I'm Bran New to Bow building , found this site and that was that... im hooked. anyway just wanted to say that this site is great very informative and great people. I am building a Pyramid Bow 68 inches N 2 N . i decided to build the whole thing with hand tools and no power tools . im am just unsure of the length of the string, how long should my tillering string be and how long should my final string be. any insight or suggestions would be great thanks

Welcome, I'm Joe and I'm a selfbowaholic.    

Long string = as long as your stave or longer.
The longer the string the less you can tell about the actual tiller.

Short string = After stretching the string and floor tillering your stave. About the width of your hand shorter than the stave, sometimes a little shorter.

I don't use any power tools either. Makes it much more fun and you go a little slower.

What type of wood are you using?

Im using a red oak board. thanks for the info , selfbowaholic , lol , i like that .  

Welcome Jimmy, and I too am obsessed with bow building.  I love this site and have made so many friends here.  I have learned that the experienced bowyers on this site are excellent teachers.  Very patient with us knotheads.

I don't use a long tiller string.  I work my stave down to floor tiller wiht a draw knife and rasp.  Then I draw out the bow shape with draw knife and rasp and go ahead and file the string grooves and put a long short string on it.  I make the string about an inch or two shorter than the the N2N length.

When I string the bow for the first time with the long short string it lays very tight against the belly.  Make certain though that you do have about 5-6 inches of flex to both limbs.

I make my finished bow strings about 3-4 inches shorter than the N2N length like Joe said.  This may not be the best way it is just how I do it.

Have Fun!

X's 2 on how David does the tiller string. Extra long tiller strings lie.

X3 on the long string. I use mine for as little time as I can justify before bracing very low, even 1". Just seems to work better, or I'm impatient or both.

On the other note, you'll find we are all obsessed here, some more than others, thats all. I frequently wonder if the amount of time I spend bow building, arrow finishing, and talking, and talking and talking about bows will lead to divorce ...

Welcome Jimmy!  It is an obsession for sure!  Agree with the others - long strings don't work very well and you end up re-tillering once you get a short string on anyway.  Start with a tillering string about the length of the bow and shorten as you tiller.  I have also been using "pillar tillers" to get the bow bending  to brace.  I like them - some people don't.  You can search for them here and there are some posts on how to use them.

Mitch I forgot all about those pillar tillers and always wanted to try that.

More than one way to skin a cat!

I do use a long string to about 4" brace then go to the tight short string. Maybe I'll attempt Davids and others methods but, I aint ready for no pillar tiller!   :rolleyes:

Thanks for the advise , helped me alot. i have never heard of the tiller pillars , just did a little research on them and they seem useful (& pretty cool too) again thanks and i am loving this site. will post a few pics in a bit so yall can see where i am    

Jimmy I don't have a half dozen bows under my belt. So I am not addicted to it at all. I hate it I just need to figure out how to stop. I use a long string though and gizmo but move to the short string as soon as I can. I use a bowyers knot on one end so I really use the same string just shorten it as I go.

But really I am too new at this stuff just been hanging around here for a few years now and reading and reading and reading and bothering folks with tons of question. I use hand tools mostly myself. It is much quieter that way.

Actually Joe I've seen pictures of the pillar gig and it look's like it would work just fine. Pretty much the same concept as the tillering stick.

I did try the pillar tiller once and only once.  Didn't much care for it.  Who knows may try it again sometime.

Jimmy, while you are tillering your bow, exercise, exercise, exercise your bow.  When I started exercising mine more I had alot less string follow and a better bow.

Thanks David , i found out the hard way that exercise is very important. my first attempt i really had no clue as to what i was doing and just pulled on it with way too much force "Snap" ... and now round two . lol. thanks all its really awesome to get so many responses . hand tools in my opinion makes the reward all that much more

Jimmy, if you ever make it down to the south end of the valley give me a shout bud.

Cool Big-un08 might just do that i go that way every once in a while i have some family there

To use a pillar to tiller?        

so i was following  4est trekkers build along ,(awesome build along by the way thanks)  and i made a mistake . my question is if this is a fatal mistake or not. lol. where the bow fades from the handle to the limbs i cut to thin i was supposed to keep them at full thickness about an inch and a half or so from the handle and i didnt here are some pics to show what im talking about any suggestions or thoughts would help thanks ..