I just finished a D bow with limbs that pull evenly throughout the draw length, but one limb has slightly more set than the other. Does anyone know which limb should be the top limb? Does it matter?

Thanks joe! I place the arrow pass 3/4" above ctr. This bow shoots a little better with the higher set (1 5/8") limb up, but I thought it would be stessed more and develop more set. Seems sensible to shoot the bow the way it shoots best and try to ignore a lttle more set. After all, the bow knows best 

Less than one inch is just fine. It’s not a cut and dry answer on this question. You can make a bow with zero set if it was three inches wide and quite long but the mass would kill efficiency. Of course you can also make a bow with very little set with good efficiency but that’s just a process that comes from practice.  A little set could mean you are correctly lowering the mass to be properly balanced with energy storage or it could mean the bow is too dry or the bow is overbuilt. Consider the Traditional Chinese Composite bow. Tons of reflex, garbage efficiency. It’s super overbuilt. Set/reflex isn’t everything.

If you don’t have it already consider looking into the Traditional Bowyers Bible vol. 4 and reading the chapters on heat treating, the mass principle and proper tillering techniques based on the front view profile of a bow. That’s a good introduction to getting efficient bows.

That’s a fine looking bow Walter. Well done man!

No more school and just lost in all the free time. So I reread this entire thread. It's one of my favorites. Walter you look like a freaking stud standing there with that home made longbow on your shoe. So glad you're finding satisfaction in bow making.

This reminds me of a thought someone had earlier.  Now that our man Kick is getting into bow making we actually have "a lot" of regulars that are interested in the subject.
Is it time to actually have a sub forum dedicated to the topic? Personally I think so.

CA if you see this what do you think?

I 3rd that statement.  Definitely would be interested in that sub form

I'd be interested in a sub forum too. I made so many bows when I was young. I could tiller so well. I was just figuring out, via trial and error, that you needed to not cut through wood fibers on the back of the bow, when I was gifted the traditional bowyers bible. It was great to get so much good information so fast. It was also self-satisfying to realize that much of it I had figured out on my own, and it was humbling and a bit disappointing to see all the stuff that I hadn't figured out.  Funny thing is, I haven't really made any bows since I got the book(s).  But I recently acquired a stave that I really want to try make a recurve from. I just haven't made time to do it yet. 

Walter, amazing looking bow. I hope to have as well of a tillered bow as that. I never quite understood the worry about the set though. I've never had a self-bow that didn't take some set. I was actually very amazed reading the TBB that some bows can take as little as 1". I never achieved anything close to that. The bows still shot arrows just fine.

IronGoober

Thanks for sayin
Set slows the arrow, but a bow with a lot of set can be a sweet shooter.
I recently heard about "no set tillering". Def going to check it out. Not looking for 0 set, but consistently less than 1.5" would be nice.