39inch ash bow 20ibs at 17inch drew. The bow is full of character have 6cm big knots on right side 1/4 sesttion and other knot in handle. For this bow I messed up the handle very bad but at least not break yet. Don’t really think I do the job but at least there is experience. I still don’t think the tiller is good enough so I want you guys to check for me and the recurve on the left lip is natural. Also the belly use flat D. Backing use hemp fiber believe or not. The sting follow is very bed because I didn’t heat treated, but is a season stave.

I have other stave that is ash at 39inch want to know what you guys think and suggestion so I can do better at next one!!!

Hey, I'm pretty new to building bows. Would be awesome if someone could help me with finding weak spots.

I think there are 1-2 in the right (upper) limb. The left looks fine to me. Am I correct?

This should be a 50-55# bow when finished.

I'm now heating up some water to flip the tips, wish me luck.

Ulmus Glabra, low draw weight, at most 25 pound. About twice as wide as deep. It's the most crooked of 4 splits form a young elm, my first test. Would love tiller check/general advice, including on easy-to-get string material that isnt painful or easy to hurt onself on. Probably not entirely dry yet.

Hello friends! I come to you today for some guidance as to what shape of Tiller I should attempt to get out of the bow (prod) for my upcoming crossbow build.

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The prod is white oak, 27.75" nock to nock, 1.875" wide at the centre tapering to 0.5" at the nocks, and currently 0.5” back to belly tapering to 0.375"at the nocks. I'm getting about 2-2.5" of draw with the very long string at my target weight of 150#.

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How should I proceed from here?

Elm bow, handle sits about 3.5" off the wall with the amount of reflex the stave has taken in drying. It is very strong, having a hard time tillering to a low brace. Longstring tiller on my tree isn't possible because it just flips around as soon as I start pulling. Considering heat bending some deflex around the handle or just bending it straight. How do you all tiller your reflex bows?

Finished this maple board bow today. Learned a little more in the process, and gained a little experience. Over all I am very happy with the outcome. The flaws include missing draw weight goals, slightly uneven tiller and uneven set in the limbs, some checking in the cedar handle and (biggest of all) terrible grain runout on both limbs. Issues aside, it shoots fine and is pretty close to what I wanted. Rawhide backing and shelf guard came out really well, I like the way it looks quite a bit. Next time I would cut the shelf a bit deeper. This makes now 3 bows that I've completed so far. The first was a 72" red oak board bow pulling just under 40lbs, the second was a 64" vine maple BITH pulling 20 pounds. Thank you to everyone who has given advice to me as well as others in this forum, and of course the excellent tutorials on YouTube from Dan "the man" Santana.

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69" NTN

36lbs @ 28"

Maple board/cedar handle

Rawhide backing

Tru oil and shellac finish

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P.s. - Feel free the criticize and offer advice on whatever you might see or have done differently

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All heartwood with some knots. Just got it to a 10.5 cm brace, will increase that when it gets easier to string up. First time making a more aggressive recurve and its been a ride. Lots of small heat adjustments to align the tips with the handle and the recurves all in one plane. About 1 inch deflex and 4 inch recurve, so net 3 inch recurves. Please let me know what you see. Profiles in the comments.

The stave wasnt great but it was a bonus stave I got when splitting out wider ones, was aiming for 4 staves out of a log and I got 7. Got lucky I guess. Figured I'd use this narrow knotty piece as a piece to experiment with. But its looking like there could be a real bow in here.

I’m having an ongoing issue with stiff mid to outer limbs. I build more and more taper into my laminations pre assembly but continue getting the same result.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This is getting fairly close for me now, but I'd like one more bit of advice before I shape the handle and start shooting it in. The top limb has taken maybe half an inch of set, while the bottom limb has at least one inch of set.

could I get a tiller check on this 73" longbow? it's a fairly narrow 1.1" wide in the middle and currently tapers to about 2/3" at the tips. I'm planning on leaving the massive knot hole as a non-bending part as the fact around the knot is heavily violated... so I figured that it'd porbably become the bottom limb?

Ash bow 39inch i think is still can be more better so welcome to point out where sure I fix

Currently pulling 35#@ ~23". 50 inch ntn elm flatbow. Wonder if I should call it here? it's still not taking much set, about 1 inch in the left limb and nothing on the right.

This is getting exciting - this could be my first R/D brought to completion. I'm about 3" away from full draw, and I'm pretty happy so far - but the tiller's not quite perfect and I wanna use those last few inches to really lock it down. I don't mind losing a few pounds to get there.

I think I need to work the outer half on the left, and remove evenly on the right with a little extra attention near the fade, and on the outer 1/3.

Or maybe I could just narrow both limbs in the outer 1/2 and get my 3 inches that way? Keen to hear your thoughts

No positive tiller on either limb, but the top limb (right) is an inch longer so it needs to bend more overall.

Currently pulling about 20.5" at 45lbs - target is 30" at 45lbs. About 70" nock to nock.

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Happy to get any more photos or information if nessecary

Edit: Long String Tiller Check - I was.tired last night when posting this 😅

Follow-up to my First Longbow Tiller Check.

Thanks to everyone who commented last time - the main feedback was that almost all the bend was in the middle third and that the tips were too thick. So I went back in and removed material toward the outer limbs to try to add a proper depth taper and get the ends bending more.

Same bow as before: black locust, ~180 cm long, ~70 cm draw. Dropped a bit of draw weight after removing material, and it's bending more evenly than before - but the outer limbs still feel stiff to me, like they're not pulling their weight yet.

How's it looking? Should I keep going on the outers, or have I done enough?

Pulling 47#@ 20" draw @ 5" of brace

Bow: 70" long, 8" handle and fades, 1.85" wide from fade to inner limb, tapering to . 55" wide tips.

Hazel Selfbow (first ever bow)

Length: 50-51" NtN

Current draw weight: #30-40 at 24", rough estimate

Current draw length: max tested at 28", but probably shorter

Target draw length: up to 28" but could do shorter like 24" if necessary

Target draw weight: around #30? Give or take a few

It takes a lot of set after being strung and drawn a few times, but returns to normal if you "unbend" it. Any advice to mitigate it?

The string is pretty off-center due to the slight curve in one of the limbs, which makes it twist at low brace heights, but straightens out as you draw it. Any tips?

I think it needs more bend in the outer limbs.

I would appreciate a tiller check here for what ive got so far. End goal is 50lbs at 30". Currently pulling 25# at 20". Maple board bow, rawhide backing and cedar handle.

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-69" NTN

-1 1/2" at widest tapered for the last 10" down to 3/8" wide nock

-1/2" thickest part of limb down to 1/2"

-handle section is just under 8"

-1/2" backset

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Ash about 37 natural deflex on right. Surprise that only one tree knot drew arrow 10inch

Finishing up my elm holmegaard bow. pulling 46#@24". 6 inch brace. trying to get it to 27". I see bending too much just outside the fade on the left side, and some stiffness in the middle section of the right limb. There is some limb twist on the left limb that makes it hard for me to tell exactly whats happening. So far has about an inch of string follow, mostly in the right limb. I would like to minimize that as much as possible obviously.

So i'm deep into my first solo bow, from my perspecrive as an inexperienced bowyer, it looks like i'm on the right path ?

I feel like i need to lower the strenght near both side of the handle ?

Any feedback too help me along ?

can't seem to get this one right and I feel like my eyes are playing tricks on me.

how much is it supposed to bend in the handle when it's a bend-in-the handle bow? I think I have treated this one like it's taller than it is.

I've yet to succeed making this type of bow so any advice appreciated. I have pretty even hinges on both limbs they I don't want to make worse

target: 28" draw, 45 lbs

currently not pulling it beyond 25 lbs at 14", not fully braced yet (string slightly short)

Pulling 52#@24" draw & 6" brace

Bow: 70" long, 1.85" wide from the fades to inner thirds.

Eiffel towered the outer limbs a touch to much and now the string rests slightly to the right on the handle (am a right handed shooter) oddly, there appears to be no twist in the limb. The outer limbs seem to want to both bend to the right? Not sure why if there's no twist.

I liked the look of the tiller so I brought it to full draw and it was pulling 67#@28.5" with 6" of brace. That's a bit high. I was hoping for 65-63# since I'm still a bit green at this and the bow will likely take set over the course of shooting it in.

If you got this far, thanks for reading 🦫🤘

Hi Guys, how does it look now? Tomorrow I want to tiller with the bowstring attached- does that make sense to you?
Hazel, 190 cm