so im finally at the tillering process on my second board bow and after getting to 28" with no tension on the string I titend the string up so that the bow is at 0 brace and thats when a major hinge popped up. I've been working on getting rid of it for about a half hour now and it's still pretty bad. my question is should I keep just working on the limb with the hinge or should I try to shave some wood off of the other limb.
Once the bow developes a major hinge, the damage is done. About all you could do is try and salvage it as a kids bow by taking off a lot of wood to try and get rid of the hinge.
The only way I know of to get rid of a hinge is to take wood off the rest of the limb where the hinge is located. I've made several kids' bows out of intended adult bows that way, and will probably do so again.
Yes, take wood off both limbs. Or you can fix the hinge on the one limb and then lighten the limb. Either way. Sorry to hear it. Its happaned to me three times, and made 50lb bow into 35lbers quick.
The hinge is the weakest point on both limbs. To eliminate the hinge you have to remove wood from everywhere else except for the hinged area.
If you took your bow to 28" on the long string that is where you screwed up. The different leverage from the different string angle will give you a false reading. In your case it did not show the hinge until you went to a short string. I use a long string only until I get about 8" of tip movement. If everything is in order I low brace the bow at 4".
Your long string doesn't have to be all that long either. Just enough to attach to both tips and not stress the limbs.