillering string  

[LittleBen]

Be careful, keep taking it slow. The limb will start to bend as you want eventually.

As you get more experience it will move along a lot more quickly. Learn to tiller slowly with the scraper and in the future you'll have the experience to do the bulk of the work with a rasp. Things go much quicker that way.

[passion for knowledge]

I think you are at a kind of dangerous spot.

I got a bit carried away with my first bow.

Seemed like nothing was changing, so I guess I got a bit aggressive.

I ended up under weight.

If I'd been more patient, I would probably have been closer to my target weight.

[LittleBen]

Originally posted by passion for knowledge:
I think you are at a kind of dangerous spot.

I got a bit carried away with my first bow.

Seemed like nothing was changing, so I guess I got a bit aggressive.

I ended up under weight.

If I'd been more patient, I would probably have been closer to my target weight.

I won't be shocked if this ends up underweight. I think the inner limbs are hinging and there's really nothing else to do but keep scraping the rest of the limb to get them bending evenly.
Take it slow, get the limbs bending evenly and you'll end up with a shootsble bow, whatever the weight.

Focus on proper tillering for your first bow. Hitting your target weight spot on will come later. Walk before you run.

[Nezwin]

I wouldn't touch the left limb until you get both limbs bending with equal measure. And I wouldn't draw as far as you have - so don't go any further.

Once the limbs have equal loading, then start getting the tips & outer thirds bending as they should. Depending on how good your eye is, comparing the angle of the tips is a good way to assess if each limb is bending roughly equal.

I used a scraper on some early bows but found them to be frustratingly slow, particularly on flat bellied bows, so I switched to a file & rasp. The file was okay but the rasp was a mistake. 40-60 grit paper is permissible if you're struggling with the scraper.

Good luck! You've got a lot of work ahead of you to tiller your bow but it's a good first effort.

[deadsilence]

Ok this will be a long one.  So here is the whole story.  While roughing out the first bow, my grandfather got a little carried away with the nose of his belt sander at the limb fades/riser block.  i had to remove a lot of material in order to get these waves out.  He also took the sharp corners down with his table sander which lead to some inconsistencies that i had to round out with 60 grit.  I went ahead and finished tillering the bow to the best of my abilities this weekend and learned some valuable lessons.  The bow ended up bending evenly on both ends.  I measured from the bottom of my tree to the limb tips, drawing from where a shooter would draw and the difference was only 1/8.  I though that was pretty good.  As some of you posted the bow did come in greatly under weight at 28 pounds at 28 inches.  Like i said I learned a whole lot and this is the reason i bought two boards!  So bow number two is under way and is already off to a much better start.  This is with a tight string at 10 inches. What do yall think?  What needs wook?

 

[fujimo]

keep power tools away from your first few bows- otherwise thats what will happen-   :D   things just happen too quick- and wood gets hogged off!

[mwosborn]

I did not read all of this thread so if this has already been said, I apologize in advance.

I would suggest reworking the handle before I moved on.  the transition from handle to working limb is too abrupt.  you will have a difficult time not getting a hinge at the end of that handle.  Look at some of the build alongs already suggested and look at their transitions.

I would also suggest a tillering gizmo - Eric has a "how to make a tillering gizmo thread.  Here is the link.

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000075#000000

And lastly - x2 what fujimo said on the power tools.

Good luck...it is a learning process for sure!

[LittleBen]

Looks pretty good so far.

Measure the draw weight at 10". Don't pull the bow farther than you're intended finished draw weight.

Get it pulling to say 14" without going over your draw weight (remove material evenly from both limbs if need to get there and watching for any areas bending too much)

Then you can brace the bow low .... Like 3-4" brace height.

Report back before bracing.

[deadsilence]

Originally posted by LittleBen:
Looks pretty good so far.

Measure the draw weight at 10". Don't pull the bow farther than you're intended finished draw weight.

Get it pulling to say 14" without going over your draw weight (remove material evenly from both limbs if need to get there and watching for any areas bending too much)

Then you can brace the bow low .... Like 3-4" brace height.

Report back before bracing.

Here is tight string 39lbs at 14 inches. If I measure from the end of the level to the limb there is a 1/32 difference and 1/4 at the limb tips measuring to the base of the tree. I'm shooting for 45-50lbs

 

[LittleBen]

Mwosborn is right. Smooth out the transition from handle to limbs.

Your limbs are bending too much near the handle again. Mainly the left limb, but the right limb slightly also.

You need to scrape some the outer 2/3 of both limbs.

I would take mwosborn's advice and read up on and build a tillering gizmo. It will help you see where the limb is bending too much, and where it is not bending enough.

Is this a pyramid taper? In other words what does the front of the bow look like?

[deadsilence]

yes this is a pyramid taper, 2.5in at the handle to 0.5 in at the tips. Limb thickness was sawed with a table saw set to just a hair over 0.5in. Everything looks pretty uniform to me so far, so just even scrapping over the outer 2/3 of the limb?

[deadsilence]

Just to be clear, scrape from these lines to the tips correct?  I will also smooth out the handle transition.

 

[deadsilence]

Got a coping saw and cut out the riser corners. They aren't perfect but I'll clean them up tomorrow with my dad's drum sander. I'll be very careful. Did some scrapping and the left limb is responding much faster than the right. I think I will lay off the left and scrap the whole right limb. They are still very close to even when I measure though.