When to pull to full intended draw weight?

[bradsmith2010]

I do that sometimes,,.and pull it closer to draw weight as I get the tiller even,,knowing that the bow is gonna shift or stabalize,,,.as the draw gets longer,,.pulling it to full weight at end of tiller process,,.just something I do to keep strain to a minimum at the start of tillering,...it may not be effective,,.but I feel better

[SLIMBOB]

Hey Brad.  The way I tiller is not recognizable to my buddy Curt who showed me how to do this 25 years ago.  We all find ways of accomplishing things and incorporate these things into the process.  My goal is to keep set to a minimum during the build.  Keeping the tiller good from the get go, and avoiding stressing the wood unnecessarily.  I asked the question earlier in earnest.  What am I missing by not pulling to full weight early?  I don't think of any of these things as the "right way" or "wrong way".

[Doc]

Are you using a grid behind your tiller board? I use a brick wall to check and mark for corrections.

[Pat B]

I guess I take for granted that floor tiller time is when I try to get both limbs bending evenly. On the tree with a tiller string I try to get it closer. At low brace I try to have both limbs bending evenly and together then all I have to do is get to my intended draw weight. A lot of this comes with experience but getting most of the kinks out(metaphorically)earlier helps to achieve a well tillered bow of the desired draw weight.

[SLIMBOB]

Pat...I think your method is more common. I too get everything right on the floor tiller (that came after years of practice). Even with an ideal tiller early on, I don’t pull to full weight until the last inch or 2 of draw length. Jawge mentioned he does the same. Is there an advantage to pulling it to full weight early on?

[Pat B]

Once I started pulling to ultimate draw weight as I tiller my bent sticks started becoming bows with that desired draw weight. For me it works. It may work differently for others.

[SLIMBOB]

Thanks Pat. I hear what you’re saying completely. We find what works best for us generally follow that path.

[bradsmith2010]

I usually get the bow strung pretty early I guess,, so have to scrape to get the weight down,, so I can usually hit my weight or more no problem,, now sometimes that tricky sinew stuff will mess me up,, 

[SLIMBOB]

Yep. And sometimes I just mess it up without any decent excuse. 😶

[Badger]

When you tell her a bowl out at a lower weight you really have no idea what that boy is going to do once you put the full weight on it so it's very risky. You stand a very good chance of coming in late or getting a hinge

[hoosierf]

I get my bows on the long string early at full draw weight from the first pull and start with the gizmo.  The gizmo starts you on the right path from go and makes the whole process much more predictable and easy to finish. The worst is when you start out of balance and try to chase an even bend.

[TimberTinker]

I appreciate all this feedback, so thanks to everyone who's contributed to the conversation!

I'm new and inexperienced so my biggest fear is having another bow explode later in the process because my resulting tiller midway through at 30# can't handle being increased to 50#.  After making 25+ bows I'm sure my tillering will improve and I'll have enough understanding to be able to afford changing my process to reduce set and other fine tweaks, but right now I'm wanting to know the best way to tiller as a beginner so that my bows survive the whole process and draw at the target weight and length when all is said and done.

[Pat B]

One thing I'd suggest if they are still around is study your failures to see why they failed. Then with the next bow you might be able to eliminate that problem. As long as you learn something from a failure it's not a real failure.

[bradsmith2010]

the best way is to get the limbs bending even, and that just takes practice,,you'll get there,, also consider making the bows longer and wider,,,it will increase your success rate,,, as you gain experience, you can make bows on the edge of breaking,,

[Del the cat]

After some research I've concluded...
Don't pull it to full draw weight if it's going to explode
Del