Traditional Bow Maintenance and complete course on Tillering!

[Ohio Joe]

Well I've spent the better part of the morning since I got up and had coffee - performing maintenance on my traditional "wood" longbows. I didn't realize I had made so many bows over the years,,, (and have bought four),,, but I love'em all. So far I've strung 8 of them (I have 24 total) and gave each bow string some fresh bow wax, flexed them a bit - then couldn't stand it any longer and headed off to get my arrows so I could shoot them. I was doing this in my side yard where I got a 25 yard archery lane.

Over the years (and I haven't made a bow in at least 5 or 6 years) the ones I've made have been board bows,,, some with a birch to maple, and birch / hickory / maple lamination, and just some plain ol' birch longbows (which I find to be an excellent wood for this), and man I must of just got absorbed and carried away making them.

So far the ones I've done the maintenance on have performed very well for me. Though I do have some favorites that perform better then others - but that's because I use them quite a bit more.

Anyone else get lost in this hobby and just can't get enough of it?   

[Winter Hawk]

I haven't made any, but I do go out every couple of days in the back yard with a recurve I bought in 1966 when I was getting ready for college in Alaska, or a longbow I bought several years ago.  I enjoy the silence as compared to the rifles.  And every so often I get out in the woods behind Chauncey and kill some stumps.  I get exercise and the dogs get to run.  Sometimes we see deer or squirrels although they tend to hide from the mutts....

~WH~

[Keb]

I've made a few but I just can't hang on to them very long. I shoot a 55# @ 28" bamboo backed ipe as of this writing but that could change at any time. I have made four osage / bamboo backed bows, an osage / hickory backed and an ash board bow this month. I also made a very light ladies or kids bow of ash. It's 20# @ 28" and very limber. I've got 4 dozen arrows to fletch but I just can't sit down to do it.

[Ohio Joe]

I handled some Osage Bows at this years Rondy (Chadron Fur Trade Days) and I gotta say I was very impressed with that wood! 

[Uncle Russ]

Joe, I made a Bamboo Backed Osage about 4 or 5 years back. It is 52# @ 28".
I dearly love shooting that thing!

I also have the Bow you made for me 10 or 12 years ago! 

The Bamboo backed Osage was the third Bow I have ever made, and trust me, it took me forever to get that Tiller just right. Dean Torges Book "Hunting the Osage Bow" was an invaluable tool throughout the whole process.

You can see both sides and the edge of the Bow in these pictures.
Osage is a beautiful color in my eyes.

That string on the floor is a part of a new stringer. I never string without a stringer, many folks simply step through, yank the tip around the back of their leg, and put the string in the notch. I ALWAS use a stringer....with my feet on the stringer slowly lifting the bow while slipping the string on the notch. It's just the way I was taught, back when old Shep was just a pup.
That Bamboo looks great with Osage too!

And, of course, there is one of me in the shop trying to get the "shape" on the Bow.
Scrapers is the way to go before final sanding...and I would suggest that you never sand without using a block on the paper.....similar to a gunstock, if you use your fingers with sandpaper, you can betcha yer going to get waves, that's just how life is.


Uncle Russ...








Uncle Russ..

[Ohio Joe]

Russ, I like the looks of that Bamboo Backed Osage bow you made "A Lot!" 

Three Rivers Archery offers bamboo backed bow kits (at least they use to) and that is another style I would like to make someday when I have more time. I've wanted to try that bamboo backing for a long time, but have never got around to it.

"Hunting The Osage Bow" has just went on my list of books to buy. 

I too use a stringer to string my bows. I've always thought it the best way to go about it.

I remember the first bow I made you and shipped - someone ran over it in the cardboard tube and broke it, so's I made you another and shipped it in PVC pipe.  I recall making it a rather lite pull as at that time I'm thinking you were having shoulder trouble maybe? Perhaps I'm remembering that wrong? In any event I'm still happy to hear you've got that bow around.

Anymore I warm up with a 35# bow before switching over to 42# / 45#... Who'd of thought ol' mother nature would catch up with us...    But she did! 

Primitive Archery, still one of the greatest past-times out there! 

[Keb]

Nice looking bow. I think osage is one of the prettiest woods out there especially when it gets some age on it.
I don't use a stringer and I also don't put my leg thru the bow. I put the bottom tip against the inside of my right foot with the back facing me, grab the bow by the handle with my right hand and pull while sliding the string up and into the nock with my left hand.

[Uncle Russ]

.........I remember the first bow I made you and shipped - someone ran over it in the cardboard tube and broke it, so's I made you another and shipped it in PVC pipe.  I recall making it a rather lite pull as at that time I'm thinking you were having shoulder trouble maybe? Perhaps I'm remembering that wrong? In any event I'm still happy to hear you've got that bow around.

Yes Joe, you're spot on with your memory.

I still have that same bad right shoulder, and the US Post Office is still breaking "stuff".
I distinctively recall the little lady at the Post Office Insurance asking, "you're saying the Bow was not like this, holding the two broke pieces,  before it was shipped???"
The Mail Carrier had made a note that the package was damaged on receipt and I honestly believe that's the only reason she paid up...then she mailed me the Insurance Check!!
....what's a mother to do?

Using A PVC Tube is the only way to ship a longbow.... 

(I have no clue what happened in my previous post, I seem to have pictures of all sizes going everywhere....I gotta get a grip on this picture stuff,  I'm sorry about that!)


Uncle Russ...

 

[Ohio Joe]

"you're saying the Bow was not like this, holding the two broke pieces,  before it was shipped???"

 

I didn"t know there was a market for "pre - broke" new bows......

I enjoyed the pictures just as you posted them, Russ. 

[Uncle Russ]

Nice looking bow. I think osage is one of the prettiest woods out there especially when it gets some age on it.
I don't use a stringer and I also don't put my leg thru the bow. I put the bottom tip against the inside of my right foot with the back facing me, grab the bow by the handle with my right hand and pull while sliding the string up and into the nock with my left hand.

Hi Keb.......the method you use is very popular. If I were not using a stringer, I feel quite sure I would be using that same method, it would certainly be one less little piece of equipment to carry, albeit my stringer has its own place on my quiver, that same space could most likely be used for something else essential.

 

Uncle Russ...

[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]

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.

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".

 

[Ohio Joe]

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".

 

Excellent idea, Russ!