A beautiful Nova Scotia 1/2 log of hophornbeam was given to me by John Large. I started the split with hatchet and 2 lb sledge and Alternated with wedges to complete the split.
After scraping off the inner bark with a Swedish drawknife, I used my belt sander for floor tillering. With it I can tiller the dips and valleys using the round part of the sander.
After floor tillering,comes long string tillering for me where I aim for 10 inches of string movement on the rope and pulley. See Bow Making Directions I check weight with a Hanson Hand Held Scale. I never pulling more than 5# over target weight. When I get target weight at 10 inches I string it with the long string.
Final tillering should be done with a scraper-like tool. Easy does it. I check weight constantly. I try not to hit target weight until 24-25 inches for a 26 inch draw. Make sure limbs are bending well.
The bow developed a splinter. I wrapped the limb with sinew and yarn, as a decoration, to hold down the splinter. Problem solving is an integral part of wood bowyery.
Here's the bow at full draw.
Copyright by George C Tsoukalas
