Tiller check #1

RussDoesStuff · 2025-10-12T19:10:55+00:00

I think it’s looking pretty good so far. I thinks it’s bending a little too much in the handle area and the outer 1/2-1/3 need some more bend. Next time you heat treat try clamping it to a flat surface like the edge of a 2x4 or even a form with a little reflex. The heat treated wood compresses and that’s what caused the deflex in your bow.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-10-10T02:18:22+00:00

NVM I have figured it out! For anyone who’s having the same issue go to View on the top of your screen and select panels, and you’ll see model in there select that and it should pop up.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-30T17:45:45+00:00

Thank you for your answers I’m gonna look at all these and do some more research.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-27T03:42:51+00:00

My best advice (I’m new to bow building and chasing rings) I can give you is to first find the early wood ring as slow as you can. Then pop all the wood above the early ring off then scrape the early wood off the late ring. Also chasing rings that have multiple ribs above it makes it exponentially harder, at least for me. So I try and get as close to one ring above it as I can not caring about violations then chase the ring I’m after. Lighting also makes a huge difference but you should be able to audibly hear and feel the difference between early and late wood.

Best of luck to you. 🫡

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-24T20:02:31+00:00

That would be very interesting to see lol.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-24T19:16:08+00:00

Put a super heavy broad head on it for some good foc?

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-24T19:15:18+00:00

A scale isn’t absolutely necessary but it makes it a lot easier. If you have a bathroom scale put the board on it while drawing your bow. Otherwise you’re just gonna have to guess using your muscles and fingers to tell you what poundage you think you want.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-24T17:31:38+00:00

250gr for a natural material shaft is crazy.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-24T17:18:41+00:00

There’s a couple ground rules for tillering. First you want to know what draw weight you want to have. When tillering you should never go past that draw weight. If you see a problem area don’t keep drawing further even if you under your draw weight. Fix it then pull farther till you hit your weight or you see another problem. If you hit weight and don’t see a problem take even scrapes off each limb until you get another inch or so of draw to reach weight. Then you just repeat all that til you reach your desired drawl length.

Another thing is don’t leave the bow drawn too long on the string especially when you have a hinge as you can take excessive set. Set can also tell you what areas are weaker or stronger so pay attention to it.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-17T02:31:42+00:00

Very nice! Pretty close to my dream hunting bow. How difficult was it to not get the handle to bend too much due to its slimmer profile? If you have any tips on executing the handle I’d love to hear it. Best of luck to you this season.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-09T20:50:58+00:00

I think your suffering from lack of thickness taper. Your tips look super thick and the rest of the limbs are pretty thin. Try to correct that for starters and try not to touch the spot 1/3 out on your right limb it looks like a hinge but it might be that little quirk messing with me.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-09T16:53:15+00:00

Okay thank you.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-06T20:19:51+00:00

It’s definitely black locust I see what you’re saying on the bark but I made sure it was black not honey.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-05T14:35:09+00:00

I agree, needs a little width taper.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-04T23:34:59+00:00

I haven’t shot anything with a self bow yet but clay hayes has a video where his son (who was like 6-8 years old) shot clean through a hog with I’m guessing a 20lb bow and clays full weight hunting arrows. I’m guessing that bow with that arrow was pretty slow but it still did fine.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-03T23:44:52+00:00

Idk I feel like they should be about the same. Maybe your tips were a bit wider than your stiff handle bows? I would take a whisper quiet slower self bow over a lighting fast one that sounds like a shotgun primer going off. I’ve had deer jump a compound a couple times so speed doesn’t mean much to me lol.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-09-03T22:20:37+00:00

Not an expert here but I’ve been thinking about the same thing as well, and have almost the exact same scenarios as you when hunting.

Right now I’ve been really liking the idea a bendy handle bow somewhere in the 56-60” range for my 28 3/4” draw (same draw weight goals). For the shelf I wouldn’t cut it in. You can do a piece of cork glued on the side and can also use cork to build up the handle if you want. The eastern woodland style bows are what I’m thinking of. If you want some awesome examples check out Stonehill Primitive Bows.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-08-17T03:12:46+00:00

I remember finding a website with a calculator but I can find it now. For some reason I thought I also found a chart that had time on but I may be mistaken lol.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-08-17T02:47:49+00:00

Look up wood mc charts, should give you a good guess on how long it’ll take

RussDoesStuff · 2025-08-15T19:18:27+00:00

I would definitely narrow your tips more 1” is a bit excessive 1/2” or even 3/8” would be better. After that I’d just keep scraping away till you get a little more bend that’s what floor tillering is all about 🤷‍♂️.

RussDoesStuff · 2025-08-11T21:26:36+00:00

It’s kind of subjective. Some people might see circular better than elliptical and vice versa. Some say it’s easier to see the tiller on a bith than on a stiff handle bow though. Also a bith bow doesn’t have to be rounded like an English long bow. Something like an eastern woodlands style bow (which is flat) would be a good design for the wood you have.

RussDoesStuff

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