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12/17/99 3:30
OK, we're down to floor tiller and I went ahead and put it on the tillering
board. Here's what she looks like at 7" and 9" of draw. She's
pulling about 40# at 9".
Anything jump out at you yet? The lower limb is to your right.
It definitely has a flat spot from a little past the dip to a little past
midlimb huh? The upper limb looks OK at these draws but has some
twist to it and is pretty flat from midlimb on out. I'll work a little
on these areas and then pull it a little farther.
12/17/99 4:30
After a few rounds of rasping/scraping we're getting some better movement.
I have a bit of a hinge starting at the dip on the lower limb and then
the limb is flat...flat...flat. I've worked it to 11" of draw and
holding 40# or so. Here's a couple pictures.
It's still real flat on that lower limb. I'll pick it up there
next week. See ya' then.
12/20/99 8:30
Here's the last photo a little bigger with some comments on how I see tiller so far.
I'll get back to tillering in a little while.
12/20/99 10:00
Here's a shot of it after a little scraping. Starting to bend some but still real flat on that lower limb. This is drawn to 15". Weight is holding up fine!
The "hinge" is still there but getting better. I need to get some movement right at the handle but I'm gonna get rid of a little more of that flat spot first. The twist is leaving the upper limb too.
12/20/99 10:30
Getting better but not quite there. Back to the vise! One thing you might notice is the tillering board seems skewed to the left now. I remeasured and feel that it is set at the spot where Kenny's middle finger will be on the string. When we get closer to final tiller we'll put an arrow on the thing and confirm but this will be good enough for now. I'm gonna go one more round trying to get that flat spot in the lower limb to come around and then I'm gonna try and get the handle to move some. See ya' in a little while.
The first one is after working on that flat spot. It's coming around a little but needs more work especially past midlimb for a few inches. The second is after getting the near handle wood to bend a little. Looking better! I'm gonna work one more round on that area and then read it at 17" instead of the current 15". I've still got a little twist in the upper limb to straighten out too. The area past midlimb on the upper limb also needs some attention.
12/20/99 1:30
Here's the latest drawn to 17".
The hinge is pretty much gone. I checked weight and its at 45# at 23". I'm pretty sure we're not gonna make 60# but that's OK. We should get in the mid 50's. String follow is also a concern We're already at 2" of follow just after unbracing. I might finish it up on the tillering tree at home. I'll take some pictures there if I get the chance to work on it. I'm gonna work on that stubborn flat spot some more in the lower limb and a little on the spot on the upper limb near the tip.
12/20/99 2:15
The latest at 18"
The flat is getting less flat. The twist is almost gone. She's almost ready to start really pulling. I'll do a bit more on the lower flat and some more on the upper limb and we'll see where we are. The limbs are almost even as you can see in this image where I flipped the lower limb (bottom) and lined it up w/ the upper limb. I also added some comments to show what I see as spots where the bow isn't bending enough.
This bow is likely good for the long haul as is. It would pull a little better than 60# at Kenny's 29" draw I'd guess. But the lack of smooth tiller would make it more handshocky and harder to tune. If we work on getting better tiller we should have a smoother shooting bow that shoots great at 55#. I think I made a mistake by not correcting the hinge completely before bending it more. That added set. I also am now firmly convinced that I don't like tillering boards. At least the way I've been using them. I'm sure they add set unnecessarily. I'll rig up a tree somehow here at work for the times I have to work on bows. It'll make taking pictures more tricky but will be worth it I'm sure. I think I'm real close to final tllering. I'll correct these last few flat spots and then get it on the tillering tree tonight for final pulling. Hopefully I can get to it before dark :-)
We'll start on the final steps tomorrow. Scraping it smooth.
Thinking about finishes. The really fun stuff! Later.
12/20/99 4:19
The final installment for today. Hopefully we can get it done tomorrow.
A few scrapes on that flat spot out at the end of the upper limb seems to have corrected it for the most part. This is pulled to 15". I didn't work on the near handle wood. That stubborn spot on the lower limb is still there.
Getting a little better yet. I'll do a bit more and we'll see where we are.
See ya' tomorrow.
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