OK..... Terminology got me there... When we are talking about taper, it's typically the thickness of the limbs and rated in thousandths of an inch... .002 forward taper, .003 or .001 FT for example.
Shaping a width profile can be as complex or easy as you want to make it.... A lot of guys use masking tape to lay out dead center of the limb and then use a straight edge to lay out the limbs width. The problem i always found doing that was the tape fuzzes up when you are sanding to the lines and you loose your line altogether when ya get close using a sander.
What i found to be the best solution is making limb width patterns from formica, and drill a 1/4" hole dead center where my tip notches are located. then after getting a center line on the limbs i clamp the pattern on the limb and use spray paint to get an exact pattern on the limbs.
I use a big edge sander to shape the edges down to size, and always leave a 16th of an inch of the paint line on the glass. this leaves me a wee bit extra limb width at the tip, so when i put my temp string notches in the limbs and check the draw weight, i can also deepen one side or the other for limb alignment issues that may occur.
Whether you use a palm sander, an edge sander, or do it by hand with a long block. you need long smooth strokes to fair it in. Then after it looks good, close your eyes and run your fingers down the edge. Often times you can feel things you can't see, or don't notice... .02 cents worth.
Here are a few photos of my system. Hope this helps.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KxQCbbQovLvFAePt9https://photos.app.goo.gl/YKDN29wyr6SC4S2j7https://photos.app.goo.gl/kwuYZBXf8eZfm7FW6
Topic: Limb taper (Read 8600 times)
