Tiller Help! uploaded pics, full draw?

[lebhuntfish]

I have been working an Osage recurve for a while now. I have it in another post as well. I worked on the tips for about 4 hours today and just got it cleaned up and ready to tiller. Before I called it a day I put a long string on it and just flexed it a little bit the bend was ok but that's not what I'm freaking out about. When I looked at the tips I seen that they BOTH were leaning towards me I quickly snapped a pic then got it off the tiller. Both tips are leaning the same direction. I noticed when I rested the bow on the handle it leaned to one side so I just flattened the bottom of it until it rested level then tried it on the tiller again. I had the same results.

What should I do? Is the bow screwed? Do I need to bend it in some way with heat? Do I need to take wood off of one side or another (left or right) until the tips straighten up? Thanks for all your help, Patrick.



 

[lebhuntfish]

Here is the link to the other post that I made with this bow. It has a lot of pictures of different stages of this bow.

 http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,45674.0.html

[Wiley]

I assume that as you noticed it when you put it on the tillering tree your noticing this twist when you put stress on the limbs.

If it only shows up when you pull on it, one side is weaker than the other, the direction it is twisting is the weaker side, weaken the stronger side and it should stop twisting. If it's there without being on the tillering tree, it's more of a heat correction.

Here is a helpful little image i found.

[Crogacht]

This is very useful as a beginner, thanks for the insight, you guys.

I guess you could think of it like one side is being pulled further with the same force, therefore it must be weaker, therefore remove wood from the OTHER side.

[PatM]

Don't be afraid to just manually wrestle the tips into line. Place the bow in a vice  and use a deeply notched stick short "tiller stick" to hold the handle and string apart with the limbs at "brace height" to give a fair amount of bend to it and just grab the recurves and torque the whole limb in the direction it needs to go to straighten it.
 Do each limb alternately and then brace the bow properly and keep working on it until it sits evenly. Then start flexing it and refining the tiller.
 I prefer to do that than make the limbs wedge shaped from side to side in an attempt to weaken one side and bring it into line.

[lebhuntfish]

Thank you guy's, I will make an attempt tomorrow and post the results afterwards. I should probably check my recent tip work to see if they are even first. 

Wiley thanks, that's a really good picture to explain my problem as well as a solution.

PatM, do you just twist the tips with your hand or do you apply heat as well? I think I understand your method. It's the same way I would straighten a bend in a piece of conduit.

[PatM]

Just hand twist it. You don't want to apply heat because you'll also set the strung bend into the limbs. You just want to "set" the twist out and you can do that cold.
 Another tip is to flip the bow on the tiller stick so the tips are leaning "in". If the tips are leaning towards the notches in your tiller stick you will tend to torque them even more that way every time you advance the string a notch.

[Pat B]

Keep your tips wide like in Wiley's graphic. You don't need to shape the tips(or the handle area) until you know how the string will track or even later in the process. Get the tiller right first then bring the bow to weight. The tips and handle area don't have to be shaped to tiller a bow. Put your energy in to the proper tiller of the bow then its time to reward yourself with shaping the tips and handle and the finish work. This is where you do make a silk purse from a sows ear. 

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks guy's, I'm learning the process from start to finish the hard way I guess. But next time will be easier. It always is once you learn something the hard way.  Thanks for all of your input! Patrick

PatM, I will give that a shot after I check my wood removal to be sure it is even.

PatB, I would be satisfied with a blue jean hand bag right now, lol!

[Pat B]

Patience Grasshopper. Success comes with time. 

[lebhuntfish]

Thank you Master!   

[mikekeswick]

I would use heat on that for sure.
Rig up a jig that allows you to heat the tips but doesn't allow them to 'uncurl'. Heat then clamp laterally where you want.
Recurves should be straight atbrace the rest is unimportant.

[blackhawk]

I would use heat on that for sure.
Rig up a jig that allows you to heat the tips but doesn't allow them to 'uncurl'. Heat then clamp laterally where you want.
Recurves should be straight atbrace the rest is unimportant.

+1 ....its osage and will move ten thousand times easier with heat than trying to do it cold by hand...I highly doubt you could get it to move and correct by just yanking on it by hand cold..not to mention running the risk of breaking it...especially if your levers are still thick there's no way your gonna correct that by just pulling on it the other way cold...osage just doesn't give like that..it needs heat to be corrected imho

[PatM]

Is it just the levers that are tipped though or has the sinew twisted the limbs a bit? That will govern which is the best way to bring the tips into line. I am assuming that the whole limbs are leaning a bit.
 Not sure about Mike's statement that the shape at rest is more important. A bow can be twisted at rest and come into line at brace and beyond. The opposite is also true.

 I was basing my advice on the previous thread on the bow that seemed to show that alignment issues had been worked out with the tips. If the bow has drifted in the ensuing months I'd be inclined to think that the limbs rather than the tips are the culprit.
 

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks once again guy's! I'm getting ready to work on it now. I will first try the wood removal and make sure my work is more even. Then I will try the cold method, then heat.

PatM, it is just in the tips where I removed all the weight from the curve.