this is a 66 ntn longbow i've been working on, the bow is on a long string and 26" draw, ithink it is drawing about 50@26 a little heavy, 50@28 would be good. is the tiller good enough to just shave the belly down to the desired weight. any help would be appreciated. thanks,    noel

First, if it is on a long string you are not at 26" draw. You have enough bend to brace it for the first time with a low brace(3" to 4") but first get the inner limbs bending a bit more.
 I use a long string to be sure the limbs are bending evenly and together but never more than 8" or so of tip movement. If everything is OK at that point I low brace it with a short string to be sure the string is lining up OK.
 If you go much beyond 8" or 10" on a long string you will get false readings on bend and draw weight.

thanks pat ,i'll go and work on the inner limbs a bit and see if its ready for a low brace.    noel

  i took some scrapes of the inner limbs and used a shorter string ( 3" brace)

  this is the same brace at 10" what you suggest next? i have a small knoe in the upper limb belly about midlimb, its making me nervous but so far so good!   noel

sorry i forgot to reduce the size of the picture! i meant to say small knot in upper limb.   noel

The right limb still looks a bit stiff right off the fade.  Does the string track down the bow well?  Be sure to exercise your limbs after each wood removal and if everything looks OK then pull it another inch and see what ya got.

 the string alignment looks good pat, so guess i'll take a little more of the inner right limb. thanks pat,    noel

It looks to me like you should go to a 5in brace height and take another picture.

3" brace @14" took a little of the inner right limb i think it looks a little better what do you think.   noel

Looking better. Try it a little farther.  Your string is tracking well. Keep an eye on that. Sometimes while tillering you will get a little more off one side or the other and that will pull the string toward the strong side.
  Jesse, once you are at low brace, raising the brace height won't change the tiller shape of the bow but will stress the limbs some before the bow can handle it.

I agree on the low brace, no sense rushing a bow with too much stress.

The bow is looking good Noel, be patient.

thanks pat, thanks dano,thanks jesse, i,ll give it a little more and take another pic. i,m trying to go slow the last three bows i tried to make didn't make it this far so hopefully this could be #1  LOL.    noel

i worked it every time i  moved it 2". so here it is at 3" brace at 22" im not sure about the draw weight. should i just keep going?      noel

 hi guys, this is the latest picture, i've been working the limbs on the 3" brace so i got it to what you see now. 26" is my draw lenght and i have it braced at 5 1/2". is 5 1/2 enough brace height for this bow or should it be more.   noel

Lookin good. What ever it takes to clear the fletching is minimum for brace. What's the draw weight? Do you have a scale?

hi dano! i have a 50lb fish and it tops out about 26", so i guess its just over 50@26". it sure feels good to draw a bow that doesn't blow up lol,so whats next dano start sanding and finishing?    noel

sorry dano i meant fish scale

I would shoot a hundred arras through it and check tiller, bear in mind your going to loose about 3 pounds sanding it for finish. You can use a bathroom scale too, just set your tiller stick on the scale and draw it to your length.