WOBI blow explosion by yours truly.

[John Malone]

That's what I figured. Sounds safe anyhow.

[John Malone]

When you guys say two inches of reflex, is that two inches measured up from the back of bow? Meaning if ya had two inches of reflex the tips would extend two inches higher than the back at the handle.
 I went with an inch and a half, but i didnt take the handle into consideration. I did end up with a nice smooth 3/4 though. Live break and learn i guess.

[Pat B]

John, I use a 2x4 block which gives the bow 3 1/2" of reflex at glue up. That usually settles to just over 2" off the form and 1" to flat after shot in.

[John Malone]

Gotcha Pat, I was trying to go easy. I was surprised it kept over half.  I didn't want to stress it tonight, it just came out of the clamps after 24 hours. Its nice and symmetrical to. I done some scraping, its stiff. 3/4 at the handle, 5/8 mid limb and half an inch at the tips including the backing, she don't bend much.
I run a line 1/8 from edge down the back and 3/16 down the side and rounded the corners.
 
 
 
 

[mikkekeswick]

At those numbers it will be stiff! Keep checking tiller at full draw weight as you progress.
Use the faceting technique to get the belly round.
ipe can be a pain if you find a pin knot as if it is strained it will chysal there. hopefully you haven't got any hidden pins. Swirly grain is the same because the fibers are hitting the surface at an angle and can't take the compression that straight grain can. Anyway don't stress about it, if you get anymore ipe in the future be super careful about getting straight grained boards.

[John Malone]

Mike, Yea shes stiff all right. Haven't seen any pin knots, there is a swirl or something in one limb. I can feel it when I'm scraping. I don't know, we will se what happens.

[BMorv]

Took a long weekend off for Mardi Gras.  Not really my thing but I'll take the 2 days off of work.

Yeah John, looks like you have a lot of ipe to remove.  Other than that, looks good.
 
Once you start bending nicely on floor tiller take a measurement on thickness so you'll be closer on #2.  Ipe that thick hates to bend, and hates tension.  I've had 3 or so break on me at glue up when trying to r/d it too thick.

[John Malone]

Brenton, I've been measuring thickness a lot on all my builds for that reason.  That way I have a better idea of many bows I can get from a particular piece of wood. Had I know what I was doing could have got two from that stave Pat sent me I believe.

[John Malone]

Well fellows I'm cooking with gas now. #55 @ 3 inches of tip movement, nice even bend. Maybe ill just exercise it up to full draw and have a 130 pound turkey bow.

[BMorv]

I think you are cooking with potassium nitrate, the main ingredient in fireworks, if you keep pulling on that thick ipe.

[Pat B]

Slow and steady wins the race.

[John Malone]

BMorv, I only pull it to draw weight, it feels like a nice fluid bend, even though it doesn't bend far. How else am supposed to tiller it? I think I understand what your saying, but I don't know what I'm doing. Its not nearly as thick as it was, ive got 4-5 inches of tip movement now at #55. I think its on the verge of starting to move faster. So I slowed down to ten scrapes, sand, exercise check tiller.

[John Malone]

I'm a genius, this is how good I am. I started with 5/8 reflex and have tillered in another 1/4 for a total of 7/8, now that's skill right thar.
No seriously guys, I was reading about that the other day, how the more belly wood you remove the more Perry reflex would show up. I understand the reasons for that. I don't remember it saying that was a bad thing due to improper tillering or what.
 Whats up with this witchery guys?

[BMorv]

What I’m saying is that there’s no point in tugging on a block of wood on the tiller tree or whatever you are using.  Take your 55 lb pink bow you just made and grab it by the handle, pad the back of the tip and bend the limb a couple of inches on the floor.  Do it a couple times to get a feel for what force it takes to bend that small amount.  Then do the same with your ipe bow.  If it takes twice the force then you got more work to do.  If you aren’t pulling past your draw weight I guess you aren’t doing any harm, it just will take longer.  
It’s normal for it to take on more reflex when reducing that much thickness. The glue was set with the reflex forces of a thick piece of ipe.  Now that it’s thinner, the forces in the glue stay the same, and it bends more.

[BMorv]

And to be clear, once you do get the limbs bending a bit on the floor, you should go slow.   Especially slow with ipe.  And excercise it.  It’s notorious for “nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, then 10 lbs under weight”

[John Malone]

Gotcha. I made a proper tree on the wall. Its down to 3/8 tips 1/2 inch mid limb that includes the backing. Doing 10 scrapes at a time, so it might take awhile but its better than coming in under like ya said.

[mikkekeswick]

A better tool would be a spokeshave or a coarse rasp at this point.
Scraping will take a long time and it is likely you will end up with a 'washboard' surface.
Put pencil marks all the way up the belly, remove with coarse rasp, redo pencil mark scrape smooth, check tiller/draw weight/length. Repeat.
Once you get it bending to 18 or so inch at draw weight then switch to more gentle tools like the scraper/combined with a fine rasp/bastard file. Past 22 inches 2nd cut file and scraper. Past 24 inchs scraper and 60 grit paper. Last couple of inch use only 80 grit.

[John Malone]

Next time I will use the rasp and planes a lil longer. I'm scared to switch now, I think I'm at the point BMorv mentioned. She could start to bend easier at any time. Gonna take the better safe than sorry route.

[John Malone]

Inch and a half of reflex now. I read all I could, I understand that a reflexed bow will seem stiffer at first as opposed to a straight limb bow. I am going to start working more to the inner and midlimbs. I don't think I have the outers to thin, but Its possible. If it comes in at 40 ill be happy, be happier with 60 but ill know next time.

[BMorv]

How are you measuring reflex?  There's no right or wrong way.  I usually flip the bow over on a flat surface and measure how much the tips lift the back of the riser up.  Like this....
  [/url] [/IMG]
 
I've had and still have trouble with proper tiller on heavily R/D's bows.  I've found that pre-tillering the belly before glue up and just letting the R/D take what shape it wants is my best chance at a good tiller.  I've gotten into trouble more than once trying to shape the r/d into what I wanted it to look like.  
But you have a mild reflexed bow.  You can still use the gizmo.  Just know that the reflexed areas will look a little stiffer.