Taper rate

[savage1]

I been told boblee bows use only parallels but I mic'd a 95 and a 97 and those parallels are pretty close to .003 taper.
Any one ever make some of these?
Any help is great.
Just another project..

Lou

[kennym]

Hey Lou, I did a 60" 1 pc recurve awhile back with .0025 and a tip wedge, at 1.5" wide at fades, it was a little tricky to get the limbs straight enuff to suit me. a bit wider would help with stability I'm thinkin, but .003 would be harder to tame , especially if you didn't put a wedge in there.
I only side tapered the last 9" before string grooves.

[kennym]

That was  with 2 tapers tho , a .001 and a .0015

[JamesV]

Lou............

I have measured a number of older production re-curve bows and .003 is very common. For my builds I use .003 for re-curves and .005 for R/D longbows.

James

[savage1]

Thanks for the input fellas. Now a tip wedge offers more or less stability? I thought it was a performance enhancer at a cost a little stability??

Lou

[JamesV]

Lou...........

I don't know of many production bows that used tip wedges but some used tip under-lays (on the belly side) to help stiffen the limb tips. Daymon Howatt & Pearson used them in some of their production bows. I have seen tip wedges used in static tip recurves but not so much used in working limb bows.

James

[Pheonixarcher]

Kirk at Bigfoot bows uses I believe a total .003/1" taper and a tip wedge in his Sasquatch LB limbs. My javaman elk heart and inferno both use tapers and tip wedges. My super shrew also uses tapers and tip wedges.

[Crooked Stic]

>003 is good on longbows. If your curve limbs have a nice hook with a full working limb I say no taper or .001 and profiled back about 10 in.to 3/4 at the grooves. 1 5/8 finished limb width.

[chackworth3]

I've had good shooters with .001-.002 taper in them with no tip wedge.  About like Mike said, 1 5/8" at the fades and 5/8" at the string groove.

[Robertfishes]

I have been using a 003/inch taper in these ILF limbs. They seem to shoot nicely. I was thinking about trying a 002/inch taper but the 003 seems pretty good..  

[savage1]

It sure seems like the trend is favoring .003 or less for the curves.It maybe that newer bob lee bows are using pars but the old ones I got a hold of were both at.003.

What would be the effects of going to less taper?
more stability, less stack, increase in draw weight?

The form is ready and I'm itching to glue.
Just wish I had a more current one to check.
Otherwise I may start with whats on hand, .002.

Lou

[monterey]

I have a vintage howatt static recurve and it is tapered but I have not measured it.  It doesn't have a tip wedge, but the tapered lam does reverse it's taper as it goes into the curve.  A nice shooter!

You have to look at it from both the standpoints of thickness taper and the taper of the limb width.

[Robertfishes]

If Crooked Stic says a 001/inch Is a good taper rate then I would look at using it too.. I used an 003/inch taper in the ILF limbs because that is what the two sets of target limbs I had access to have in them.   I also build the Bingham's 58" one piece recurve. That design calls for a 002/inch taper.

[savage1]

Crooked stick wins. I will go .001 on the first set and take it from there.
Just have to get some lams made up.
I fractured a bone in my arm and have a cast on but still getting things done.
What a pain in the ___.   Arm..

Lou

[savage1]

Guys my profile is pretty much as Mike describes from butt to tip.
So I need a stack for.001 taper to try for #40. A little less is not a problem.

My guess is at .240 at butt. I know geometry will vary on pounds but give me your base line to consider..
Lou