Too much taper?

[arachnid]

Hello guys.

I`m working on a new 62-60" Kenny longbow. Got one of the belly lams tapered (the back lam is parallel). Thickness taper is as follows- 30" long lam, thick end is 3mm (0.12") thin end is 0.6mm (0.02"). It`s more then 0.003" per inch (didn`t make the calculation on my taper rate).
I`m going to use 8" long tip wedge to beef the tips up.
Questions is, is it too much taper and how will it effect the bow?
Does anyone have experience with mor the 0.003" taper?

Thanks
Dor

[Bowjunkie]

I do. When I started making d/r longbows, I was using too much taper. I did them with .004/1 and .0045/1". They made for bows that worked too much from mid limb on out. With my current design, a little more reflex, .003/1" works pretty good without a tip wedge.

[arachnid]

So basically I'll get a whip tiller... Kind'a what I thought....

Anyone else get any info? Will a tip wedge help?

[kennym]

If my math  is correct, you have .100 taper on that lam. A .003 PI is .090 in a 30" lam .

I don't think you will noticee the diff in a .003 and a .0033 , the tip wedge will be good anyway!

[arachnid]

I did the math after I posted and got the same result. Glad I got it right... Kinda

[Mad Max]

mark a line 10" from the butt end of the .003 and measure at 10", add .030 and what do you have?
Measure at 25" and add.075 and what do you have?

Snipe will mess up your measurements.

[jess stuart]

Mad Max makes a good point about snipe.  I pay more attention to my mid limb thickness measurement as long as the butt is pretty close. Snipe can takeoff several thousands quite easily.

[Mad Max]

From 10" to 25" is 15"
15 x .003 = .045
IF it's .045 thicker at 10" than 25" it's a .003 taper.

[arachnid]

What`s "snipe"?

[kennym]

Snipe is when your planer or sander  makes the ends thinner because the work piece goes past the  the hold down rollers and is no longer pushed down on table. On a sander with hold down  rollers you can nearly or completely eliminate it with pressure roller adjustments.

[Crooked Stic]

You can eliminate some of the snipe by holding up the end of the lam that has came out the other side of the sander.