About 10 years ago I bought a hickory stave with the thoughts of cutting a bow out of it. I roughed it out and it has been sitting in my basement ever since. Well yesterday I decided to see about finishing it. I took the limbs to a half inch and now I'm ready to see about taking it to full draw. Its a 70 inch bow that I plan on making 45 pound draw.


Any suggestions?

How wide is it?  What weight is it pulling at that short draw?

Inch and a half at the widest...45lb as is in the pic. Still lot of shaving to do.

Is it a pyramid or parallel profile?

Here are a couple of suggestions...

There are some good build-alongs here that could help if you have not made one before.

I would also get a tillering string just long enough to get on the tips to begin your tillering.

Slowly bend never going past your intended weight and stop whenever you see a flat spot or a hinge developing.

Use a tillering gizmo or straight edge to help you determine where and when to remove wood.

Good luck!

I agree about the long tillering string. It should be 'just' long enough to get on the tips. You can get an initial bend going with an extra long one like you have there, but you have to be aware that it's trying to fake you out with inaccurate draw weight readings and stiff outer limbs. When you go to a shorter string, those outer limbs are going to show more bend.

I would shorten the string before I did anything else, making it the same length as the bow.

It looks like you're off to a good start though.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. This is only my second crack at tillering. Notches and a short string was my next step...although I was not aware that the longer string would make a difference.

Make one of these gizmos tools and use it.

  http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000075  

Use a shorter string like has been said. Then when the limb tips are bending to about 6 inches, shorten the string up till you have about a 2 inch brace height and continue tillering till the limb tips are bending to about 9 inches, then shorten up the string to get the bow to a 6 inch brace height and finish tillering to your desired draw length. Keep checking the weight and don't pull it past your final desired draw weight while tillering.

you need something like a drying box or keep it in a very low humidity environment. Hickory will soak up moisture if left out of a dry environment and if its not under 8% it will take excessive amounts of set. I have to keep my hickory bow blanks in a drying box or they will be up at 12% the next day.