Red Oak Board Bow Buildalong

[Coca Cola]

It looks like I have hinges mid limb on both sides right? But when I look at it not in a picture it doesnt look like that. I think I will make tips bend more. Its about 20# at 14 so I am going to have to take some weight off.

[Coca Cola]

Ok Here are better pics



Links- i95.photobucket.com/albums/l127/jjrb715/Picture038.jpg
i95.photobucket.com/albums/l127/jjrb715/Picture037.jpg

[Coca Cola]

Tiller update.

Ok here it is at 3 different lengths. I forgot to measure when I built my tiller stick earlier today but the notches are spaced 2 inches apart.

First one


Second one


third one


That is with a string that is like bracing bow at 0 inches. Taught against the belly of bow but doesnt induce any bend in limbs

[BT]

It looks good to me but I don't know what I am looking at in technical terms

What is the overall length and what is the brace when strung?

[Coca Cola]

I dont know what the brace is because I havent braced it yet, but somewhere around 5-6 I believe. Overall length tip to tip is 68. Nock to nock 66

[smj]

Looking at the last three pics you posted, the left limb looks to be more stiff to me. (As shown in the pics.) You should mark the limbs so you don't take wood off of the wrong side - not a big mark just a pencil mark here and there to confirm what needs to be done. It is more easy than one might think to take wood from the wrong area.

Just to try to get the flex matched a bit. A flat 4 inch block of wood is a great tool. (1x1x4) Run it along the bottom of the limb and watch the gap between the limb and the block. If the flex is the same, the gap will be the same. (You are at a point where a cabinet scraper is a great tool for reducing wood. If you need to know how to set one up, I can walk you through it.) I have seen folks put screws in the block, dead center, of different size heads on different sides of the block (one per side). This gives a standard gap size gauge that is easy to look at. One guy I know hangs a weight off the end of the limb with the bow clamped at the center to a bench. Then he measures the deflection of the limb due to the weight - and matches both limbs as a starting point. Then goes to the tiller tree. He says he uses it to match the weight of the limbs first, then worries about flex. Then reduces the limb to get the draw weight he wants. Others put paper behind the bow tree with lines on it so they can tell the flex of one limb compared to the other, even measure it from line to line.

The bottom line is that no one can tell you how and where you will have to take wood off. Each board/limb is different and can change from one side to the other as the wood changes. You have to go slow, work a little and flex the bow a lot, see what the result is. It looks like you are off to a great start! If you have a bow that is well made, put it on the tiller tree and see what it's flex looks like. If you have a well tillered bow this can help a lot to get some understanding. I really like to run that 4" block under the limb while on the tree. I have found it to tell me just about everything I need to know. Give it a try and see how it works for you! Or maybe one of the other ideas I've tried to list above.

"Sorry smj, I am now super confused. "

Dude! I am sorry for the confusion above! I've been to busy to try to post pictures for everything - work has been, well, "WORK" as of late! I am trying to get caught up again after being out for 2 weeks and have been a bit buried! What can I make more clear? I plan to return to the bow I've been building this weekend. The tip broke when it took a tumble while on the tree (very dumb on my part)! I've done a repair, and one limb will be an inch shorter now! At the new dimensions, one limb has a hinge and the other limb is stiff. I'll see if I can work through these issues and post my steps in the other thread. (I am trying for a 45# or so bow, and think I might make it yet!)

[2chucks2]

this is pretty cool.

[Coca Cola]

I took some wood off left limb. smj, I have the limbs marked. I have an X on the side where the extra string hangs off. I have been using the block trick. I cant remember where I read it but it has been part of the reason my tiller looks so good from the start with exception of the uneven limbs. I messed around alot with it in the beggining



After tht pic I made the limbs slightly more even. Remember that is before I evened them. I have to go I will work on this later. I took wood off mid limb on left side

[smj]

If you run a block under the limbs, I think you will see that the left limb is still a bit stiff compared to the right limb. However, don't trust the eyes, try the block. I would not touch the right limb, as seen in the pics, for the time being. Looking at the picture, it looks like the right limb is a bit weak 2/3rds out from the grip. Take care you don't "whip end" that right limb. If it does have a slight hinge starting, the block will show it to you right away. As you go out toward the tips, you want to gain back some stiffness in the limb. Don't let the tips, that last quarter of the limb, go weak on you! As you finish off the tips, which I think can only be done right by passing a block under the limb and getting some help with evaluating the flex, the limb should flex right up the last inch or inch and a half of limb. But it should not flex below the radius of the arc formed by the rest of the bow. That make sense?

Have you strung the bow yet to a low brace height? What I have found in the past is if one limb has a slight hinge showing, and the other limb a lot more stiff, stringing the bow can force the hinge to pop out more so than on the tree. The lower brace height has less force and is hence less dangerous than trying to brace the bow at 6.5 inches right away. If your long string pulls tight and offers no low brace, pull it off and add a few twists to the string - shorten it a half inch at a time by twisting.

[Coca Cola]

Ok sorry for the tillering I posted this on another site to get a few more replies. So you guys arent on the most updated pic. I did low brace it, well at 2 inches or so.

This is a low brace pic

Another pic, I tried to fix some of those spots, not sure if I did. I may infact have made it worse, I dont know.




One thing I did notice is I am not sure I am doing anything. If you look at all my pics there really isnt much change in the limbs.

Also, I dont have a tillering string so right now I am using a lacrosse pocket stringing string. I have a string for full brace that I got at the archery expo but nothing else. So I can't twist it.

I think on the left limb I am going to take wood off about mid limb, I believe there is a dot right above where I am going to take wood off.

It has about 5/8-3/4 inch of set right now.