The easiest way to check tiller is to make a tiller jig tree. This places the bow grip and string grip locations so they create better dynamic balance in the bow. But is that fair to assess? Because of its unreflective nature, easy ushers us into confusion and a morass of complications. Periodic checks of your bow against its fingerprint will reveal the slightest departure from it. It is simpler to build a bow with such limb combinations because you do not have to account for a sliding fulcrum. Each one is floor tillered and has the string groves already in place. A bow with a stiffer upper limb will cause the upper limb to recoil faster than the lower limb and likely cause hand shock because it stops faster than the lower limb. Balance and timing become the ripened fruits of such effort. A 90 lb. Just as the bowyer must reach tiller at a desirable draw weight, so must he simultaneously bring balance and limb timing together. It may be easier to build a bow from a full length stave rather than having to join sister billets at the handle, but it is simpler not to. A base line for the string, a large sheet of paper, such as butcher wrap, and a tillering stick. The lighter tips make for a faster bow. 3/4" x 3-3/8". For example, you could begin with several bow staves of equal profile and length, and tiller each one differently to its purposea different ideal for each one. One limb bearing more weight than another will eventually work to destroy a bow of organic materials if the dynamic fulcrum does not balance the workload. Tillering board is 35" tip to tip and actual dimensions are approx. "It is simpler to make same-limb bows and let the process help you decide which limb should be which." It functions as both adjective, verb and noun, but it's the honorific use of the term, especially in a descriptive context, that causes the most confusion. It's a generosity to provide bow-building help for hobbyists, even if the guidelines are flawed. Such a point would represent the dynamic fulcrum. You can also begin with several similar staves and tiller each one differently. In this video I describe how to tiller a self bow with a simple tool called a tillering stick. Some right ways are more appropriate than others, determined exclusively by the purpose for which the bow is intended. There's no mystery to it, and this principle remains the same for bows regardless of which limb is longer, shorter or equal. 1½" x 3" and 28 side-notches cut 1/2" deep for strength, spaced 1" apart. They can be poorly tillered and miserably timed without jeopardy to the limbs. Stain is optional. Pyramid is a good style for a bow. The bow building tools you select to build a selfbow or other primitive bow will depend on your own preference and the type of wood youâre working with. They diverge when the fulcrum shifts or the weight changes. On a self bow or longbow, string follow is the tendency for the bow to bend toward the belly or string side of the bow. HOB placed a premium on durability, predictability, noiselessness, and the ability to shoot a heavy hunting arrow, so it advocated a limb coming to compass at full draw, with stress distributed evenly along the length of both limbs. The answer for most of us is to assign positive tiller to the upper limb in same-limb bows, in deference to the five quotations excerpted from internet bulletin boards. You might tiller one for large game with lightning quick autonomic reflexes, one for flight competition, another for stump shooting and ethafoam targets at rendezvous, and yet another for English or York Rounds or for IFAA Classic competition. Sinewed bows need to be used frequently or the tiller goes off. It shouldn't matter if one limb initially has some extra curve. For our purposes, let's distinguish between two fulcrums, the static fulcrum, which fixes the geographical center of the balanced board, and the dynamic fulcrum, which fixes the working center of the balanced board. The requirements are simple. They also contribute significantly to its accuracy and longevity. Each organic bow presents its own unique requirements and, once met, its own superlative rewards. Do the same for the other limb. Floor tiller only reveals so much to me and I've found if I can get a bow bending to around 16" before putting a short string on it, I'm typically happier with the outcome. The decline may be slow, or it may be rapid, but it is certain. In my opinion, it really doesnât matter what tiller measurement the bow ⦠Tillering Stick. A base line for the string, a large sheet of paper, such as butcher wrap, and a tillering stick. It came at a time when we were enamored of Klopsteg's flat belly theory to the extent that we imposed it upon wide-limbed selfbow staves even when it interfered with results. Jawge Hunting the Osage Bow; A Chronicle of Craft. Most of us are relieved to achieve the first three goals. I don't put it on the tree until I am at about 25" draw. We pass them around at rendezvous for inspection, delighting in knot-hole bows from gnarly staves that demonstrate our ability to salvage something from the scrap heap. The root word for integrity, after all, is integer, which means indivisibility. That's its proudest and most important contribution to the methodology of bow building, I believe. I stated earlier that there is no one right way to tiller a bow, though there are plenty of wrong ways. To finish simply remove wood from the belly to reduce poundage, the back only needs sanding. A Basic Method For Making Self Bows. By contrast, if you sift through a stack of full length osage staves you will discover in each one dramatic differences in the growth rings from one nock end to the other. If ash or hickory wood, cut green and dried indoors is best. The bows that are made from the live trees are known as self bows, meaning theyâre made from a single piece of wood with no glue or laminates of any kind. A bow ⦠Hunting the Osage Bow advocated the use of the tillering tree and a view of the bow at full draw to determine tiller. $34.99. Bring this simple principle to the wooden bow, where the term "balance" also has two applications. As with our seesaw comparison, any divergence between the two fulcrums has to do with unequal or shifting weights.