Tillering "tree" or "stick" questions

[jaxenro]

Sorry if I don't know the right words yet - I have been reading back threads and all the links I can find as there is a wealth of information available here but I had a few questions:

I am working on my first bow using a piece of 1x2 maple backed with thin red oak. I bought the plank at a local hardware store after sorting through all the boards in three different places looking for a straight grain, clamped on and glued up the backing strips using titebond III, and am in the process of profiling the blank down to the design I drew on based on some of the online instructions I found online. It will be a bendy handle type in that I didn't glue on any handle riser with self nocks cut in at the tips. I am going to try to keep the poundage around 40# or so my main goal with this first effot is to try to get a smooth tiller and not break it.

Anyway I will be moving on to tillering this weekend and need some type of stillering stick or tree. I have seen pictures of essentially two types (but am sure there are more), one being a bracket of some type on the wall and a rope and pulley system. The main advantage to this seems to be you can step back away from the bow when tillering letting you see the tiller easier and your further away if it breaks? The other type looks like a stick with notches or pegs and almost resembles a renaissance style crossbow without a nut or trigger.

What I was thinking of was 2x2 oak with 3/8 pegs down one side so on to my questions:

1. If the bow is centered at one end and the pegs are down the side the string would be slightly offset when tillering and not on the centerline of the bow. Is this significant enough to matter?

2. How far apart do I place the pegs? Is it every inch, every two inches?

3. When measuring draw is it from the back edge of the handle or the front? Do I measure from string to handle to determine draw or is it a straight line drawn between the nocks to the handle? And is it the back edge of the handle (the part facing me when I am shooting it)

4. Until I can get a better scale I was going to use the bathroom scale method. If I understand it i set the bow and tillering tree on the scale and measure the weight. Then I pull to the draw I want and remeasure. The difference between the two would be what it is pulling for draw weight at that draw distance?

I guess these are really basic but I seem to find answers to the complex ones and it seems it is assumed you know the basics.

Thank You
Joel

[Aosda]

First off, here is a really good site with tons of info for you.
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/archer.html

Have you floor tillered your stave?

Draw length is measured from the Back (the part facing away from you) of the handle to the string.  The part of the bow that faces you is called the belly.  When cutting your string grooves (nocks) don't cut across the back of the limb.

[George Tsoukalas]

Thanks for the kind words. jaxenro, leaving the stave at full partial draw while you step back and look at it is not good for the stave. Also, I'm not sure it is a good idea being so close to a stave as you pull down to set it in the pegs. I think you are better off with a rope and pulley. If you look at my site there is a picture of one that clamps into a wood vice. But you can make a permanent one. All you need to make is a shelf for the stave to sit on. Attach a pulley under it close to the floor and attach a cord to the string of the bow and run it through the pulley. You need the wall space though which why I made the take down version. Jawge

[jaxenro]

Thanks for the replies - I had found the site you mentioned and bookmarked it - lots of good information. Haven't floor tillered yet - that was next as soon as I finish the shaping

I understand now about measuring from the back - the back is always the back but the belly could change dependin on handle risers, etc.?

Where do I cut the string nocks, on the sides only? And do I angle them down some instead of straight across?

Just out of the need to learn, why does leaving a stave partially drawn damage it? does the wood take a set or develop a memory of some type?

[George Tsoukalas]

Yes, it would take more set but the safety factor (yours) is also a consideration. Jawge

[Pappy]

Everybody has there own way,I use a tiller stick,with string just lone enough to get on the bow till I get it to low brace,then go to the Rope and pulley system.If you use a tiller stick all the way out to draw I have always got way more set plus it is kind of scary to have one at full draw on a tiller stick.
      Pappy