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Here's where we were:
I wanted to add a couple comments to explain some things. You'll notice that the bow is really flat looking at the tips. That's intentional. I tiller long bows to stop bending pretty much 5" from the tips. This cuts down on whip tiller and lets me really narrow the tips because I leave them thick. When we get to final shaping of the nocks I'll show you what I mean a little better. It also makes string angle really flat so that stack is not as noticeable. This bow shouldn't stack at all given it's length even at Kenny's 29" draw. Also, there is an apparent hinge in the lower limb pointed out on this photo. That is actually a natural bend in the stave. It happens to fall between the stubborn flat spot and the flat spot at the tip so it looks "hingy" but really isn't. The bow is bending almost as well as I expect. I'll work some more on that stubborn flat spot and then we'lll work towards getting to full draw. The near handle wood will bend more as we get longer and longer draws.
I measured the tiller. This is done by bracing (stringing) the thing to about 5" and measuring the distance between the string and the bow at increments of 6" or less. It turned out almost perfect except at the predictable flat where we were almost a full centimeter off. The rest of the bow was spot on. There is some positive tiller to this bow. That means that the lower limb is about .2 cm stiffer than the upper limb. That is good and equalizes the pressure on the limbs caused by having the string drawn slightly lower than halfway down. That is why placement of the tillering stick is crucial. I'll work on this as I can today. I won't have too many more shots on the tillering tree since I am getting to longer draw but I'll try and show me drawing the thing. I can only get it back to 26" though :-)
It's time to start thinking about a name Kenny. I am thinking along these lines. This bow will likely be finished on the day of the full moon at the Winter Solstice which also occurs at perigee (the time when the moon is closest to Earth). This combination means that we will have an extra bright full moon for the last one of the 1900's. So I am considering either "Perigee" or "Bright Moon" as a name. Either way, there will be a moon theme in the name and likely one on the bow.
See y'all later.
Well, here she is at 27.5" draw. That's about all I can muster with my short arms. I'll have to give it to Kenny to see what final tiller looks like :-) She's still weighing in at 51.5# at 25". If we suppose 3# per inch X 4 more inches that's 63.5#. After finishing it and shooting her in, I'd guess we'll be at nearly 60#. She draws really smooth!
The flat spots are gone. The twist is almost gone. The tips are right where we want them. I'm happy with it. I learned a lot about whitewoods with this bow. One thing for sure is you can't overstrain them at all. And pay attention to those hinges! I should have never pulled her after seeing it. I ended up with about 2.5" of set. That will cost about 5 FPS of cast. But we ended up with about 4 pounds more than I thought we might so that adds 4 FPS. I'm going with pretty narrow nocks and with Kenny's 29" draw I bet she hits 165-170 FPS with a 500 grain arrow....not that speeds all that important :-)
I'll spend some time on cleaning her up and shaping the tips and handle and get back with you later.
Still thinking about that name:
