Some More Questions

[D.A. Davis]

Hey guys, like I said in an earlier post, I've got 6 months of rehab on my shoulder before I can do anything, so I've got a lot of time to think about building bows and mulling things over and over in my head.  I've got a few more questions.

When you plan on building a bow with narrow limbs, do you add laminations to insure that the poundage stays in an acceptable range.  With the removal of limb material needed to narrow the limbs, wouldn't that be necessary?

If you use carbon laminations in the limbs, do you use it instead of glass, or along with glass?  According to the Bngham's website and catalog, they recommend you use it with a covering of glass.

In order to shoot a fastflight string, don't you have to use some type of hard material in your limb tips, like deer antler?

[Roy Steele]

I keep the tips just heavy enough they don't been.An no I never did when built lam bows.

[Apex Predator]

Yes to adding total stack thickness, if you are planning a narrower design.  It's mostly trial and error when you change stuff around.  Just remember that a bow half as wide is half as strong.  One that is half as thick is 1/8th as strong.  That's a huge difference, so don't add too much in your lam stack.  I would say add only 5-10# worth of thickness, but it really depends on how narrow you profile the bow.

Carbon is fragile, and doesn't take dings, nicks, and scrapes as well as glass.  I think that's the main reason for Binghams recommendation.  A chip can cause the carbon to blow!

[bjansen]

Regarding the tips, I think it is always best to reinforce them with something...even if you dont need the additional strenth, it looks great...

If I shoot fast flight or dyneema I will pad the loops on the string a bit and for that reason I think any material for tip overlays with work (antler, phenolic, wood, glass, etc).  

Best of luck!