2019 what did ya do today....

[Fishinglink]

Yeah I hear ya Flem. Surgery was why I was putting off the doc for so long. It had started to feel better but Wednesday I moved just right and could tell something was still very wrong. Being a mechanic I work above my head quite frequently so not sure what’s gonna happen yet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[flyonline]

Worked on my Osage stave bow - I'm expecting to back it so currently it's technically a self bow but won't end up that way if I get to the finish line.

Pulling about 42-45# @ 24" so I'm close to my aim of 50# @ 28" to make it legal for Sambar deer here. If I'm below I don't really care just hoping for a shooter!



Still gotta work on getting the inner limb bending some more

As I'm getting close to the pointy end I need some directions for the final push please. There is a slight amount of propeller twist in each limb in opposite directions, plus a bit of snakey action. So far the string hasn't looked like jumping out, so I'm calling it good but I have left the tips wide both to be able to bring the string across if required, or if I need to cut into the sides to keep the string more secure.





I don't have a top or bottom limb designated yet, I had planned on shooting it both ways and deciding which works better and/or cut/build a small shelf.

Is it worth steaming and straightening out given the string pretty much goes through the middle of the handle? It does have some natural reflex in both limbs at the moment.

Have been surprised how quickly it went from a lump of wood that kinda bent with a string to 'almost' a bow with a proper length string. I reduced the handle length to get some more working limb length which certainly helped plus made it feel a lot less chunky.

Steve

[Eric Krewson]

The tiller is a bit off, you will lose a lot of poundage getting it corrected. Have you heard of a tillering gizmo? It is a neat little tool that will tell you exactly where to take wood off your limbs to get them bending correctly. It won't mark the area at the fades so you have to eyeball that area.

A gizmo;

[Pat B]

Prop twist generally isn't a problem with selfbows. I'd bet the thickness of each limb is a bit different from one side of the limb to the other, a very common problem for newer bowyers.

[flyonline]

Eric

as I was finishing for the afternoon and packing up I thought "You're a knucklehad - you were supposed to build a gizmo to help tillering this out!" So first thing this morning that's what I made and it was immediately apparent how helpful it was/will be so thank you!!! Just a quick question or two if I may, I'm assuming reading a couple of your threads that you find the flat spots at each d/l before moving on i.e. get good tiller @ X" before moving onto Y"? Do you scrape with the bow braced or string off? I did a bit of both today and it is quicker with the string on, but sharp edges and taught strings....

Pat

I've aimed for a parallel thickness where possible following the twists across the limb, but there are a couple of spots that I'm out. Where they matched up with flat spots using Eric's gizmo, I tried to flatten the thicker side out as best I could, but I'm sure there's a couple still there and probably will be til it's finished.

Here's where I'm at today, ~40# @ 26"

[Roy from Pa]

Steve, you need to get the area outside of the fades bending more.

But doing so will cause a major weight loss.

[Eric Krewson]

Here are the instructions for a gizmo;

You set your gizmo once on the deepest bend at about 3" of limb bend and use this setting to mark both limbs. I work on all the pencil lines at the same time and don't adjust the gizmo until I  move up in brace height or go to the short string and progress to the target weight.  I scrape with the bow braced. I scrape with a half pair of scissors, the back of the scissors is rounded and doesn't get into the string.

USING THE TILLERING GIZMO


After floor tillering your bow, bend the bow slightly on your tillering tree or tillering stick, I start at about 3” of bend using the long string. Retract the pencil in the Gizmo and run the wood block up the bow’s belly and find the widest gap. Screw the pencil in the block to a point it is almost touching the bow’s belly at the point where you found the widest gap. It is best to start with a little wider gap between the pencil and limb than what is shown in the picture or you may mark the whole limb instead of just the highest spots. I change the angle the pencil has been sharpened to a very short angle and sand the tip of the pencil flat for the best results in marking the limb. This lets you work very slight bends.

 

Run the Gizmo up the belly making sure it is centered on the limb. The
pencil will mark non bending areas that need wood removed.  Start on the long string; continue at brace and up to about 20” of draw. You do need to have a way to hold your bow string while you mark the limbs with the Gizmo.                                                                                                                                           



I have holes in my tillering tree and insert a 3” piece of dowel in one of the holes to hold the string with the limbs slightly bent while I mark the limbs with the gizmo.

                               

Go slow, no more than ten scrapes on the marked areas of the limb, flex the limb 30 times and recheck. My bow limbs tend to be slightly round belly so the Gizmo only marks the top of the crown on the limbs belly. I scrape the marked area as well as the rest of the limb side to side to keep things even. You can get the limb bending perfectly this way. You will still have to eyeball bending in the fades but the rest of the limb will be perfectly tillered, hinges will be a thing of the past.

I adjust the gizmo one time on the long string and set it to the deepest bend on the weakest limb. I use this setting for both limbs. If you continually adjust the gizmo you will chase weak spots up and down your limb. One adjustment and hold this adjustment until you have removed enough wood to the point that can run the gizmo up both limbs without making a mark. As you increase draw length readjust the gizmo.

 

Make a few passes with the gizmo on your limb and the areas that need attention will be perfectly obvious. You can fine tune the tillering by closing the gap between the pencil and limb to almost nothing. At this point I like to use a cheap orbital sander to remove both wood and any tool marks that are left. With course sand paper, the sander will leave tiny swirls in the wood so I like 220 grit for my final tillering work and follow with a light hand sanding.

The gizmo doesn’t work in the fade out area of the riser so you will have to eyeball the bend in this area or put a flat board across the back of the bow in your tillering tree and watch the gap between the back of the bow and the board to see where the limb is bending.   

Tillering that once took me hours to get close  takes me about 45 minutes with the Gizmo and the end result is close to perfect.

Remember the key thing to proper tillering is using a scraper or sand paper for SLOW wood removal, no rasps or belt sanders.

[oldfartfarmer]

Got a Jig made up for my chop-saw,
got one side all glued and cut,
working on the other side now,
once dry ill do the finish angle cut of 12deg as specified on the plans, Its on a 15 deg cut now
sitting under my desk with my heater, as I don't have the wood stove going today
,

,

[oldfartfarmer]

Worked on my jig/form today,
Taking Kenny's advice to get all the speed bumps out of it,
I had some paint and sanding primer left over from another project,
and a "T"-Bar sander I had from when I was into building and crashing RC-Planes

painted the jig/form red, let it dry, wet-sanded, then painted with the sanding primer, this is 2 coats of sandable primer,
last coat drying now, On my special drying spot (Weight-Hook-Test)
 then Ill do a last wet sand with 800 grit
giving me a Glassy,  smooth finish I can wax, and hopefully not stick to

cheers all have a good day,
John
,

,

[Flem]

Can you do my car next?

[monterey]

Yeah, mine too!  Farm boy, you might be a little bit obsessed with detail.   Actually a good trait in a Bowyer.    was it hard on a farmer?

I worked on a recurve template today.  Would like to say that it's going to be a precise copy of a DH Monterey but it's now looking more like "inspired by". 

The original suffered a split limb tip secondary to a combination of a kid and a car door.  :(

I straightened one line in the riser which should not effect performance.   The template has a bit more curve than the original to try to compensate for spring back.

[oldfartfarmer]

Can you do my car next?

sure bring it over, with 32,165.00 in cash and ill get right on it

[oldfartfarmer]

Monterey,
I like that riser
what wood did you use?

[oldfartfarmer]

Did some wood relief and layout on my riser this morning,
still some pieces to glue up on it and some inlay router work
thoughts welcome

cheers
John
,

[neuse]

Not sure how ya'll draw those ellipticals on a picture of a bow, but it defenitley tells you where the bend is good or not.

Could you make an elliptical pattern to measure the bow while on the tillering tree?

[Roy from Pa]

Not sure how ya'll draw those ellipticals on a picture of a bow, but it definitely tells you where the bend is good or not.

It's done with MSPaint program which comes with windows in your PC.

Very easy to do.

Could you make an elliptical pattern to measure the bow while on the tillering tree?

Not really cause every bow is going to be a little bit different.

[neuse]

Ok, thank you Roy.

[Crooked Stic]

Also Byron you got to remember For them guys that snorted osage and bamboo all those years prolly have Elipticals built in to their bifocals specly the pink chap wearin one. 

[Shredd]

 Neuse... As a rule of thumb I keep the first 2/3's coming off the riser the same radius... You use one of those contour gauges to check for consistency of roundness...

[Shredd]

Git yo self one of deez...  Guaranteed good results...