Talk to me about Lam. combos for a longbow.

[str8sh2ter]

I'm preparing to make my first longbow 64-72" 45#@29" + - .I bought a real nice form that was supposedly patterned after a Robertson Stykbow.That's what the guy told me.it has a small amount of R/D.from what I can tell it does look similiar in profile to the Stykbow or a Mowhawk .either way it should make a decent Longbow.
  My questions are about limb laminations.Is there advantages to many thin lams. over fewer thicker lams.? What do you get by more or less taper.What combos have worked best for you guys?I suspect that this is what sets certain bows from others that share similiar profiles.THANKS

[Apex Predator]

More thinner lams are more work and cost, but are stronger and smoother.  Glue lines are good in laminates, but must be laid up with the right pressure and enough epoxy.  

If you don't get enough taper, all the bend will be at the fade-outs.  That will cause hand shock, noise, and loss of performance.  Your taper comes from the bow width (back profile), and limb thickness taper.  You have to find what works best for your design.  If you are building a wide limb design, you may get by with no thickness taper.  If your limbs are very narrow, you may need .005-.006/inch taper in your lam stack.  You need to get most of the limb bending.  The last 8-10" of the tip should stay pretty straight at full draw.

My mild R/D longbows are 1 1/4-1 5/16" wide and have four .001 tapered lams.  Most don't use that much taper though, but I need it to get the limb bending.

[str8sh2ter]

Apex;thanks very much.that helps alot.

[bigbellybuck]

I make a 64" with a fair amount of r/d. I use 2 tapers .002 and one parallel up to about 50lbs. Then I go to 4 lams. I see a lot of bows out there that bend only a few inches past the fades. I like most of my limb to be sharing the workload, but I'm far from an expert.

[Darryl Trimble]

I build a laminated bamboo bow, (55-60#) using one taper .190 at the thickest part tapering out to the end at a rate of.002 per inch and 2 parallels of .090, (tapers and parallels are either Osage or Hickory) and a bamboo backing thinned to 1/32 of an inch on the edges.  I've built a lot of bows using as many as 6 laminations with differing tapers and taper/parallel combos and can see no appreciable difference in performance from the recipe above. I get excellent limb action with this combination.  I think a lot of bow building is mental,what you think will work, will; you know, the "Witchery of Archery" Any way give it a try.