Last time I updated, I had pulled the patched bow to 20" and she held. So now it's time to really see what we have. The splinter caused tiller to get out of whack and adding the sinew wraps sure didn't help either. Here she is pulled to 20"
The left (upper) limb is much weaker than the lower. The lower
also is stiff through midlimb. I will use the rasp to get her a little
closer.
At this point in tillering, I like to leave the bow strung. I
feel that changes register more quickly plus I don't have to string and
unstring the bow 50 times this way. A little board helps draw the
bow partially and keeps the string away from the rasp or scraper.
After 15 rasps on each facet plus a little extra through the midlimb,
she's getting a little closer to even. She's pulling almost 40 pounds
at 20" and I'm shooting for 48# at 28" so I need to take some weight off.
I'll work that midlimb on the lower limb a little extra more.
OK, that's a little better. This is drawn to 23". She weighs
about 42# at that draw now. The areas around the handle are stiff
keeping her from coming round fully. I'll work those areas next.
Much better. Limbs are nice and even and coming around well. This is pulled to 27". She weighs 50# at that draw. I still have to finesse tiller. I'll clean her up real good with the scraper and then we'll work those stubborn spots between midlimb and that wiggle near the tip on the upper (left) limb and a similar spot on the lower (right) limb with the scraper or Bowyer's Edge. She's about home folks!
After about 200 pulls to 27", she's still holding 1/2" of reflex just
off the string. Better than average for me.
Here's how I check draw weight. There's a bathroom scale on the
floor. That's a maple 1x2 board with a notch at the top to receive
the string. It's also marked every inch so I just pull to draw weight
and see how much more weight I need to remove. Or if she's at full
draw, I can see what weight she is.
I always feel like a bow looks better being drawn by hand.
February 4, 2004
Since I had some time off from Wilt's new bow due to a little issue, I figured I'd finish up the tiller on this one.
Here she is pulled to full draw of 27". It's not bad but needs
a little something. This bow has lots of natural character to it
so it'll never be w/o bumps and stuff but there are a few finesse spots.
On the upper (left) limb, it is a little flat towards the tip. About
3" from the string you can see one of the natural bumps. Between
that and almost midlimb, she is flat. Let's give that about 10 scrapes
on the top facet only. There's a very similar place on the lower
(right) limb also. We'll give that one 10 scrapes too. One
indicator of nice tiller for me is a string angle approaching, but not
quite to 90 degrees. I think a bow looks real nice with a round tiller
and that string angle. Tells me we are getting all we can from the
design. The bows not quite stacking but pushing the envelope.
This looks good to me.
After another round. Still a bit of work to do. It's a
little flat in that near handle on the left limb also.
The near handle is bending little more and the right limb is
beautiful. We may just have to live with that flattish spot on the
left. It has a nice general tiller to it. I'll shoot her in
and see what I come up.
I figured I'd work on the handle some. I'm cutting a small shelf
and am making a locator grip style. Here' I've bandsawed gently the
cut out. I've also rounded the corners on the back. Going after
the belly now.
On the belly. I've marked the spots where I'm rasping out the handle
countour.
Here's the almost finished version.
Stay tuned.