Need help with first bow

neocaligatio

New member
Evening all,

I recently bought a stave from Chris at Irondale. It's hickory-backed ipe and after rough shaping I began the tillering this afternoon.

I'm aiming for 35lb at 24" (my wife - the shooter - has a very short draw!) and this photo shows it tillered on a long string, pulled to 30lb:



[Please excuse the busy background!]

I'm heading for 40lb at 24" prior to final sanding, but is this looking about right?

It's only pulled to 14" on a string Chris provided that's far too long. It's fair to say at this point I'm pretty scared to pull the bow any further than 14" but it's not even close to being at full brace yet.

My question is: What's the next stage? Should I be removing wood or still pulling further - the tiller looks fairly even to me so far.

Help?!

Chris
 

dusty

New member
The tillering is looking fine at the moment
From the picture you seem to have plenty of belly wood to work with
The mid limb and tips look a bit thick
Remember to take the wood off a bit at a time as you can not put it back on
Just a couple of points
NEVER pull the bow with more weight than what your ideal draw weight
If you remove wood of the belly make sure it does not get to thin you can also reduce the width to reduce draw weight

You also need to decide if you want a full compass tiller of one that does not bend in the handle
With the draw weight you are aiming for I would suggest a non bending handle

If you are not sure put the kettle on and think about it some more

Trust your eyes if it looks wrong it normally is

There is no better feeling than shooting a bow that you have made

Good luck look forward to seeing the finished bow
 

neocaligatio

New member
Thanks Dusty - I'd already decided on the non-bending handle after reading in the bowyer's bible that this helps reduce hand-shock. As the bow is going to be a reasonably light weight it seemed a good compromise.

I think at the moment my biggest issue us the wince as I draw the bow for tillering - I keep expecting the bow to just destroy itself when I get past a few inches!

Is there any way of telling what the current weigh equivalent is? If I were to put a flat but tight string on and draw to 30lb, with the draw length at that weight, could I extrapolate what the current draw weight is at 24"?
 

alanesq

New member
It is scary pulling it further - I don't think there is any getting away from this ;-)

the main thing is to watch all the time that no part of the bow starts to bend more than the rest (i.e. a hinge) as this will quickly grow and cause the bow to fail

BTW - I have written a sort of guide on what I have picked up / learned with my bow making - the tillering part may be of help (although all my bows are full compass) HERE
 

dusty

New member
Just looking at the picture you don't seem to be to far from brace height
I would suggest shorting the string so you have a low brace height a couple of inches. Do this with a bowers knot so you can keep adjusting the length

Treat your self to a set of spring balances I got mine from the local DIY shop about ?10
Fasten a block to a wall to hold bow put a eye bolt below the block on the same center line
From the block mark a scale in inches so you can see how far you are drawing the bow
The get a strong piece of cord run it through the eye bolt attach it to the spring balance then attach this to the string
Stand back and start to work the bow keeping a eye on the weight you are drawing
This does two thing it allows you to stand back and see the bow work and it also get the bow us to bending
I work the bow about 20 time before I draw it back each extra inch

DO NOT TRY AND RUSH TAKE YOU TIME

with standing back you will see any problem better

One other tip is make you self a block of wood about 4 inchs long when you run this on the belly of the bow you should have a shall gap in then center of the block this tell you the bow is bending in that section work the block up and down the limb checking to see if the gap is the same if the gap get bigger in one section DO NOT REMOVE ANY MORE TIMBER it may be the start of a hinge if the is no gap remove a small amount till the bow bends there

Don't be scared of failure we learn by our mistakes
 

neocaligatio

New member
Alan,

Thanks for the link - I'd actually downloaded and read your book a few months back (prior to even considering the project!) It gave me the confidence to pick up a copy of the bowyer's bible and a stave :D

Dusty,

I've got a spring scale that I'm using in conjunction with the tillering stick - unfortunately I don't have somewhere to bolt onto a wall (without angering the other half anyway!) I might get a chance to do so soon, but time will tell.

I'm aiming for a tiller of around 7" after reading some posts in the longbow forum on brace heights, so I'm still 2 1/2" off at the moment. My other issue is that I have horn nocks to go onto the bow, so I don't want to cut the self nocks too deep in case they show after fitting the proper ones. This is causing the string to 'ping' off every now and then, which isn't ideal...
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
A good trick is to get a piece of decent ply wood about 2"x1" and drill a couple of holes in it, smooth them off well, you can thread your sring through the holes a couple of times to effectively shorten it for tillering purposes.
I've even shot a couple of test arrows with this sort of toggle on the string.
Use the short string at correct bracing height ASAP as it significantly changes the look of the tiller, and it represents the point wher you need to slow down and take care as it all starts to happen a bit quicker from that point onwards.
(Search the forum too, as I seem to have writen this stuff (n+1) times where n is large and positive ;) )
Del
 

dusty

New member
How long is the bow?
With a 24 inch draw you may be able to shorten the bow so the temporary string nocks would no be a problem
I have not found it to be a problem with the bows I have made the horn nocks cover the temporary ones
 

neocaligatio

New member
Tip to tip is 72" which is what the nock to nock should be once they are put on - I didn't plan that quite right when cutting the stave!

Current self nocks are 1/2" in from each end.
 

dusty

New member
You could quite easily take a inch off the overall length for a 24inch draw
I make my bows 76inch long they will draw to 31 inch with out a problem
I also made a light weight bow 28 lb at 28 inch that bow was 71 inch long
 

alanesq

New member
I agree - I think it would be better to make it shorter for that draw length

but on the other hand I think the main thing when making your first bow is to convince yourself you can do it and to figure out the techniques which work best for you etc.
so I would suggest you don't worry too much about hitting the draw weight target etc. at this stage and just concentrate on making yourself a bow

you can always adjust it later (e.g. shortening the bow will increase the draw weight)
 
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