tiller?

[dougedwards]

I am 58 yrs old and trying to learn a little bit about this sport of shooting stick bows.  I hear this term used a lot but I am not exactly sure what it means to "tiller" a bow.

I have a suspicion but not sure.  Can anyone give an explanation of what exactly this term means?

 Doug

[Ted Fry]

Making the entire limb bend( share the load of tension and compression )and making the limbs bend evenly.
Grab a copy of "The Traditional Bowyers Bible #1, and a good stave and give it a whirl , you will learn alot.
The TBB vol 1 will also have a good chapter on tiller that will explain with words as well as pictures

[reddogge]

ILF bows have adjustability in them where you can adjust your tiller for your style of shooting. You want the limbs to bend evenly and also to recover at the same instant for quieter bows, shock free smooth shots.

[moebow]

Doug,

There are two uses of the word "tiller."  The one Ted describes is "to tiller" a bow.  This is part of the process of making a bow and getting the limbs bending evenly and correctly.

The second use of the word is the "tiller of the bow."  This is what reddogge is describing.  But to take the explanation farther...   When you have a completed bow, you can measure the distance from both the upper fade out of the riser and the lower fadeout to the string(perpendicular).  A bow is said to have a positive tiller if the upper measurement is (usually) 1/8 to 1/4 inch greater than the lower measurement.  This usually is the tiller you want for split finger shooting.

If the measurement is the same, then you have "even" tiller and that is most often what 3 under shooters use.

When a bowyer builds a bow, during his tillering process, he gets the limbs bending nicely AND sets the final tiller measurements.

Arne

[dougedwards]

Originally posted by moebow:
Doug,

There are two uses of the word "tiller."  The one Ted describes is "to tiller" a bow.  This is part of the process of making a bow and getting the limbs bending evenly and correctly.

The second use of the word is the "tiller of the bow."  This is what reddogge is describing.  But to take the explanation farther...   When you have a completed bow, you can measure the distance from both the upper fade out of the riser and the lower fadeout to the string(perpendicular).  A bow is said to have a positive tiller if the upper measurement is (usually) 1/8 to 1/4 inch greater than the lower measurement.  This usually is the tiller you want for split finger shooting.

If the measurement is the same, then you have "even" tiller and that is most often what 3 under shooters use.

When a bowyer builds a bow, during his tillering process, he gets the limbs bending nicely AND sets the final tiller measurements.

Arne

Yes Arne.......I check the tiller measurements on my compound bows but I did not know what the verb "to tiller" actually meant. I am thinking that this is something that can be done by the bowyer but there is nothing that I can do about it on a one piece bow once the bow is completed.

 Where limbs attach to the riser by a bolt I can always tighten or loosen the bolts until even tiller is reached if that is my goal.

Is this correct?

 Doug

[moebow]

yep, correct.

Arne

[old_goat2]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think you could adjust tiller on a standard bolt down three piece bow. I know you can on an ILF and other similarly constructed bows.

[ishoot4thrills]

Originally posted by old_goat2:
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I didn't think you could adjust tiller on a standard bolt down three piece bow. I know you can on an ILF and other similarly constructed bows.

You cannot adjust tiller on a standard, bolt-down, three piece bow.