Wednesday 17 August 2016

Hazel on the Tiller


I've taken off a little more and put it on the tiller to review it. The tiller was good, but in reducing the weight by removing wood from the belly and adjusting the width here and there it shifts.
You have to constantly check it on the tiller and be hyper critical. Even if it's reasonable, keep a watch out for potential trouble spots. I'm going to leave the inner end of the left (lower limb). I'll have a look along that limb as I'm flexing it and see if it is twisting as it is drawn and I'll ease off the inner yyof the right limb a bit (mid and maybe inner? Not sure, I'll use my eyes and fingers to decide...).
One thing I need to do is compare it with the unbraced bow, some "faults" may just be features in the limb. This process is very much hare and tortoise... "A thousand Quatloos on the tortoise"!

I haven't actually seen a change in draw length this time, but I've not taken much off. It's very much a "little and often" approach with constant tiller checks. You have to spot the problems before they are obvious, and you have to check that your small changes are making matters better rather than worse. It's very easy to work on the wrong limb or get carried away. The easy mistake is to work on one limb, stop for the night, then pick it up in the morning and work again on the same limb. So always check on the tiller before and after any work.
The devil is in the detail, if you make your tiller rig easy to use, it's easier to check.
I've included an annotated pic showing how I see it.
Update:- Work on the right limb ( and a tad off the left) has evened up the tiller and brought me back another inch of draw, 25" at 45# The bow is taking a hint of set now which is ok, I'd rather have a hint of set than chrysals or a smashed bow. The set also shows where it is working hard and shows that I need to bring the tips round. That sounds like it's time to fit decent nocks and really slim those tips.
Before doing that I decided to steam the grip to adjust the string line by about 1/2" at the tip, it should make the whole thing better balanced and sweeter.
I did check, the lower limb is coming back without twisting, it's just that the back isn't uniform and also as the limb narrows it shows more white wood and less bark.
Explain more:- Not really sure what is needed, but try holding a CD up to the picture of the bow. If you move it back and forth you can match up the right limb to the curve of the CD, If you try it with the left limb, it shows the weak point bending too much, or if you match the curve to that area of the limb, then the outer doesn't match and loos stiff.

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