No Set Tillering

[Badger]

You took my statement out of context and related it to your mass weight formula badger.Removing wood for a lesser draw weight is'nt removing damaged wood.

   I am not following you I think. We are measuring the draw weight just to see if it drops by itself without removing any wood. Of course if we remove any wood we have to recalibrate our benchmark starting point. We don't deal with damaged wood here, the idea is not to get any to deal with. Sorry if I am not following you properly.

[BowEd]

Going back to a lower draw length integrity wood check after pulling it longer to see if it has lost weight from a previous remembered number I've always done anyway to check on bows.Smaller increments of wood removed for me helps in reducing set along with the integrity check system I'll call it.Knowing precisely how much to remove to get the amount of poundage loss is very helpful is all I said,and using a scale is needed for that.

[Badger]

   Ok, I follow you now. Integrity check would be an accurate description. I will go into a little more detailed description of how I use it just for guys who might be following.

  I like to have the tiller pretty well evened out when I brace a bow for the first time, usually at about 23" draw. I use just a slightly low brace 5".

Bow is at first brace, I place it on the tree and with no exercise I pull it to 20". I carefully note the weight and the position on the yard stick. Now I excersize the bow a bit until I get it to twenty one inches. Now I go back to the 20"mark and recheck it. If it still reads the same or at least very very close. I keep increasing the draw length until I hit target weight at about 23'. Almost all final adjustments getting it to target weight at 28"are made in the inner limbs. I like as little limb bending as possible but sometimes I have to use the whole limb. Monitoring any drops in weight caused by further bending lets me know when I can tiller the existing bending limb or need to move in with my tiller  to use more limb. Very small drops in weight like 1 oz are enough to tip you off when you need more limb.

[willie]

Bow is at first brace........................ I keep increasing the draw length until I hit target weight at about 23'.

Steve, nice of you for passing along your methods. If I understand you correctly, you try to tiller it on the longstring, until tips come back 11" or so, before bracing for the first time?
thanks
willie

[Badger]

Bow is at first brace........................ I keep increasing the draw length until I hit target weight at about 23'.

Steve, nice of you for passing along your methods. If I understand you correctly, you try to tiller it on the longstring, until tips come back 11" or so, before bracing for the first time?
thanks
willie

  I find that long string or braced the weight reads almost the same at the same draw length. If I tiller a 50# bow to 23" on the long string it will still be about 50# at 23" when I brace it.

[Frodolf]

Very nice of you to share your method, Steve! I'm eager to give it a go!

A couple of questions. Do you combine this method with mass/width tillering? In that case, how? Do you get to a certain draw length (say 22-23" or so) and then start removing wood on the sides? On that note, do you ever start out with the bow wider than you expect it will need to be so that you're certain you'll avoid set?

[Badger]

   I do all thjat when I rough out my stave. I do a bit of refinement durring the tillering process but for the most part I use the mass weight durring the rough stages and it will come out about right.

[BowEd]

Yes everyone should be appreciative of your shared process.I said always but not till I read the process[which was quite some time ago] and it has helped me make many a bow of mine the way I like em.Floor tillering is an art in itself.Thanks.