Hand Shock!

[walkabout]

Great explanation of tiller as applied to handshock and tip size Nick. I have a question though, on selfbows do you taper to 3/8 tips from where your limbs taper or do you simply taper them smoothly into the rest of the limb? When i build i generally start with my limbs tapering to 1/2 inch nocks from 15 inches or so varying on limb length, should i just start tapering straight to 3/8 instead?

[UnderControl16]

Richard that is what i did with my last bow, i started tappering to 1" and then on the last foot tappered to 5/8" (? can't remember) But it seems to have worked fine. Came out with a 45# bow.

[dutchwarbow]

walkabout, I did something similar to Undercontrol on my self-warbows; tapering them from a foot outside the riser to imaginary 1" wide nocks, then tapering the last foot even more towards 1/2" wide nocks; an increased taper.

this bow was tillered elliptical(increasing bend towards the tips), but the bend didn't increase on the last foot since it had additional taper; since the tips were similar to those on a pyramidal bow. Great bow, untill I chopped it down for a kidbow.

but Usually I like to taper my limbs straight out of the fades to my 3/8" wide nocks, or start the taper like 1 foot out of the fades; depending on the woods density and the staves dimensions. This is what I suggest on a flatbow.

If I had a bow that tapered from say midlimb to 1/2" tips, and I wanted 3/8" tips,,, well, I wouldn't bee too accurate at all. just doing a few strokes with my spokeshave over the sides till I get where I want. Bowmaking, at least for me, is not rocketscience, but does require little logic and physics.

Nick

[walkabout]

makes sense, ive been leaving them full width till just after midlimb, then tapering from there in a flatbow design. its worked pretty well for me, i just wasnt sure about the tips. usually i wait till i get the overlays on then work them down thinner to keep mass down.

[Roy from Pa]

1 inch wide tips are your problem. Take them down to at least 5/8th wide, but leave the 3/8th thick.