Part 3 Tillering the Thousand Year Old Bow !

Part 3 of tillering the Thousand Year Old Bow. We take the Fire hardened bow to final tiller and the results are excellent. Step by step instruction to a fast durable bow that is not stress or have any compression problems. A fast 50 pound wood bow that bends lightly in the handle region.

[@chubbethsthunder]

Thad, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you very much. You and your family have a beautiful and blessed week.

[@Daylon91]

Fantastic, thanks so much 🙏 cheers from the prairies of Canada 🇨🇦

[@bobrok2634]

thank you gentlemen for sharing your knowledge. it's absolutely priceless. I'm definitely going to stream your DVD. all the best and greatings from Vienna Europe!

[@jessicabenson9017]

Mr. Thad and Mr. Keith, I enjoy your videos so much. I have learned so much and continue to learn daily. I have literally watched all of your bow making videos several times over and enjoy them each time as I though it's the first time seeing them. Thank you both so much for the time and efforts you gentlemen put into them to help us all learn this wonderful art. Robert Benson

[@BeckumOutdoors]

Thank you very much. Good luck with your bow making.

[@bienyamientoefy1923]

🙂❤greetings gentleman.i am learning alot thank you.i succeeded with my first bow.it really shoots much faster

[@bennywilliams787]

thanks guys, can't wait to get home to put my hickory on the tillering tree tonight

[@claybowman1242]

Considering how effective this fire hardening is and how widely it was recorded, it’s strange to think that more bow makers today don’t know about it. Just imagine how much more of this ancient craft has been lost entirely. I hope this catches on with even more craftsmen because the results are incredible. Fantastic videos as always, thank you guys.

[@shanhur4562]

Great stuff, fellas! Love it.

[@oscarmolinasoriano5607]

Beautifull and serious work

[@chriserickson2385]

Awesome video as always really appreciate you and kieth making very detailed videos sharing yalls lifetime experience making bows, thanks!!!

[@perryfrazeoutdoors8019]

Thanks for the videos. I'm trying the fire hardening process on a green hickory bow. My first attempt was a fail. I had the bow too close to the coals at first or they were too hot. It burnt the blank in under 10 minutes. Going to try round 2 this evening and pay closer attention.

[@robertcarte95]

Really enjoy you guys videos. I have a bow fire hardened all the way through. It is a shooter with very little string follow after 2 years. I keep it outside in the barn.

[@BeckumOutdoors]

Thanks Robert we need to get together one day when the weather cools. I believe you are fairly close. Doing work on the house now.The heat and humidity almost melted me yesterday.

[@robertcarte95]

Would love to do that!

[@BeckumOutdoors]

@@robertcarte95 Yea sounds good I watch your videos and enjoy them.

[@kellypeterson5771]

Thank you, thank you Thad and Keith! Have been wanting to try making my own but have no clue on how to tiller until now. At least with this video series of yours and all the others I'm not afraid to try now. I have a process now to use and you explained it very well. My biggest problem now is finding a decent piece of wood for my first try. My local sources are just terrible. The local Lowes, Home Depot and Menards don't seem to stock much wood to even try a board bow with-the grain never runs the full length.

[@simonsparks5738]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Much appreciated. Greetings from South Africa.

[@BeckumOutdoors]

Thanks

[@troymolitor3435]

Thanks for the great videos guys

[@jessicabenson9017]

"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast" Another words do it right the first time, if you rush through it just to be complete just to find out you screwed up all along, you waisted all that time for nothing and like Keith said, you start over back to the beginning. Well put Mr. Keith Robert Benson

[@BeckumOutdoors]

Yes I agree.

[@jessicabenson9017]

@BeckumOutdoors and my only question or thought is... why wouldn't you want to take your time? Not only to guarantee it gets done right, but to also enjoy the experience of making your own personalized finely tuned bowed specifically built with your own hands to your own specs. Win win, in my opinion. Yes, it can be frustrating and all at times, but overall, just a delight in the experience. And if there's no time frame on it, then why put one on it if we don't have to. Great videos once again. I've watched them back to back on a loop 4 times now and plan on watching them several more times. $1 composition notebook and a pen for my notes 👍 Sincerely Robert Benson

[@tobiasharkamp8579]

perfect video thank you so much guys 🙏

[@BeckumOutdoors]

Your welcome.

[@Arwndr]

Thanks alot! ✨🌿☀️

[@ReasonAboveEverything]

I have built 6 bows so far. Only 3 came out functioning. I have had embarrassingly lot of problems understanding how the tillering process works. My eye simply doesn't know what to look for.

[@seanbyham7838]

Excellent. Never saw this tip before, been using my card scraper to do the same thing in mini form against limb, not nearly as easy. I will be using this technique shortly on an Osage bow I have started and been a bit hesitant to start because I struggled so bad on my last fire hardened hickory bow tiller. Bought your video and it helped me make a great fire hardened hickory, been letting it sit in my basement and it has held up just fine. Killed two doe with it last year.

[@BeckumOutdoors]

Great news keep moving forward.

[@micahspur]

Thank you sirs.

[@vinitv3695]

Eu gosto muito dos seus vídeos cara. sou brasileiro, um forte abraço!🇧🇷

[@BeckumOutdoors]

Thanks man

[@josegodoy9160]

Hola excelente el trabajo que hacen y gracias por la enseñanza que medidas tiene el arco saludos

[@mariopena5725]

Nice

[@calvinmondrago7397]

That was amazing! I am wondering why they didn't seem to fire harden Ash and Hazel in parts of Northern Europe where there wasn't much Yew?

[@manuelwebe]

Will continued treating the bow with oil (linseed, teka or Danish oils) and then waxing of the fire-hardened wood improve the moisture resistance and durability? Thanks for sharing

[@BeckumOutdoors]

Yes it will.

[@formckee1]

I’m new to bow making and on my second attempt. This one is hickory from local tree. You mentioned “modern finishes”. Do i need to seal the wood when i have completed tillering? And what material would you suggest? Boiled lindseed oil?

[@robertopinzani6774]

Tillering gig a 8/10 inches wood bar with a hole in the middle allowing a pencil ,adjustable in lenght and fixable with a screw, you pass the gig on the limb and verify where the pencil touch the limb,scrawing where the pencil touch the belly of the limb.

[@BeckumOutdoors]

True Robert I have several gizmos that I use.

[@robertopinzani6774]

@@BeckumOutdoors I add. Confirming your lessons, the slighty bending handle sligthy back set shape, is the solution i ve ever prefered for my self bows, the best compromise among cast speed and got a durable bow at same time. No massive stuck handle never, many people arrive to self bow , passing before trough years of take down , and many times they want or they try to reproduce the same handle condition they get used to it , that s a big error in my opinion/experience, as you say the stress/work had to be distribuited in the whole lenght of the bow, cleary the center limb had to work more, but at full drawn even the handle had to work a little. As usual thanks for your video, and...sorry for my english

[@BeckumOutdoors]

@@robertopinzani6774 Thanks for watching I agree with you.

[@waruikazi]

Question, Can you apply this tillering method to character/wonky staves? Or do you need to start with perfectly straight wood? I would love to see you guys build a character bow using these methods. Between you guys and maybe 2-3 other bowyers on youtube, i've learnt about everything i know about bow building. Still haven't got a kill yet, but closer every day!

[@BeckumOutdoors]

Please read my reply above to Charles Labranc. Not trying to cut you short but he just asked the same question. Your question is a good one and I just gave my 2 cents on this to Lebranc. Thanks

[@waruikazi]

@@BeckumOutdoors That'll do, thank you sir.

[@shanhur4562]

Have you ever tried to fire-harden Red Oak?

[@charlesleblanc6638]

Good advice ... I like that yard stick way of checking tiller, and the fire hardening process. Any extra advice on how you would tiller a "wavy" bow with the yard stick ?

[@BeckumOutdoors]

To be honest I have always preferred nice straight staves like most cultures thru out history. Trying to find the best piece of wood makes more sense to me. We can never find a perfect piece of wood but the best we can find reduces a lot of headache up front. I really don't believe bow makers of the past wanted snakey, wonky staves. A lot of people like it in today's world. But I would think the tiller would be the same but may require a little more finesse and sight. The limb must bend evenly regardless of its shape. I look at bow wood just like cutting arrow material or flint knapping my hunting points. I look for the straightest arrow material and the best stone I can find. Just my take. Good question and hope you make a great bow.

[@charlesleblanc6638]

@@BeckumOutdoors Thanks for the reply ... Understand what your saying, it is a lot less hassle working with straight stock. That's one good thing that board bows offer ! I've made quite a few bows that were both wavy wood and straight, and was just wondering if you had yardstick trick for the wavy ones.

[@richardquick826]

i wish you could do a 15 min video on how to sharpen a scraping card .. i am 78 so i use a Bowie knife 14 inches long. but i want to use the card , richard

[@buckfuhtt2083]

You just sharpen them more on one side than the other and you actually want to stop when it has a very slight rolled over burr. If that makes any sense, idk. Aww s**t, just come out to the shop n I'll show you man.

[@evcrawfish]

i think paul sellers has a video on this

[@mrgroovestring]

Hey Thad, what was the thickness of this bow when you started tillering? And how much of a handle before the fades? Thanks man

[@РоманПаштирян]

How long and width this bow?

[@BeckumOutdoors]

68" long 1 1/8" wide

[@seanbyham7838]

If you fire harden ironwood, I would assume you definitely would not want to cook through to back on that wood type due to its greater compression strength and less tension strength than hickory. Anyone fire hard Ironwood, hop hornbeam?

[@BeckumOutdoors]

I have heard ironwood has been fire hardened with success. I have not used it but it has the tough qualities that would make it usable. I would not cook it to the back. We were showing what is possible only.

[@seanbyham7838]

Thanks for replying. I know ironwood does really well with toasting belly with heat gun.I had a bow come in super light due to accident with bandsaw and I cooked it super hard and charred the back due to blow back. It broke but I charred the back too much