Tiller bow:

Tillering is the process of working a bow down evenly to reach the required draw weight at the required
draw length and to ensure that bow limbs are balanced with respect to each other and ensuring that the
"arc" of the drawn bow is even. The majority of the work here is simply removing wood from anywhere
that is not bending enough, and *not* removing wood from places that bend too much. The final result is
a bow that bends evenly throughout it's length (Usually except for the handle section, although in some
bows, even the handle section bends slightly).
The process of working a bow down evenly to reach the required draw weight at the required draw length
and to ensure that bow limbs are balanced with respect to each other and ensuring that the "arc" of the
drawn bow is even. (bow contruction, 1999)
Tillering the bow is probably the most important part of the entire manufacture. The final success of the
bow depends upon it. Both limbs must be brought to the same perfect curve so that when strung the bow
bends the same in each limb. If the bow is one with a shorter lower limb, the distance from the string to
the belly when braced will be from 1/4 to 3/8 inch less on the lower limb than on the upper. If the limbs
are of equal length, as on most Indian bows, then the string height must be the same on each limb. There
must be no sharp places, no angles, anywhereonly beautiful, smooth curves, both in the braced position
and at full draw. Tillering is usually a long, tedious job requiring patience and a good eye, but the final
results are worth the effort. It cannot be done in a hurryonly a little at a time with a rasp or scraper, testing
often, with no seesawing (that is, taking off more than is necessary on one limb, then having to take more
off the other limb to bring the bow back to balance). This is like needing more butter to go with the bread,
then more bread to go with the butter. You can end up with a bow that pulls about fifteen pounds!
(Laubin, Reginald.; Laubin, Gladys, 1980)
There is another method to induce reflex, while maintaining near-straight-ness in the bending limbs for
safety - make a reflexed grip for better "preload". This will also cause the bending section of limbs to
move a little further from the grip as the bending force changes its angle in relation to the limb.
Unfortunately, concentrating the bends away from the grip reduces the initial forces at draw for less
energy storage. This effect is akin to so called "whip tillering" in selfbows, where the tips of bow are
made to bend excessively. It forces the bowyer to make the bow longer, or to make the siyahs more
reflexed to improve the force-draw curve and avoid stacking. Also the concentration of bending higher up
the limbs, where the thickness is less, reduces the limb speed. Crimean-Tatar bows show both
characteristics - reflex in the grip plus more-than-Turkish reflex in the siyahs. These bows, being longer,
have more mass and are not likely as efficient, unless drawn to a greater length despite some stacking.
Modern Korean bows, on the other hand, have reflexed grips, but the siyahs are flexible to a degree,
allowing for a relatively longer draw. In my experience, the grip-reflexed bows perform well only with
the longer than Turkish draw and the energy storage is not exceptional. ( Karpowicz, A., 2008.)

Tiller is working on the limbs until they bend evenly and are well balanced at full draw. There
are two ways to do this. First, pull your bowstring five or six times a distance of twelve to fifteen
inches. This settles the wood a bit. Now have a friend draw the bow about half the arrow length
and get off and look at it. You can easily see if it is bending nicely. If it isn't, mark it with a
pencil, and take off wood where needed. The second method of tillering is to make yourself a
tiller. This is a wooden instrument with a notch at the top to hold the handle of your bow and
other notches cut in the side to which you can pull the bowstring. (Stemmler, 1942)
 gambar 4.2 metode tiller stemmler

Sementara menurut Axford pada Archery Anatomy:

To hold the bow drawn, it is placed on a 'tiller', a notched bar freely locatedagainst the bow
handle at the desired centre of pressure, which in manufacture is commonly the throat of the
pistol grip for convenience, and with the drawn string held, at the nocking point, in one of the
notches.
The difference in stress can best be checked, as part of an efficiency analysis, with the bow
placed on a tiller, between the known points of pressure applied by the archer concerned, in a
vertical shooting attitude, first taking and recording bend meter readings of both limbs without
stabilisation and then with, although if the centre of gravity is known to be well forward of the
point of free support, the assumption must be that the stress distribution and dynamic balance
have been modified and that the bow will be less efficient. (R. Axford, 1995)
 gambar 4.4 (R. Axford, 1995)

Menurut (Strickland, M, Hardy, R.)

Tillering is the process of tapering the bow from the centre to the ends, during which the bow has
frequently to be held on the tiller by some finn grip at its centre, before being drawn to a
gradually increasing depth with the aid of a pulley, to ensure that the weapon is properly
balanced. We put the bow first on a simple wooden tiller and with a pulley began inch by inch to
draw and immediately relax the bow, until days later we had reached about a 7-inch up
deflection. The bow was then bent (bending), usually over a tiller or fixed frame, to see its shape
at the draw and assess whether further work was needed in its shaping.
gambar 4.3 Professor John Levy of the imperial College of Science and the early bending

of Mary Rose longbow 1648. (Strickland, M, Hardy, R.)