Hickory bow tiller check and tillering method

[DuBois]

I'd scrape midlimb to the tips on the bottom limb then scrape the upper limb until it bends evenly with the lower. I wouldn't touch the handle at this point if I were you.

I agree.

Once limbs get closer to equal bend, consider turning it upside down just to see if it looks and feels right that way.

[Dustinhill]

Thanks Dubois! I'll do that

[wizardgoat]

Unbraced your top limb has more deflex, so it should appear slightly weaker braced and drawn, but it doesn't, your bottom limb looks weak. Stay away from the bottom limb for a while, especially right out the handle.  When you sort out your top limb, your bottom can use some scraping midway and out, but not until you even up your top. Your top limb should be coming around a little more, so on these tricky staves I rely mostly on thickness taper. Try to find some thick spots on that top limb, if you use a caliper I bet you will find some, especially when comparing the thickness to your bottom limb at the same distances from your handle. 
With this type of front profile it always takes a bit of patience and scrapin to get your mid-outer limbs to come around.  Go slow and steady, so far so good

[Dustinhill]

Somehow it hinged in the top limb after I thought i had worked out the hinge in the bottom. Now it seems like I didn't work out that either. I think it might be toast or at least end up way under weight. I've been scraping the inner part of the top limb but it doesn't seem to be helping. What's the best way to remove the hinge? It's really asymmetrical now I don't know what happened. It seemed like it only has minor issues then after one round of scraping it all fell apart. I can usually see where it's going wrong, I think my problem is that I can't fix it. Any help is appreciated

[Dustinhill]

I guess on looking at it again, it seems like the hinge is out of the top limb, but they're just bending very differently. Is that what's happening?

[SLIMBOB]

I would say you have the arrow knocked low. Just a bit, but low. That is throwing off your tiller, dragging the front limb to far. Straighten that out and try again and see what that does first.

[wizardgoat]

Dustin you are seeing first hand the difficulty of tillering short bows, very small mistakes in tillering are amplified. the best way to remove a hinge is to avoid them altogether.  A small amount of scraping on small bows can get quick results when your that far along, that's why I said to only scrape the thick parts you find, not the entire limb. 
What you did here now is weakened your top limb to the point that your bottom limb is now stiffer.

[Dustinhill]

Wizardgoat - I had already done this by the time I read your post. Thanks for the advice, every time I learn a little more. So should  I now try to scrape only the thicker spots on the bottom limb, then maybe heat treat to see if I can increase the weight a little? And slimbob I'll try that thanks

[wizardgoat]

That's what it's all about man, I've messed up my fair share of short bows. By the time a short bow is braced I'm only scraping small 1-2" areas. Your bow should have a steady thickness taper from handle to tips, so yes, remove any thick spots. Don't worry so much about weight at this point, youll learn more from a well tillered 20# bow than a 40# hingey bow, and your next bow will be better.
Heat can work to up your weight

[Dustinhill]

Thanks! I'm going to try and just make it a little better every time i work on it. Should I just try to get the bottom one even with the top now?

[Dictionary]

Yea you're teeter tottering a little, Dustin. Now the bottom limb is stiffer than the top. As Goat said, it doesn't take much to change the tiller on a shorty. I'd take some off mid-limb to tip on the bottom now, slowly of course.

[Dustinhill]

Will do guys, I'm probably going to take a break and hit it tomorrow so I keep working slowly. Thanks for all the help!

[Dustinhill]

Thanks for the help everyone! Here's the progress I've made on the bow. I used calipers like wizardgoat suggested and got the limbs even. There is a .5mm difference between the limbs at one or two places but other than that they both tend to taper at 2mm every 6 inches. I also got he handle working a little more and heat treated the top third of the top limb. I think that the full draw still looks un even but with the limbs being the same can I assume it's just the extra set the top limb took? Right now the bow is #36 @18, if it's 46 nock to nock do I have any room to draw further?
Thanks everyone, I've already learned a lot from making this bow and I appreciate you all taking the time to help me out!
-Dustin

[Dustinhill]

Pics

[Dustinhill]

* I mad a photography mistake, in the braces picture the top limb is on the right and in the unbraced it's on the left