Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Nicole on June 25, 2018, 08:53:39 pm
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ok so im new to this site. Im not even sure im on the right board. Regardless im hoping someone out there can give me some feedback on my tiller. This is a 57in (nock to nock) hickory flatbow.
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The tiller looks pretty good Nicole.Slight propeller in limbs but that's ok.It's a self bow.I take it's pulled to about 24 to 25 inches?A picture of the bow resting will tell more.Top view look would be good too.
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I agree with Ed. The bend looks good but there is a bit of propeller twist. Check the thickness across the limbs. I'd bet one side was slightly thicker than the other and opposite side on the other limb.
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define at rest please
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define at rest please
Unstrung.
Good point Pat.Thought of mentioning that but let it slide.
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Hope these are good enough.
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Does'nt look too bad either at rest I think.Is the back against the door knob or the belly?Is that a glued on handle?
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Back. yes i glued that on. it was necessary since this was from a board at home depot.
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Ok.You have some slight string follow then.That's ok.Parallel width limbs mostly and eliptical tillered and that's good.I would'nt hook your bow at full draw on that tillering stick for too long any more.Do you know the poundage of your bow at the draw weight your shooting?Have you checked for even limb thickness side to side along the limb?It's the reason for your propeller twist in your limbs.If that was a board bow it should of been even thickness to begin with.When evening that up you'll lose a little poundage.
If that's your first bow that is'nt too bad.Congratulations.Next one you can try to do better.
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Its my third actually. The poundage is 20 pounds at 20 in. im also very inexperienced with hands tool. or any wood working tools really. I only kept working on this bow for the practice in various techniques in which i am obviously lacking.
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Nicole,
Welcome to PA! These guys have a wealth of knowledge! It looks like your skill with hand tools is rapidly improving, I'd say!
Hawkdancer
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Its my third actually. The poundage is 20 pounds at 20 in. im also very inexperienced with hands tool. or any wood working tools really. I only kept working on this bow for the practice in various techniques in which i am obviously lacking.
Well, I started out with lots of experience with hand tools and my third bow didn’t look near as good. I think you did quite well.
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wow. thanks. I really appreciate the tips and i feel alot better about my progress.
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Nicole,
When building a board bow you will need to off set string follow with a backset to handle area, putting some curve in the tips or both. Yea I have heard that you can avoid set if your good enough at tillering. I question that.
My daughter is named Nicole.
I ounce went on a shooting get together . We had an old fella walk up wearing a big cowboy hat. Said He was from Kansas. He had a long fat brown with age hickory bow with almost two in. of string follow. The old feller kicked al of our ----s .
My first few bows out of boards were not as good as yours.
Greg
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haha looking good! so exciting huh, so much to learn!
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I think you have a very good eye for an even bend...Stress looks equally distributed...I think most of the twist is an optical illusion because you were low on the camera angle...A little prop twist is not a problem...
Don
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Yes what Don said about the prop twist could very well be.Hard to tell with just pictures and the bow not in hand to check of even limb thickness.It can take a little bit getting used to using hand tools.Most will find their favorite ones to use in time.When getting close to finished draw length though a cabinet scraper takes very little off at a time and very safe and useful.All in all pretty good attempt at a bow there.Enjoy it.
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I'd take that. Are you looking to go any further than 20 inches? If so take it nice and slow and even from now on and you should be fine.
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I agree with Don. How does it feel in your hand? Bend looks nice and even to me. Like ratherbeinthewoods said if you need more draw length or less weight take it slow and keep that nice even bend.
Bjrogg
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I agree with Don. How does it feel in your hand? Bend looks nice and even to me. Like ratherbeinthewoods said if you need more draw length or less weight take it slow and keep that nice even bend.
Bjrogg
it does feel good in my hand. for all thats worth. im a novice all around.
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Nicole if. I'm looking at your tiller stick right your probably closer to a 26" or even 27" draw. We measure from back of handle to string and it looks like your measuring from where string is at brace height? In other words how far the string moves? I thought that bend looked like it was much more than 20". Sometimes when people resize the photos they get distorted but I think that's your actual bend.
Bjrogg
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Nicole,
Excellent tiller on that bow.
Enjoy.
If you glued on a handle than the bending should start right at the end of the handle area so the handle does not pop off. Just some ting to keep in mind perhaps for your next one.
My site may help you.
http://traditionalarchery101.com
Jawge
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Nicole,
Excellent tiller on that bow.
Enjoy.
If you glued on a handle than the bending should start right at the end of the handle area so the handle does not pop off. Just some ting to keep in mind perhaps for your next one.
My site may help you.
http://traditionalarchery101.com
Jawge
Thanks for the link. looks like alot of good info
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Despite what some people think, a bow doesn't need backset,reflex just because it's a board. Plenty of stave bows take set even with reflex and most people give all bows some reflex once they get stuff figured out, looking good
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My limited experience tells me a red oak board bow will take more set than many other woods. Set happens!
Greg
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Sorry! I think my point is unclear. I have built bows from a stave and not needed to alter with reflex because reflex was present. My red oak and hickory board bows needed to have some alteration because they were flat. Flat is the effecting characteristic not type of wood.
My wording caused the misunderstanding.
Thanks
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Several years ago i purchased a bow. the store wasn't that helpful and i ended up with a bow thats to heavy for me. Wondering if the one i made is adequate enough to use as a training bow considering its low draw weight?
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A low draw weight is great for perfecting your form. I've talked to a few guys that have deliberately made a light bow to work on their form.
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You're tillering abilities are good so you can use that one for now and make another slightly heavier if you find it too low in draw weight
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Nicole I agree with DC and Marc. You've got a real nice bend there and the low poundage is good for form and building up strength. We really don't use those muscles for anything else so we build them up pretty fast after we start shooting a lot.
Do you know what your draw length is? Do you draw the bow as far as it is shown on the tree? If you shoot it for awhile and think you want more weight and don't draw it as far as it is on tree you might be able to pike it(shorten it) and you could gain some weight. I wouldn't suggest doing so if you are drawing it to where it is on tree though. For now I'd just enjoy it. Have you shot it yet? Maybe you could get someone to take a picture of you at full draw. We might be able to give you some more options.
Bjrogg
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My experience, after making many board bows, is that they take less set than bows made from log staves, Nicole. A properly chosen board with straight grain and no knots will work just fine for your future efforts.
However, working with log staves is just so much more challenging and enjoyable. I just turned 70. I picked out a nice osage stave but I've been postponing attacking it. More work. LOL.
I've also made a lot of bows from log staves and I sure wish my first efforts looked as good as yours.
Keep up the good work!
Jawge
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Nicole,
You do good work! I'm impressed! Btw, what tools are you working with? I'm also a bit envious!
Congratulations!
Hawkdancer
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To be honest i have no idea what my draw length is. Every method i try gives me varying results. The arrow im using is 27 inches from nock throat to tip. I think im at full draw, but im self taught so my form is probably terrible. My scale says im pulling 16 pounds at full draw. Ive shot it. I compared it to my factory bow which is an of the shelf model. it gives me relatively constant center area shots. This bow, an of the hand version, goes wide left and right every now and then. im not sure if its because im not proficient in of the hand style shooting yet or bow design issues. The target i shoot at is about 3 meters away and a little low.
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Nicole,
You do good work! I'm impressed! Btw, what tools are you working with? I'm also a bit envious!
Congratulations!
Hawkdancer
Thank You so much for that. In the beginning i used rasps to cut out the form. Im afraid of power saws. Everything was so uneven though since im not an adept, so i began trying to hacksaw it. once i got it floor tillered i used scrapers and to finish. and of course a lot of sandpaper to smooth everything out.
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First off, let's critique your form. Look at the arrow and draw a straight line following the line of the arrow back from the nock, though your fingers, then hand, then wrist, forearm and elbow. It should all be one straight line. Your elbow might be just a tinly little bit high, but mine is always higher than that, despite my best efforts. So call that one an A-. Your bow arm looks to be crooked lightly at the elbow. That prevents wrist slap of the string and having a randomizing effect on the arrow flight. Call that an A. Your feet are planted about the width of your shoulders so that you are balanced and steady, A+. It looks like you are pulling your shoulder blades together instead of holding the bow arm perpendicular to your chest, great! Another A+. Ok, now that you have a good stance, open posture, and if you like your anchor point then I would suggest you continue doing as you are doing now. Others may be able to refine this, but I am gonna say you pretty much got this nailed, sister!
And I would definitely suggest you shoot this bow as much and as often as you can while you are building the next bow. Bows are not like romantic partners, despite how much in love with them we can often deeply fall. There is no need to feel guilty for looking on to the next one while you are taking this one out! Nor is there any shame in going back to an older one while the newer one waits around for you to come back. Be true to your beau, play the field with your bows.
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Form looks good to me but I'm far from an expert. Looks like about 3" of a 27" arrow sticking out there so I would put your draw length at 24". We've had a few threads on here about "accurate" bows and the consensus is that there is no such thing. Accuracy is in the hands of the shooter. Your "aim point" may change from bow to bow but once you sort that out it's up to you.
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First off, let's critique your form. Look at the arrow and draw a straight line following the line of the arrow back from the nock, though your fingers, then hand, then wrist, forearm and elbow. It should all be one straight line. Your elbow might be just a tinly little bit high, but mine is always higher than that, despite my best efforts. So call that one an A-. Your bow arm looks to be crooked lightly at the elbow. That prevents wrist slap of the string and having a randomizing effect on the arrow flight. Call that an A. Your feet are planted about the width of your shoulders so that you are balanced and steady, A+. It looks like you are pulling your shoulder blades together instead of holding the bow arm perpendicular to your chest, great! Another A+. Ok, now that you have a good stance, open posture, and if you like your anchor point then I would suggest you continue doing as you are doing now. Others may be able to refine this, but I am gonna say you pretty much got this nailed, sister!
And I would definitely suggest you shoot this bow as much and as often as you can while you are building the next bow. Bows are not like romantic partners, despite how much in love with them we can often deeply fall. There is no need to feel guilty for looking on to the next one while you are taking this one out! Nor is there any shame in going back to an older one while the newer one waits around for you to come back. Be true to your beau, play the field with your bows.
wow i didnt expect to get such amazing and constructive feedback. Thank you
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Nicole I'd say I pretty much agree with JW. Your form at least in this full draw picture looks pretty darn good. I think Hawkdancer is probably pretty close on your draw length to. As for it shooting to right or left sometimes, it could be in your release, anchor point, or how much or little you cantering the bow. That light of bow actually is tougher to get a good smooth release than a bit heavier one would be. Like JW said if you like that anchor point you can stick with it. For me I "aim" with my bow arm and come to a consistent anchor point with my draw. You've probably already heard it, but consistency is so important. I also agree with JW on leaving that bow as it is and just keep shooting it. If you want a heavier bow just start another. I feel the same way about my bows as JW described. I'll shoot another bow, but my wife is stuck with me. All in all I'd say you did very well.
Bjrogg
PS it does seem like this photo is a bit distorted from resizing? Still a nice bend.
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A+ on the bend Nicole...As I said you have an eye for an even bend...Looks like most of the twist is gone from the earlier camera angle...
Don
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A+ on the bend Nicole...As I said you have an eye for an even bend...Looks like most of the twist is gone from the earlier camera angle...
Don
I did some scraping on the trouble spots and it seemed to work.
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Form looks good to me but I'm far from an expert. Looks like about 3" of a 27" arrow sticking out there so I would put your draw length at 24". We've had a few threads on here about "accurate" bows and the consensus is that there is no such thing. Accuracy is in the hands of the shooter. Your "aim point" may change from bow to bow but once you sort that out it's up to you.
thanks to something you said in this comment i realized that my tillering tree was marked wrong. what i thought was 20 was 26. Glad i figured that out.
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Pic of full draw does seem squished! Hope my hickory turns out as nice! Aiming for about 43#- 46# @26". That's a different thread. I agree with JW, keep being Consistent!
Hawkdancer
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To be honest i have no idea what my draw length is. Every method i try gives me varying results. The arrow im using is 27 inches from nock throat to tip. I think im at full draw, but im self taught so my form is probably terrible. My scale says im pulling 16 pounds at full draw. Ive shot it. I compared it to my factory bow which is an of the shelf model. it gives me relatively constant center area shots. This bow, an of the hand version, goes wide left and right every now and then. im not sure if its because im not proficient in of the hand style shooting yet or bow design issues. The target i shoot at is about 3 meters away and a little low.
If you are using different arrows when shooting then it could simply be mismatched spine causing the lack of consistency. If you are using the same arrow all the time then it's you
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Nicole,
The tillering on the bow is real good from what I can see here. Looks like I see about 11/2 in. string follow. That as time goes on will probably increase to 2 in.. If that amount of follow is fine with you than fine. If you in future decide you would prefer less string follow, I would backset the handle or reflex the tips just a bit.
Good luck,
Greg
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Form looks very good, Nicole. Have someone watch you shoot and note where the arrow is compared to the back of the bow. Measure it to the throat of the nock or bottom of the groove. That's your draw length.
As for arrows going left that is indicative of over spined arrows for a righty.
Your bow is light. Leave the arrows full width and buy the lightest arrows you can find.
Go to my site and read this-
http://traditionalarchery101.com/selfbowcare.html
Jawge
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I'm curious what you guys think of my handle design. Most factory bows have pistol grip shapes, which don't fit my hand at all. im quite small. well at least vertically.
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Form looks very good, Nicole. Have someone watch you shoot and note where the arrow is compared to the back of the bow. Measure it to the throat of the nock or bottom of the groove. That's your draw length.
As for arrows going left that is indicative of over spined arrows for a righty.
Your bow is light. Leave the arrows full width and buy the lightest arrows you can find.
Go to my site and read this-
http://traditionalarchery101.com/selfbowcare.html
Jawge
The lowest spine i can find are 5/16 30-35 are those ok?