tillering question

[TimothyR]

I just received my first cabinet scrapers.  I've never used them before and I have to say I dont know how I got along before them. Someone on here mentioned that they send lots of new bowyers tiller too close to the fades. And they are right. I have been working on several bows the most recent one I posted the other day was a hickory backed hickory and my tiller was too close to the fades.  I was working one an hickory backed ipe tonight and using the scraper I tillerd from the tips to the fades and it seemed to work very well. I have it bending good a little heavy at 40# at 20" on the long string. It needs a riser and then  its really for a low brace. My question is do you guys tiller tips to fades or does it really matter? Thanks for any advice. 

[huisme]

I tiller for the profile. If there's a point in the bow wider than the point you're at that wider point should bend proportionally more than the narrow point, meaning my bows bend right up to the tips unless they're molles. If you want stiff yips you make them narrow, shed weight while keeping strength.

[Del the cat]

Your question is a bit ambiguous to me.
In terms of actual tillering, it's a matter of preference. I tend to get the middle just flexing and then work outwards.
In terms of actually working the wood, it's a matter of working it in which ever direction helps the tool get the best result.
Del

[TimothyR]

Sorry about that Del. I thought I had an epiphany but I guess not.  I've been tillering from fade to tip and always take off to much. I guess your right its more preference than anything else. I'm just trying to figure things out. Between work and family I haven't had much time to build bows...even though i started this little obsession over a year ago.  You'd think someone trying for so long would have had it figured out by now.  But I was always a slow learner. 

[Springbuck]

  I do like Del.  Most bows I rough out start with a front profile and more or less consistent thickness, or a slight thickness taper.  That's just how it works out.  So, when I start on the tiller tree, naturally, the inner limbs closest by the handle bend most/first.  Just as if you bent an untillered 2x4.

 As soon as I have that initial bending balanced between each limb (and the whole rest of both limbs almost not bending at all) I stop scraping near the fades, say that first 4" of limb length.  The tips might be only moving 2" at that point, but I move on.  By the time the tips are moving another two inches, the next , say 4" is bending, too.  And so on.   You could mark it with crayon to remind yourself to stay out.  Then I chase that amount of bend out along the limbs. 

If you are taking too much off at the fades, use a crayon to mark either what you want to stay out of, or what you want to scrape away, until you get the eye for it, and the feel.

[bushboy]

To. Each their own, but I floor tiller from the tips towards the fades depending. On the design for limb movement.i seldom use a tillering stick any more, just floor tiller low brace and tiller by how the brace looks and some part draw photo's along the way.different strokes for different folkes!lol!

[George Tsoukalas]

I tiller fades to tips, too, and I want the bending to just start right at the end of the fades.
Jawge