Side tiller vs belly tiller for weight reduction ?

[Stick Bender]

Hi Fellas I made this bow over winter & it was 66 in. @ 29 in. #55 lb  it was made from a stave that was 1 yr off the stump but now that it seasoned a little it has picked up about 3 lb. In draw weight it only took about 3/4 in. Of set I thought I could grow into the weight but it's plain just to heavy for me particularly from a setting blind position ,so my question is  could I lose up to 3 lbs by side tillering off 1/8 of a inch ?the bow currently is only 1 1/4 in. Wide & by side tillering would it take more set ? Or would I be better with belly tiller ? I'm hesitant to re tiller the belly as this is the first tiller I got right on the first shot.

[Badger]

 Your bow looks good but I sometimes experience handshock with that tiller shape. I would let the mid and out limbs bend slightly more and loose a few pounds there.

[SLIMBOB]

+1 Badger.

[Badger]

  Looking at the front view the outer limbs look pretty wide, I would reduce width on outer and mid limbs as much as I could before removing any belly wood.

[Stick Bender]

Ok thanks Steve I was originaly going for the Cherokee bow style but this one is a little snappy in the hand not terrible but I will side tiller the mids & uppers tomorrow  see if I can lose a little weight

[bradsmith2010]

that sounds like a good plan to me,, I am sure it will work great and shoot great for you,,

[scp]

I would try "trapping" the back first.

[George Tsoukalas]

Upper limb from mid limb on I'd touch that tiller up a bit. Then take it from there. You can side tiller.
Those bend in the handle bows only get shocky if the tiller is off, at lest from my experience.
Jawge

[George Tsoukalas]

I should mention that when I have had to remove wood for others I've done it by belly wood removal. I just took equal scrapes from both limbs provided tiller was good. Jawge

[Dictionary]

Stick Bender, do you feel the center is bending too much?

[Stick Bender]

Yes the handle is a little round but retillered today will post pics latter when my wife gets home for a full draw pics its shooting realy nice especialy with the broad heads

[Stick Bender]

Thanks guys for all the help full advice after a long honey do list I spent the rest of the day  re tillering and shooting this bow it looks a little round in the handle but it's deceptive  it has very little thump I side tillered the mids & uppers the bow was realy holding on to weight so after mids & uppers I side tillered off about 1/8 In. It's pulling about 53 lb now  but it's shooting a lot better it's dead on with my 550 grain broad head arrows I didn't get a chance to chrony it but my guess I didn't lose speed judging from trajectory ,it is solid accurate at 20-25 yard I will be dear hunting with this next week end  also smoothed up the tool marks but this bow is still in the raw ,after hunting season I will dress it up a bit. Also it took a little more set from the re tiller but even at that this bow is a lot more usefull to me now, Thanks

[bradsmith2010]

that looks great,, congrats on the tune up,,
if it shoots your broadheads thats even better,,
good luck on your hunting,,with your new revised hunting bow,,

sometimes when I dont have a handle , I put a string wrap where the arrow shoots best,,

[Dictionary]

did 2# make that big of a difference?  Thought you'd retiller to like 45-50#

[Stick Bender]

When I made this bow it was only a year off the stump after it seasoned a bit it picked up about another 3 lb so I  took off about 5 lb  and yes on the difference because I wanted to inter change arrows between my 2 hunting bows the other is a hickory/sinew it's pulling 50-51 the 58 lb threw the arrow spine off & couldn't get my broad head arrows to fly true now there good with the longer draw & arrow length the arrows can get finicky