Sanding glass to lower weight

[Si]

I have made all types of bows and repaired many bows but never needed to lower bow weight by sanding back or belly glass. Experienced input would be appreciated. Thanks

[grizz]

Here goes my nickels worth. If the limb width will permit, I will take some off of the sides, My experience has been that you tend to dampen the limbs recovery by thinning the glass, losing some performance.

[Tom Leemans]

I'd either narrow or trap a little more before thinking about sanding the glass.

[macbow]

On longbows I tend to go for trapping and reducing  sides as needed.
On recurves I am more Leary of reducing sides.
If the glass is thick enough sanding the surfaces equally is probably the best.
Formula on just wood is 8 to 1 thickness . Removing .001 on the faces is the same as removing .008 on the width.

[jsweka]

I agree with the above - reduce the width to reduce the weight.

[kennym]

I like to reduce width and trap em also, I'd say as a last resort, use a sanding block and count strokes on each limb.

[Roy from Pa]

I don't make glass bows. But that glass isn't all that thick. I would reduce weight by sanding an equal amount off the sides of the limbs, SLOWLY, or trapping the back of the limbs. The only glass bow I ever attempted was a kit from Binghams. The guy teaching me liked a straight limb taper, which I do also. So instead of following Binghams limb profile layout, we did a straight taper. My bow came in 10 pounds light. After the loss of weight, I studied the limb profile they suggested. The way we did my limbs was 1/4 inch narrower than what they suggested. There was my weight loss. So therefore, yes you could reduce the weight of the bow by reducing the width of the limbs. But that also could depend on how narrow your limbs are to start with:) You even more confused now?

[Swissbow]

I agree with Kenny. Go slowly and try to sand the glass as even as possible. Check tiller and draw weight regularly, because the weight might drop very quick.

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Andy