Traditional Firearms > Traditional Archery
Traditional Bow Maintenance and complete course on Tillering!
Eric Krewson:
I have made a lot of selfbows over the last 20 years, 155 that I know of.
I am pretty sure you guys have heard of the little tool I came up with to tell you where to take off wood when you tiller a bow. I always mention it just in case. I have given away a couple hundred of them over the years.
Simple to make and works flawlessly. I can provide more info if someone is making bows and hasn't heard of it.
Uncle Russ:
--- Quote ---I am pretty sure you guys have heard of the little tool I came up with to tell you where to take off wood when you tiller a bow. I always mention it just in case. I have given away a couple hundred of them over the years.
--- End quote ---
Eric, At my age, I am fairly confident I will never make another Bow.
Plus the fact I am by no means a Bowyer, and have never laid claim to such.
I have 3 Longbows, and my right shoulder is not cooperating with me enough to draw any bow with a draw weight greater than 50#...However, I am still interested in your 'gizmo', and I would like very much to hear a little more about it. I could have certainly used such a tool when I was building my Osage.
For 'tillering' I used the garage door, with its flat slats as a "guide'....that, and a caliper measuring thickness at 1/2" intervals for removing wood.....a very time consuming process, but it sure beat shoveling the 3 foot of snow that we had for weeks-on-end the year I built that bow....
I kept threatening to buy a tillering guide, but that never came about.
Doing my best to follow the advice in Dean Torges' book I also tried to avoid "the totally Flat Limb Syndrome".
How I ended up with a fairly nice shooting Bow is still beyond me.
Ohio Joe, and Fletcher, both Charter Members of the TMA, have long been the driving force, creating a lot of interest in the Longbow with both myself and many of the Members.
I personally think your sharing some information on tillering, along with that of your "gizmo", would be interesting reading for many of our members.
Thanks!
Uncle Russ...
Eric Krewson:
Easy to make, a "1X6" piece of softwood, drill a 5/16' hole in the center and a 1/2" hole about halfway through the wood on top of the 5/16" hole.
Tap a 5/16" nut in the 1/2" hole;
I cut the excess wood off the block to this shape so the tool will go further up the limb with out string interference.
Screw a golf pencil in the nut and you are good to go.
A blunt pencil work best.
Here are the instructions I send out with the tool;
USING THE TILLERIN’ GIZMO
After floor tillering your bow, bend the bow slightly on your tillering tree or tillering stick, I start at about 3” of bend using the long string. Retract the pencil in the Gizmo and run the wood block up the bow’s belly and find the widest gap. Screw the pencil in the block to a point it is almost touching the bow’s belly at the point where you found the widest gap. I change the sharp angle the pencil has been sharpened to a blunt tip which is best for marking the limb. This lets you work very slight bends.
Run the Gizmo up the belly making sure it is centered on the limb. The
pencil will mark non bending areas that need wood removed. Start on the long string, continue at brace and up to about 20” of draw. You do need to have a way to hold your bow string while you mark the limbs with the Gizmo.
I have holes in my tillering tree and insert a 3” piece of dowel in one of the holes to hold the string with the limbs slightly bent while I mark the limbs with the gizmo.
Go slow, no more than ten scrapes on the marked areas of the limb, flex the limb 30 times and recheck. My bow limbs tend to be slightly round belly so the Gizmo only marks the top of the crown on the limbs belly. I scrape the marked area as well as the rest of the limb side to side to keep things even. You can get the limb bending perfectly this way. You will still have to eyeball bending in the fades but the rest of the limb will be perfectly tillered, hinges will be a thing of the past.
I adjust the gizmo one time on the long string and set it to the deepest bend on the weakest limb. I use this setting for both limbs. If you continually adjust the gizmo you will chase weak spots up and down your limb. One adjustment and hold this adjustment until you have removed enough wood to the point that can run the gizmo up both limbs without making a mark. As you increase draw length readjust the gizmo.
Make a few passes with the gizmo on your limb and the areas that need attention will be perfectly obvious. You can fine tune the tillering by closing the gap between the pencil and limb to almost nothing. At this point I like to use a cheap orbital sander to remove both wood and any tool marks that are left. With course sandpaper, the sander will leave tiny swirls in the wood so I like 220 grit for my final tillering work and follow with a light hand sanding.
The gizmo doesn’t work in the fade out area of the riser so you will have to eyeball the bend in this area or put a flat board across the back of the bow in your tillering tree and watch the gap between the back of the bow and the board to see where the limb is bending.
Tillering that once took me hours to get close takes me about 45 minutes with the Gizmo and the end result is close to perfect.
Remember the key thing to proper tillering is using a scraper or sandpaper. If you ever get the urge to grab a course rasp or use a belt sander to speed things up even more, take a coffee break and come back when these thoughts have passed.
Uncle Russ:
This is really great Eric Krewson!
Personally, I find this a great teaching tool for anyone interested in creating their own Bow.
I am going to set this thread as a "sticky", and change Joe's title to this thread just a wee bit.
Those who are still building will find this Post to be of great help, by your post alone they can go from "Floor Tiller" to completed Bow, in no time at all with just a minimum of time and patience.
Myself, the Membership, and the Board Of Directors, thank you for sharing this.
It is through the sharing of knowledge that we progress in this wonderful Hobby!
Respectfully, Russ Baker aka "Uncle Russ".
:hairy
Ohio Joe:
--- Quote from: RussB on September 03, 2017, 01:09:28 PM ---This is really great Eric Krewson!
Personally, I find this a great teaching tool for anyone interested in creating their own Bow.
I am going to set this thread as a "sticky", and change Joe's title to this thread just a wee bit.
Those who are still building will find this Post to be of great help, by your post alone they can go from "Floor Tiller" to completed Bow, in no time at all with just a minimum of time patience.
Myself, the Membership, and the Board Of Directors, thank you for sharing this.
It is through the sharing of knowledge that we progress in this wonderful Hobby!
Respectfully, Russ Baker aka "Uncle Russ".
:hairy
--- End quote ---
Excellent idea, Russ! :hairy
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