HELP me slvage my first lam bow

[Archer1019]

I am making my son a replica of my Navajo Caddo.  This is my first attempt at a glass bow.  The bow is 42" long and is too thick.  I forgot to account for the glass thickness in my set up.  Anyway the bow is laid up as follows: .05 glass, 1/32 curley maple veneer, 1/16 maple back, 1/16 maple belly, 1/32 curley maple veneer, .05 glass.  This is using all parallel lams and is a whopping 1/4" thick in the limbs.  It is a stiff bugger.  How narrow can I make the limbs to make this bow lighter...much lighter in draw weight?

Please help,
Matt

[Archer1019]

Forgot to add that the riser is 12" long and 1" thick.  The riser is shaped into a half oval shape.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I think I read you can just sand the belly and that will drop the weight.

[Dan Bonner]

Is it a LB or recurve? I am not familiar with the model name. If  it is a LB you can narrow the limbs down considerably maby 3/8" or even 1/4" at the tips use a straight edge to make a straight taper out to 1" to match your riser at the butt end of the limb. It is critical to profile the limb evenly around a true center line that runs through the middle of the riser and out the center of both limb tips or the limbs will try to twist. I would use a good sanding block with 36 grit paper for this. Count the number of strokes on each side to make sure you remove limb material evenly. Next you can trap (short for trapezoid shape the limb). On the belly side (if necessary after reshaping the profile of the limbs) take a flat file and cut diagonaly across the edges of the belly side glass so that the width of the belly side is reduced from the width of the back side glass and the limb edge becomes beveled at the same angle all the way from the fade to the end of the working portion of the limb (not all the way to the tips).The trapping drops draw weight very quickly. I would use sanding the belly side glass as a last resort only. This is better used to tiller self bows. If it is a recurve you can do all the same stuff but keep the tips wider and only taper the tip third of the limb. recurves are much more critical of limb profile and will twist easily. good thing it is a paralell layup they are much easier to keep straight.
Good luck brother!

[Archer1019]

This is a longbow.  Roy Hall is the bowyer whose model I am attempting to reproduce in a child's size.  I rough cut the bow to anout 7/8+ wide and 3/8 at the tips.  This is a straight fade to the tips.  There is about 15" of limb to work with.  Thanks for your help guys.

[Archer1019]

ttt