The bow has had a good rest now so I put the string on at low brace and started pulling it back on the tiller. I was pulling on the rope rather than winching it as it gives a better feel.
Pulling it back and forth working up towards 28" my heart jumped into my mouth at one point as there was this horrible sharp noise, but it was just the string snagging slightly as it moved in the nock.
This raises a point as I've recently seen a couple of bows with narrow grooves on the side of the nock for the string to sit in at brace. This is nonsense as the string moves up and round as the bow is drawn and won't want to stay in the groove. Well I didn't have a deep groove, but the loops on my tillering string are big to go over roughed out staves, and one was snagging probably on the edge of the horn nock.Anyhow this horrid snapping noise always happened at 21" so I ignored it, and slowly got her back dynamically to 28" where she was about 58#. (target weight is 55#)
Theoretically you should never draw your bow beyond it's target weight or length, but a few pounds is neither here nor there. Those few pounds give me room to ease of the slightly squarish corners of the belly which were looking a bit more American longbow than English longbow. There was a hint of a tendency for the bow to be favouring one side, so I eased off the corner more on the opposite edge to encourage it to settle in line.
I've been finishing the horn nocks too.
Pics show how the deflex has all gone, the pith showing on the belly and the nocks which are so translucent you can see the grain of the wood through them.
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