Let's look at the steps in this wedge shaped program - a philosophy of Establishing and Refining the stages of Stave Reduction. Note that decisions made at each juncture have impact on all the steps that follow. The earlier in the process, the more this holds true.

Establish Bow's Back



Refine Bow's Back



Establish Thickness Profile/Taper



Refine Width Profile/Taper



Conclusion



You have a type of bow, or at least a draw weight and draw length in mind. For purposes of this thread, let's assume you have some properly dried and prepared staves to select from. Most people start out with Just One Stave; and most of the time, it won't be suitable for the bow desired… In that case you start the whole process wrong- footed. You are forced to pick a design that will work with your stave.So, a little experience and help from your friends here on PaleoPlanet can help you determine if your One and Only Stave is a likely candidate for the bow you want.Let me emphasize here that, while I consider optimism to be a Good Thing, this isn't necessarily the best place for it in the whole process. I have learned this The Hard Way… Trust me. You can learn a lot about bow making by trying to use staves not appropriate to your chosen design; but mostly you will learn patience, and how to deal with frustration and heartbreak…Your design encompasses the general shape of the bow - how long, how wide, and the cross section. If you want an ELB, you will have to make that decision before you move on to later steps, or it won't be an option after you start thinning the bow. Some woods may be better off with the cross section trapezoidal, with either the back or belly narrower/wider, to be durable with the type of wood, width, draw weight, and draw length of your bow...Design also takes into consideration how you want the limbs to bend, and how much working limb will be used. If the stave is marginal for your design, you may be able to get away with it, by using more working limb.I like to work standing up, because it allows me to look down along the stave, rather than downit. Starting from this step, I am constantly sighting right down the length of the wood as I work.To find the centerline of the stave, I get good light, and follow the lines of the longitudinal grain with my eye. I try to follow it all the way down, and keep my eye out for any knots or places I would like to avoid in the bending area of the limbs. Once I think I have the line, I draw over it with a pencil, lightly. I look carefully at the line, and see if there is room on each side to give me the width of limb I think I need, and make sure again there are no knots or problems where I don't want them. If the first centerline doesn't look like it will work, I draw another line to one side or the other, again following the grain. I can use the first line to double check my work. Old lines can be removed with a scraper or sand paper.I can sight along the centerline and readily see if the stave needs heat correction. If I think it will need heat correction, I leave extra width in the next step, to allow for any side cracks or wood damage in the process (about 1/8"- ¼" total).With a board, I can just rip the board to the maximum width I intend for the limbs.On staves, I take a compass, and set it to just a little over (perhaps 1/32"-1/16" or so) half the width I want the limbs to be at the widest. By drawing with the compass along the limb with the pointer of the compass on my centerline, the pencil follows the vertical grain of the wood, and gives a line to cut to or along. If I want a stave to be 2" wide, the compass is set at just a bit over 1", for example. Even a character stave will have its knots and grain followed easily with this method.If there are knots or defects I want to allow extra width for, I correct the width lines accordingly.I then decide, in general, how I want to narrow the outer limbs. That is, where the narrowing will begin in each limb. I usually like to leave the limbs full width farther along than I will keep them later, since it is easy to remove wood when I Refine the Width Profile (see below). In other words, even if I think I will start the taper about halfway along the limb, I will probably draw it so it starts 2/3 of the way out, and refine it later on. Even for a pyramid type bow, I might allow a little extra width in the inner mid-limb. One good thing about being conservative with my lines here is that any mistakes when cutting to the lines probably won't affect the actual width of the finished bows. I make enough such mistakes that I build safety into my system, to minimize their effects…I like to start with my bow tips 5/8" wide, so I can narrow them later from one side or the other to correct tracking, if necessary. I also like to leave my handle a bit wide as well, for the same reason. Sometimes it is much easier to get the handle close to the right size, and do heat corrections in the handle to straighten a stave so the limb tips line up. Other times, you can cut more from one side of the handle to make the string line up.At this point, I assess the lines I have drawn, and make doubly sure I am happy with what I've laid out. Any mistakes in establishing the width profile will leave me stuck, and affect the outcome of the bow down the line.Aggressive tools, such as a bandsaw or axe get me close to the line, and then I can use drawknives, spokeshaves, rasps, or even a belt sander to get right up to the lines.Following any dips or bumps in the bow back, I remove wood from the belly, tapering from thick near the handle, to thinner at the ends of the limbs. Experience is my guide here; and I can judge from previous bows how much wood I want to remove. Again, I stay conservative with my aggressive tools, and switch to finer tools as I get close. My goal is to get the stave just starting to floor bend. I am pretty tall and heavy, so I am talking just a bit more flexible than a 2x4… Ha ha. But I do want to see the bend in the limbs, not in the handle (a 2x4 will only bend in the "handle" area, when pushed hard enough). Confidence with an axe or bandsaw can do wonders here; but I don't like to push it, as it is all too easy to ruin a good stave. A belt sander is very useful, but can also ruin a stave very quickly. Experience (mostly Disappointing Episodes) has taught me when to switch to a spokeshave or rasp…This is a good place to make your dips or transition from handle area to limbs, if any.The important thing is to keep the taper going consistently from inner limb to outer limb. Pay careful attention to this! The taper must be graceful and consistent from the handle to the tips, in both thickness and width.Once I have Established Width Profile and Established Thickness Profile, there is much less wood, and heat corrections can much more easily be made. If I plan on making any, I leave extra meat… Just in case (as mentioned above).At this point, I have the recognizable shape of a bow in my hands. The stave bends when flexed on the floor, and the limbs taper to the ends, both in width and thickness. I can see the centerline go from tip to tip, through the handle. I can use a string to confirm this. If the string doesn't track through the handle, I throw in the next step.Since I've used aggressive and rough tools, the stave has minor dips, bobbles, high spots, and basically just plain old mistakes all along its shape. It looks like a bow, but a sort of Frankenstein's monster version… Square edges, rough and unrefined…It is important to smooth out all the little dips and rough places - to shave away the ugly, and induce order in the stave.This is where all the hard work starts to pay off, as the beauty of the bow inside the stave starts to make itself known…I take as much care with this step as with the tiller of the bow. The width should taper smoothly from wider near the handle to narrower at the ends. I sight down along the side of each limb, and remove any high spots. I love a Shinto rasp for this part of the step. I am not removing much wood at this point, but there is enough that I appreciate the course side. The flat of the rasp is kept along the bow edge, so only the high spots are touched by the tool. I push one end of the bow against something on the ground or a bench, and sight carefully along the limb as I push the rasp.I carefully remove the extra width I have left around knots, down to where I think there is just enough wood to compensate. The width taper follows any "character"… It is not a matter of machining down the sides to straight edges. The general taper progresses all along the limbs, integrating the "character" into a beautiful and logical sequence.I want both limbs to look even, and have the same width at corresponding points along their lengths. But the eye can be fooled… So when I get to where I think I am close, I use the fine side of the Shinto rasp to round the corners of the limbs (back and front), and clean up my tool marks, using the fine side of the rasp, then a scraper, then 60 or 80 grit sandpaper.I like to round the corners early in the process for several reasons. Obviously, sharp corners on the back can allow a splinter to lift. But I have also found that sharp edges can fool the eye when trying to judge width and thickness. They cause a sort of "shadow" effect that hides the shape of the stave behind them - stopping the eye in its tracks. Besides, the final bow won't be sharp edged, so it is time to start judging it in a condition closer to its final state. Also, rounding both back and belly corners can take the draw weight down anywhere from 2# to 5# or more, depending on how heavy the bow is.It may seem far too soon for sandpaper, but I like to remove all tool marks periodically from this point on. If tool marks are removed all along the process, they don't get a chance to change your bow weight, or spoil your finish. But mainly, I want the bow edges smooth so I can run my fingers along them, to help me judge how I am doing with the refining process. With the corners rounded and the side smooth, my fingers are better even than my eye, or at least as good, in telling me if I have got all the high spots, and if I have the limbs even in width yet. I can detect falters or mistakes in the taper…This is pretty much the only place I go "backwards" in my program. I am constantly sanding out tool marks, only to immediately put in more… But it is worth it, to let my eyes and fingers see what is happening with the shape of my bow limbs.Correction can usually be made with a scraper now, which leaves little to no tool marks (but can leave chatter marks if a lot of wood is removed). If I go back to the rasp, I smooth it all out again to assess with my fingers.You may be surprised at how useful your fingers can be for assessing the bow's limbs for thickness, evenness of taper, and high and low spots… The extra work of repeatedly smoothing the wood can be well worth it. You can't get the true feel if the wood is rough and splintery.Not to be vulgar, but imagine the difference between hugging a woman in a thick woolen coat, and one wearing a bathing suit…Keeping the analogy going - At this point, my bow is like a lovely but slightly overweight woman, undergoing a fitness and diet regimen. Slowly the shape becomes graceful and powerful, as the wood melts away from areas that are too wide or thick. Symmetry becomes beauty, and the limbs are becoming slender and lithe twins.With the width profile refined, the bow is nearly ready to start bending in earnest - once the thickness profile has been given the same attention to detail.Note: I like to leave the outer four to six inches of outer limb wide, so I can correct limb tracking, and take off mass to tune the bow to shoot more smoothly. I leave the same area just barely thicker, in the next step (below). This assures that the bend won't change when I narrow the outer limbs.With a board, the thickness taper is made as flat as possible. A jointer and/or belt sander could be used. A rasp is helpful, as you can keep it flat to the work as you run it along the limb.Staves generally have some bumps or dips, and the belly shape is carefully made to follow the back, keeping the taper progressing evenly towards the tips. The thickness all along the limbs is assessed by eye and felt by hand, to detect and correct any variation from ideal. As laboriously noted above, I smooth the bow constantly to aid in this assessment. No low spots or high spots are tolerated… Once all is even, floor bending can finally really be pushed forward.Now the shape of the bend governs where wood will be removed… I most often find that places where the stave isn't bending enough are where I didn't get the thickness taper even. There will be a thick spot right where the limb isn't bending… Imagine that! Careful attention to thickness profile will translate to a much easier tillering process. I can't emphasize enough how important this step can be, and how much careful attention here can pay off when getting your bow to bend.Keep constantly feeling the limbs, and seek out any places that just don't feel right yet.It is sometimes advisable to leave a bit of thickness on the belly at dips and knots. I am talking just a paper thickness or so… It needs to be feathered into the limb, and not too thick, or it can cause a hinge. The flat spot can be refined later.A rasp is useful at first. I quickly proceed to a scraper. As above, between sessions with either tool, coarse sandpaper is my friend… If you don't want any dips and bumps visible in the belly of the finished bow, a sanding block is a good tool as well. Chatter marks left by the scraper are best removed by sandpaper and sanding block; and chatter marks from the spokeshave can be removed with a fine rasp, held flat against the belly of the bow. The belly corners become sharp over and over, and are rounded again and again - until tiller is complete.As mentioned above, I like to leave the outer few inches of limb tip (that will be essentially stiff when the bow is tillered) just a hair thicker. Even stopping the taper short of this area can be sufficient, sometimes. This area will be narrowed while Refining the Bow's Shooting Characteristics.Well before the floor tillering stage, I like to figure out where I want the limbs to bend. This has already been greatly affected by the design and width profile of the bow. If the bow is to be more circular, the limbs narrow sooner out of the handle. If the bend is to be more elliptical, then the width taper starts even farther out. If whip tillered, then even farther, I imagine. All this should have been considered in the design of the bow.My philosophy is to try and get the limbs bending correctly as soon as possible. So when establishing and refining the thickness profile, I watch to see where the stave bends. At first it will only bend in the handle, as that is where there is the most leverage. I like to see it start close to mid-limb. I then spread out the bend from there… If I want it to bend closer to the handle, I spread the bend there by removing wood in that area, feathering the removal into the already bending area. Same for if I want to spread the bend farther out along the outer limb.If you are having trouble with the general shape of your tiller on your finished bows, and keep getting the limbs bending too close into the handle, or too far out along the limb, consider altering how you approach your floor bending. Establish your bend in a different place... If your bows tend to bend too much in near the handle, for example, try getting the limbs to bend initially out past midlimb, or at least farther out than you normally do. This might not feel comfortable at first, but it has helped me...Once I get one limb bending how I want it to, I try to get the other limb to match it as evenly as possible. When the limbs are bending to the right shape, and matching each other so well I can't remember which is which, I try take them down evenly until the bow seems just ten or fifteen pounds heavier than I want it to end up (Ha! I usually end up closer to 30 or forty pounds heavier). A bow of similar overall length and draw weight can be used for comparison. If the bows are dissimilar in length, I choke up. Don't bother comparing recurved or highly reflexed limbs to straight or deflexed limbs…A string just long enough to put on the bow ("long string") can be used to help judge both the draw weight and bend, before moving on to the next step. I generally skip this, unless the bow is very heavy or a design I'm not comfortably familiar with.Once the bow feels about 10# to 15# heavier than a bow of the weight you are shooting for, and the limbs are matched well in shape of the bend, it is time for first low brace. I like to brace the bow about 3" or so at first. If the limbs are off, you will see it immediately. One limb will be closer to the string than the other, and the shape may be different, as well. Mark the stiff limb (the one closest to the string), and unstring the bow. I don't like to leave it strung long if the limbs are not matching in bend. I also like to do a few light tugs, to see how heavy I have managed to brace the bow… Usually, I have plenty more wood to remove before I move to full brace height.Low brace is a good place to look again at limb tracking. If the bow is way off, I will Refine Tracking, as necessary. Usually I wait until after Full Brace Height, if it isn't too bad.Once the corrections are made, the bow is braced about 2/3 or ¾ of Full Brace, and assessed again. If it looks good, early draw weight is assessed again, with a tug of just an inch or two. If still heavy, I take weight off evenly from both limbs, using a scraper. This is repeated until the bow is at Full Brace height (Usually my "fistemele").The rest of this step is the Tillering Process, and is a subject unto itself (Worthy of its own article).If both limbs have uniform wood density, and the width and thickness profiles have been dealt with carefully, the tillering process should proceed fairly easily. The bow almost seems to tiller itself, sometimes… As mentioned, any stiff spots will very often be found to be places where thickness profile was allowed to vary toward being too thick. Similarly, weak spots will very often be the results of letting the thickness profile dip in that spot. Attention to detail in the Establishing and Refining steps will pay big rewards in the Tillering step…It may help to use the same philosophy of starting big and working to small when tillering out the bow to full draw. Get the general shape, then refine it…A very important thing to remember is that the shape the limbs show when the bow is drawnthe main thing… We tend to get caught up in that. Look at the… see how each part of both limbs is moving and storing energy. This is the whole story of tiller, and the shape is just a "chapter summary"…Once the bow is tillered to full draw, I like to shoot it a little bit with the tillering string; but I don't really assess the shooting characteristics too critically until I have made a dedicated string just for that bow. Usually the tillering string is overbuilt. A dedicated string can be safely made to have less mass, now that the bow is close to final draw weight.This doesn't necessarily mean I use sand paper. A scraper might be more appropriate for much of this. The idea is that I am removing tool marks, and making the surface of the bow clean and pristine. Since I have been removing tool marks diligently at every step of the way, very little coarse sanding is needed at all.Obviously, the sandpaper chosen follows our program - starting coarse and working down to fine.It is important to look at the bow in varying light, both shade and sunlight, with the source coming from different angles. Scratches can be completely invisible in one light, and very noticeable in another…Sometimes you might want to stain or dye the bow, or add a sanding sealer, or whatever. I haven't been too happy with stains when I've tried to get strong color. I am leaning towards leather dyes these days.This is a pretty tedious process. You don't want dust settling on your bow between coats, and you don't want to put runs and drips in it. I like to examine each coat under a strong light source, while carefully sanding it with fine to medium synthetic steel wool. If I have any blips, I go to a slightly coarser sandpaper. Sometimes, I even have to start over on a little section - working from 150 grit down to 600 and steel wool all over again. If I am lucky, I don't go through the previous coats to the wood… I am essentially just sanding the sealer coat.I pay special attention to the limb tips and the nock grooves, as these are high wear areas, and also are at the ends of the bow where moisture likes to get in or out. When in doubt about which end has gotten more coats, I lean towards giving the bottom tip more sealer, as it will get rested on my shoe (I don't let my bows touch the ground, if I can easily avoid it).I've read about using a pumice paste or other compound to rub out the bow's finish further, and am looking forward to trying it, next time I make one pretty enough to be worthy of the effort… And that step is yet another example of the refining process… It can go on and on. After the rubbing out of the finish, I could wax and buff it…This wedge shaped block of ideas is just to give a guy a plan when he is confused, and to help me stay on course when I convert a piece of wood into a bow- one that is as good as I can make it.Down hill is always easier… And you can stack enough small pieces of whatever material (wood, stone, sand) in just a short time, that you won't be able to move it, even if it is on wheels. Taking things in an orderly, progressive, step by step fashion is less confusing, less daunting, and can also give more of a sense of satisfaction, when you are working very slowly. If you can say "I have this stave to the Refining Width Profile stage", it will feel much more like you have accomplished something, than if you are just thinking "Boy, I sure have a long way to go on this stave". And in this example, you know where you are going next - You are headed for Refining Thickness Taper, and on to Floor Tillering.It can be comforting, know where you are and where you are headed.Ken