Newbe question

[breazyears]

I will be building a longbow in a few weeks. I have read a lot of stuff on how its done, on this site in particular. What I have never read is. When using tapered lams. What way does the thick end go? Towards the tip, or towards the handle? If I had to guess I would say toward the handle, but I need to know for sure.
 Theirs no such thing as a stupid question so please be gentle.
 Thanks.

[Pat B]

Generally the thick part of the lam goes to the handle but my Treadway bow has reverse tapers in it(thik at the tips) so I guess it depends on the design.

[breazyears]

Well that sucks. I certainly don't need more to consider. Wonder if theirs any performance advantage with the thickest end being at the tip??? One would think that more weight at the tips would hider. On the other hand. Maybe it would be capable of casting a heavier arrow???
 Think ill just stick with the thin end at the tips.
 Thanks

[Pat B]

Do you have a blue print for your bow or a recipe for the stack or are you just winging it?  I don't build glass bows but I'd imagine that you would assemble the stack according to the design of the bow, including the bow length, draw length and draw weight.

[carpin'mark]

If you are building a 1 pc. longbow, odds are the taper goes toward the tips, there are some takedown designs that flip tapers which pretty much equals a parallel anyway.
More info would be helpful, reflex/deflex longbow, flatbow, Hill style, the better the info the better the answer.

[breazyears]

I plan on building a reflex/deflex 64"
I plan on using.050 glass, .001 tapered lams that are .080" at the fat end, .140 bamboo core ,another set of tapered lams,and glass up the belly.
 Got the design from "poorfolksbows"
Seems like a good bow to start with. I have built a few bows in the past... molle, pyramids. They have all been one piece. This will be a new venture for me.
 Need to build a simple oven, and make a form... wish their was a downloadable template that I could have printed out, but I cant find one. Im just going to use a long thin slat that I can bend with a string on each end, and trace different profiles till one looks good.

[carpin'mark]

Sounds like your off to a good start, I like to put one of the tapers on the belly side with the glass but others may do it differently. Take your time, have fun, and you will have all the help you need  along the way.

[carpin'mark]

P.S. You can skip the oven at this point, Smooth-On EA-40 will cure in 24 hours at room temp., spend your time on making a good form.

[Robertfishes]

I build the kennym design D/R longbow. I use a total of 003/inch of taper in the limbs. All tapers are thick end in middle of bow, thinner end at tips.