After shaping the riser and the limbs to thickness, it was time to begin tillering. I start on a long string and then work my way to full brace height. Although I will eventually want a positive tiller [i.e. a slightly weaker upper limb], I like to tiller the bow on the tree out to about 23" with both limbs equal. That allows me to choose which limb I want as top and bottom and slowly dial my way into a positive tiller. After 23", I begin weakening one limb and doing all of my work while drawing the bow in hand in front of a mirror.
But before all of that, after getting out to about 16" or so I like to induce some reflex using a heat gun and caul:
I let the bow sit on the caul overnight. Here it is the next morning:
I let the bow rehydrate for about a week and then slowly work it back in on the tiller tree. Here it is unbraced after working out to 23":
Because I'll be working the bow out from 23" to 28" in hand, I need to shape the riser. This particular stave was a bit thin for comfort in the handle area, so I opted to add a couple laminations to beef it up. The first is padauk followed by rosewood:
Here's the riser all shaped up and ready to shoot:
