A bow has many components, but what does each one of them do?

[arachnid]

Hi Guys.
I`ve been building bows for about 8 years now, started with wooden bows and switched to glass lam bows
about 3 years ago. I have about 25 glass bows under my belt (which isn`t much) but I feel I`m missing a lot of basic info.
I`ll explain- A glass bow conssists of many parts and components, but I`m not sure how each of them effect the overall bow
function. What happens when I change one of them? What`s the best way to improve certain espects in a given bow design?
I feel that if I`ll have some sort of list, like an index for bow parts, I`ll improve my bow making skills.

Soooo, I`d like to get some insight from the pros.... What does every part of the bow do?

Riser- how does the riser length effect the bow? longer/shorter riser will cause....
Power lam- longer/shorter?
Length of the working limb? is there any guidline to how much woking limb a design needs to have?
tip wedge- what does it do? how it used? what will happen if add/not added to a bow?
Thickness taper- how much? how will it effect the bow?
Width taper- how do I plan it currectly? Pyramid taper? parallel up to a point and then taper to the tips?
Amount of deflex/reflex/recurve?

I hope all of this makes sense.... I feel like I know so little...
Thanks in advence

[Flem]

Might be helpful if you could narrow it down to what style of Bow you plan to build. There are some good books on the subject. One of the best is an old dog; "Archery; The technical side" by Hickman, Nagler, etc
If you can find it somewhere or online, it's an excellent read. Dean Torges, anything by the man is worth reading. He wrote on making "natural" bows, but the concepts he delved into cross the boundary of style and materials.

[arachnid]

I'm looking for general guidelines.
I have a hybrid and a recurve, I'm working on improvements for the recurve now.
I also tried to make a five curve style bow, but it had too much bend at the fades and it broke.

That's why I'm asking for this info, so I'll know what to change in order to improve. 
For example- I want the five curve to bend more mid-limb. What do I do? Longer power lam? More taper? Use a tip wedge? I'm just not sure what each part does.
I'm sure every design might benefit differently from certain changes, but some general guidelines will help a lot.