limb theory- can I taper them to reduce wt?

[jhg]

I have a longbow that is too heavy. Instead of sanding glass to lower the weight can I take a little off the limbs width toward the tips? I would feather the amount equally using a centerline starting at the tip and stopping near the fadeouts, taking the most from the tip end and diminishing toward the fades. I'm thinking 1/16th total as the max amount.

This is a robust bow and is not exactly svelt toward the tips. I can also gage progress by tillering and shooting the bow as a way to avoid going too far.

Thoughts?

Thanks
Joshua

[Jeremy]

If the tiller is correct for the bow, just remove width evenly along the limbs.  What you're proposing would soften the tips and not the inner limbs which, depending on how you have the bow tillered now, could create a whip-tillered bow that'll stack earlier in the draw and have increase hand shock.