crabby tillering time

[davidjw]

This has been seasoning for about 9 months, thought I might take a crack at it.  Still needs some diagonal sinew wraps at the kasan eye area.  I think I will put some more sinew on the edges too, as it's a little convex on the back.  After tillering I will cover the belly in sinew. Seems like all that will be a bit easier once it's opened up a bit.

I suppose I just do all corrections by heating the sal with the asa geese in place, as the kasan eye area is totally inflexible?

[mikekeswick]

That looks like a fun tillering project! I would not heat the sals (when bent) as it will lead to set there. With any luck you won't need to correct anything! Of course you can use the tillering stick to see where the twist is , remove, then heat the sals to remove any twist that may be there.
Good luck!

[BowEd]

Good looking project.Hopefully everything is close enough to being in line when prying it apart.One thing at a time.

[davidjw]

After a formidable wrestling match using both feet and both hands I was able to get her open.  Sitting on a line of red ants outside didn't help.   Looks pretty good for twist, a little in one limb.  Good idea on fixing the twist, thanks Mike! But to correct the imbalance I think I would need to heat it with the stick in place?  I can't imagine that I won't need to lose some of the reflex to heat before the tepeliks?

[davidjw]

Correction, I will correct the imbalance the way one is suppose to, a bit of scraping and flexing. 

[mikekeswick]

Correction, I will correct the imbalance the way one is suppose to, a bit of scraping and flexing.

Yes that is the way!
There are some threads on Atarn about tillering crab bows. One by Adam is well worth reading. Brace height is likely to be around 9 inches or so to make the string clear the kasans. Don't worry about breakage/overstressing...the materials can take it.

[davidjw]

Nice one, thanks Mike, I've been looking over those, very helpful indeed.  I took my measurements from a bow that kviljo posted there with cross sections every 2", just scaled down a bit.  I still need to make some extra wide tepeliks with a pretty big bend to them.  I think I will wrap the kasan eyes for security beforehand.

[BowEd]

Heck of a nice prospect of a bow david.Wish you all the best to it's successful conclusion.

[davidjw]

Thanks Beadman, much appreciated.  Definitely going to be taking this slow and steady, still a lot of nitty gritty bits to take care of before she gets a string. 

[mikekeswick]

I think I would cut the nocks next and force the asi gezi into the nock slots to get a better read of the bend/twist etc. Keep an eye on that left limb just before the kasan eye.
Good luck!
Looking at your pictures makes me want to try one of these! Its definitely going to be a knee trembler getting a string on it for the first time haha

[davidjw]

Mike, definitely worth a try, performance questions aside, they are some pretty incredible looking bows!  I was able to put her on a longer asa gezi and eliminate the twist, still a bit of imbalance though.  The left limb is still a bit strong, and I think both inner limbs could use a bit of reduction.  Took some measurements too, 47"ntn and 40mm wide mid sal.