let’s continue with the tips. Here is a pic how it looks now:



reducing the width

glueing on some brownish horn with super glue allows to continue in seconds

some rasping and filing



well, the overlays are shaped only need polishing
I have now rounded the sharp edges on the limb sides, I let them stand as long as possible – this is best guide for an even thickness taper.
I have reduced the with at the levers.
The leftover from these steps was a handful scrapes, forgot to take a pic.
The bow wasn’t bent till now, I haven’t done any floortiller. I don’t like this. Now I bent her over my breast a few inches to get a feel for the drawweight. Handle resting on the breast, bow horizontal, drawing back both tips. Meanwhile I’m quite good in estimating the weight.
Here is a pic of the reflex the stave has

First I took out a longer string out of my pile and watched the bracing in a mirror (to be able for interruption when needed). You can see at once, when the bow is not in balance – one limb stiffer than the other.
It looked good, so I made a regular string for her, 6 strands of BCY 425X, strengthened with 2×2 dacron pieces (about 6” long).
The first brace looked good and I had to make only a few adjustments here and there. All I scraped of is shown in the pic below, really! Never had this extreme before, this flakes weighs only a few grains. The complete tillering in this case is done in 10 min.
I do not use the tiller tree anymore for tillering, only my drawweight measurements are made here. All tillering is made by looking in a mirror while drawing the bow.

Now I leave it strung over night, to let the wood settle in. So now need for exercising the bow limbs. Next day I will see where adjustments are necessary, but my feel is good
I believe, the most exact layout working creates little tiller work
O.k. this is what I’ve done till now:
Some finishing sanding on tips and handle
A string groove filed in the lever
Rounding the edges on backside and a bit more on bellyside
First coat of finish to prevent re-moistureing




As said before, the bow was braced over one night to let the wood settle in.
Now the reflex has decreased to 1¾”. In other words, the bow took a bit than ½” set.
The tiller looks now a bit uneven, lower limb is too stiff. Let’s do a few scrapes on the entire lower limb and additional on both outer thirds a few scrapes .


When short drawing the bow, I mean I will not reach the 60# – feels a bit lighter. We will see the result, when shot in on the digi scale..
I’m thinking on heating in some reflex, to compensate the set and the probably underweight too.
Also a further mass reduction at the levers could add a few fps more. That are options for the future. Not sure for now. Perhaps better shoot it in for some hundred arrows.
Ahh, forgot – the bow is 58½”ntn, mass is 498grams (17½oz) and I want a 28” draw.
This is what I’ve done next:
Thinned the tips about a third
Narrowed the tips about a third
Deepened the string groove
Reduced mass at horn
Scraped a bit on the lower limb (about 10 long scrapes from fade to tip)
Additional scrapes both lims outer thirds, begin scrape the whole limb and getting shorter
It came along … with a few grains of yeller scrapes
The bow still holds the 2” reflex

Thought an arrow strike plate would look cool, decided bone as material
I have some bone plates prepared as sheet about 3 or 4 mm.
Sawed out a triangle and sanded in some matching curves with a belt sander.

The contour is cut in, then the hole is done – all with a simple NT-Cutter.


After some carving, I got it just sand down – but with the bone as highest place of course.


Let’s call the bow done now, I will post it in an extra thread for easier handling
The finished bow is here!
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