Pretty perplexing problems painted in purple

[Wooden Spring]

I just finished a purpleheart bow for my wife, and BOY was this one a pain! And I know, I know, the tips are uber stiff... I'll fix that on another bow, I'm tired of piddling with this one!

(Ignore my dirty clothes, we'd been installing a new living room over the last two days)

I wanted to hit the 25-30 pound range, and, having never worked with purpleheart before, I started out at 1 1/4" wide... Well, it looked like it was going to be pulling around 35 pounds at that, so I took it down to just 1" wide at the fades, but it only dropped the weight by a couple pounds, so I started fiddling with the thickness...   Good night did this ever take a lot of sanding! I finally got it pulling at exactly 30 pounds at 28" but unfortunately, my tips wound up like you see - stiff...

The lesson I learned is a "no duh" to all you seasoned bowyers out there, but was new to me - lighter weight bows are not only narrower, but THINNER...  I know, "Duh."

[SLIMBOB]

The bow is impressive, but the alliteration outstanding.

[burchett.donald]

I like those slightly stiff outers, tiller looks awesome to me...You know she's worth it Nice work

[Gsulfridge]

Nice job.  Love the contrast.

[Pappy]

Looks good to me,I prefer a little stiff outer limb anyway,so that is just about right. Pretty wood also.
 Pappy

[Del the cat]

Tillering those lighter bows can real fussy.
Good job,
Del

[half eye]

Stiff tipped straight limed bows is the best way to go, like Pappy said. That tiller looks damned fine to these old eyes. I'll bet it's a quick little devil as well. Very well done.
rich

[mullet]

That's a fine looking bow to me. Tiller looks spot on. And don't feel alone, I have more trouble with light weight, short draw length bows than any other kind.

[Wooden Spring]

I appreciate all the kind posts. Admittedly, I was REALLY close to seeing how many BTU's this thing produces - if not for my "discovery" of making the blessed thing THINNER...

Maybe in a couple weeks, I'm going to be putting another one together, and then I'll be adding a couple of different steps for me. First off, I'll be building it for a 25" draw, so that will place the bow at about 62" long, (I've never made one that short) and I'll be adding tip overlays - which is altogether new to me too.

I had a 60# tri-lam Molegabet with NO tip overlays. There was so much mechanical advantage in those limbs that after about 30 or 40 shots, the hickory back just broke off of the nock and it went flying. My arrow didn't hit the target, but the TIP did. AND it happened in front of some school kids we were teaching. Oh, well, at least they got a good laugh.  Hey, anything for the kids, right?

[adb]

Tiller looks fine to me. What did you back it with? Looks like hickory.

[Wiley]

Looks good. Don't have to consider those stiff tips to be a problem. I probably would have called them levers that were done intentionally. They are stiff but they look very light, probably right on the verge of bending.  Bet it's fast for a a 30lb bow.

[Del the cat]

Looks good. Don't have to consider those stiff tips to be a problem. I probably would have called them levers that were done intentionally. They are stiff but they look very light, probably right on the verge of bending.  Bet it's fast for a a 30lb bow.

Yup... thats not a fault it's a "feature"... or "character" 
And if it explodes its a "Kit"
Del

[Wooden Spring]

"And if it explodes its a "Kit""
--------------------------
OK, I had to clean off my computer screen after reading that one, thanks I needed that laugh!

Yeah, in case anyone was curious...
Hickory backed purpleheart
68" tip to tip
1" wide at the fades, tapered to 1/2" pin nocks

It started out at 1/2" thick at the fades, then tapered to 7/16" at the tips. I do this on my bows to give them juuuuuuust a bit of taper in thickness. THIS bow I had to sand down so much, I think the whole of the limb is down to 7/16" or less.

I believe that the stiff tips came from a combination of glued in 2" of reflex, and the slight taper in thickness. Purpleheart Bow Two-Point-Oh will be straight 7/16" and we'll go from there.

[toomanyknots]

Stiff tipped straight limed bows is the best way to go, like Pappy said. That tiller looks damned fine to these old eyes. I'll bet it's a quick little devil as well. Very well done.
rich

It will pull a little smoother with stiff tips. Kinda like mini levers. i think it looks pretty good. They are a bit stiff, but it still looks great, and obviously some people like bows specifically with stiffer tips. Nice bow, and pretty wood! Gives me hope for all the purple heart cut off I got that I can't do much with at the moment, .

[toomanyknots]

Reflex can make tips stiffer I find? Don't know why? But the results for me is that after getting it tillered out correctly, the tips are narrower than they would be if the bow was not reflexed when glued up. (that's how is seems to me anyway)