Anyone ever barrel tapered?

[K. Mogensen]

I'm working on a bow kit from Rudderbows and it calls for 5 lams of 1/8 in. bamboo fast flex to be barrel tapered for a riser. They say to taper the last 2 or 3 inches down to thin paper thickness. Well, I started on the 18 in. one, and it came out way short. I would get so far, the ends would fray, I would sand those down, and then taper again. Just added up I guess. Is there a better way to do this without a belt sander? Thanks!

[bjansen]

I created a barrell tapering jig last week....but much longer than you are describing.

I took two .001 tapered lams, used double sick (called dropcloth tape from menards) to tape them butt to butt on a spare strip of maple and ran it though the belt sander.  It worked really good to creat the jig.  This was for a 72 inch strip..but the same concept could be used on the shorter material I suspect.

[bubby]

when I do my tapers for powerlams and such I use a piece of scrap wood to back up the piece that I'm tapering, or it gets torn up like you said

[Pat B]

Doesn't the term "barrel taper" refer to something with the shape of a barrel; round with the middle bigger in diameter than either end. I have heard of arrows being barrel tapered but not bow risers.

[Moen]

With you, Pat B. Doubletaper maybe? Enyway, i make mine like Bubby do. Sanding one side a time.

[K. Mogensen]

Originally posted by Pat B:
Doesn't the term "barrel taper" refer to something with the shape of a barrel; round with the middle bigger in diameter than either end. I have heard of arrows being barrel tapered but not bow risers.

They described what they called barrel tapering as tapering the last 2 to 3 inches.

[Pat B]

They probably use a drum sander to taper the ends with a concave taper but I wouldn't call it a barrel taper but I guess they can call it what they want. d;^)

[K. Mogensen]

 I emailed em to see how they did it and they said that they have a jig that they use. They use a belt sander set at a certain angle or something.

I had an idea last night though. I think I may try clamping the pieces together without glue, and sand it down as a whole.

[sw]

I made a jig for my thickness sander to these as described above, can pump out tapers in 36 and 72 inch in about 3 minutes. I guess it could be done with a drum and drill press of even a belt sander to.

On real short pieces i've always had luck with a spindle sanding drum with something behind it that will keep the work 90 degrees to the drum and keep something solid behind it to cut the feather edge. Basically sanding to the line type stuff.

Dave