Floor Tillering

[DC]

Does floor tillering accomplish anything other than getting a stave down to a workable size? Is any harm done by putting a stave on the tree a little early?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Depends on who you ask and what you want from the stick of wood in your hands. Some are happy with "A" bow while others want "THEE" bow.

[DC]

OK How does "proper" floor tillering make the difference between "A" bow and "THEE" bow

[JonW]

Well I don't know if making THEE bow but I use floor tillering a lot. I am usually ready for brace when I'm done floor tillering. I think if you develop a good eye for floor tillering you will hardly use a tree.

[Drewster]

I have a hard time standing above the bow and seeing if both limbs are bending the same.  How the heck do you do that well?  I can see it much, much better when the bow is on the tree.

[bushboy]

 Bend one limb,flip 180 and repeat.then I start flexing the upper limb by hand while flexing the lower on the floor.takes a little practice and becomes a matter of sight and feel.

[mwosborn]

Does floor tillering accomplish anything other than getting a stave down to a workable size? Is any harm done by putting a stave on the tree a little early?

I don't think putting a stave on the tree a little early will harm it - unless you overstress and damage the wood.

Some guys are very good at floor tillering and don't even need to go to a long string or a tree.  They brace it up after floor tiller and then finish tillering by hand and mirror.

I am not that good - however, I have found that the better I floor tiller, the easier it is to tiller once I go to the tree.

[RyanY]

I find long string tillering to be deceiving and to me does more harm than good. If you're good at floor tillering you can avoid it so I definitely find floor tillering to be useful.

[Pat B]

I use all these methods. I start with floor tiller; it shows me early on how the limbs are bending and how the limb tension feels. When I can bend the bow tip 4" or so I know its ready for the long string. I start the exercising on the long string even if it is only an inch or two. Then I work out to about 6" to 8" of tip movement, making sure both limbs are bending evenly and together then it time for low brace, then full brace then tillered out to full draw. This keeps me from going too fast while building bows, keeps me on track.

[PEARL DRUMS]

OK How does "proper" floor tillering make the difference between "A" bow and "THEE" bow

I do it like Ryan does. Floor tiller it and brace it low. No tree or long string. The last bow I made was even tillered right off, I just reduced weight. That doesn't always happen.  Read the grain and watch the taper. It tells the story almost every time if the bow was taken from the stave right.

[missilemaster]

I also skip the second part. 80% of my tiller is done in floor tiller. It goes from floor tiller to near full brace for me. Its usually about 10 pounds over at that point so I keep the limbs very smooth from that point on. No heavy rasping.

[SLIMBOB]

+1 Pat B for me.  Long string only briefly, just to get a sense that all is ok, then to low brace.

[George Tsoukalas]

I floor tiller. Then I go to long string tiller.  Then I string it and tiller it.
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html
Jawge

[NonBacked]

I don’t necessarily use the same method or a fixed procedure for every bow I build, because they’re not all the same design or made from the same material (staves, saplings, boards, etc.). But here’s a little insight that may help some of the newer bowyers avoid mistakes I’ve made (some of them more than once…or twice).
 
First – Don’t be misled by the two pictures of Ron Hardcastle in TBB-1, pg. 258. He is apparently only demonstrating the form or stance he uses for flood tillering. The bow he is holding is a “finished” bow; nowhere near the stiffness of a fresh stave. Those pictures have cost me six bows! I stayed with the floor tillering process until I had the limbs bending as much as he did. By the time I did everything else to make them right, they were too weak for my purposes.

Second – If you are holding the bow tip on a fairly solid anchor point (notch in the floor, rubber mat, carpet, etc.), it is very easy to apply too much force on the limbs, and over stress a hinge or other weak spot. You should only push hard enough to see a flaw in the bend, and not go beyond 3 to 5 inches of tip movement, depending on the desired poundage.

Third - Several folks have suggested (and published) that a similar weight “finished” bow be used to compare relative poundage during floor tillering. To be on the safe side, I think you would be better served by using a finished bow that’s about 10 pounds heavier.

Lastly – When you’re new at floor tillering, it’s difficult to hold the bow in an awkward position, push the thing hard enough to get it to bend, try to sight down the limb looking for something wrong, and at the same time, compare it to the other limb! Again, I found out the hard way, just worry about one limb at a time – get it bending smoothly ASAP, and don’t try for floor tillering symmetry until you’ve made about 100 bows – or at least a bunch.

Most people do what works for them, and they learn that by doing different things and trying different methods. I think Ken Villars holds the bow in front of his body, supports the tip with the end of his boot, and pulls towards himself. He might have a little better view of the limb curvature, but he cautions about the possibility of personal injury.

I hope this helps…
H

[jayman448]

So it sounds to me like half of you tiller while the biw is strung? Or am i missunderstanding?