Whip tillered

[MattZA]

Imagine this topic has come up hundreds of times,  always thought the last 4" of the tips should be on the stiff side for decent performance.

This ^^^

Science also tells me that tips would need to be so thin they would be totally unstable. In fact I'd even suggest they would be too thin and narrow to hold the string without snapping.

Still an interesting concept though. The total lack of inertia means those tips would move like lightning if someone got it to work.

[Woodely]

Imagine this topic has come up hundreds of times,  always thought the last 4" of the tips should be on the stiff side for decent performance.

This ^^^

Science also tells me that tips would need to be so thin they would be totally unstable. In fact I'd even suggest they would be too thin and narrow to hold the string without snapping.

Still an interesting concept though. The total lack of inertia means those tips would move like lightning if someone got it to work.

I got up this morning and realized how futile it is at times to post anything on the contrary, intelligent or otherwise. 

[Woodely]

Did not quote you at all.
The last 4" are automatically stiff, because of the lack of leverage.  Is this always a given when building bows.  Lost me there.

[bradsmith2010]

I think it could shoot fast,,if the bow is designed to be that way,,
I think like some one stated,, some of the deflexed bows might be a bit whip tillered,, it just doesnt show so much,,,
but if I had to make one,, I think if the bow is holding reflex,, it will probably shoot well,, even with the tips bending,,I cant really think of a reason it would not,,it might stack a bit too,,
I would probably sinew back mine to hold the reflex, and then thin it to whip tiller and see what she did,,
the string angle would not be great,, but I think it would shoot,, Im not so worried about it and probably wont make one,, but that would be the best way to find out,, shooting it through the evil chronograph,, would let you know how its doing compared to other bow designs,,

[willie]

I was thinking that your bow could be "whip tillered" without looking like it

yeah, but without the R/D, you would not have the higher string tension at brace unless you braced unusually high

[SLIMBOB]

My favorites are always stiff tips.  Levers, mollys, etc.  For me at least I seem to get more spine tolerance and more speed pound for pound.  I've made some whip ended bows and cant say I have been thrilled with any of them.

[bradsmith2010]

slimbob,, I think you got a point,, if it was a thrilling design,, we would probably see more of them,, and not have to guess so much,,

[SLIMBOB]

I remember reading in one of the TBB’s, Bows of The World I think, about whip ended bows somewhere, Africa maybe. They were made that way intentionally due to wood property limitations. Or I dreamed this whole thing and no culture used them. Could be either one.

[MattZA]

Did not quote you at all.
The last 4" are automatically stiff, because of the lack of leverage.  Is this always a given when building bows.  Lost me there.

Sorry, perhaps I didn't explain properly.

I'm agreeing with you that the final 4" are stiff due to lack of leverage, and therefore getting decent performance.

I was just thinking out loud that a theoretical bow with bending tips would be interesting. They would have to be impossibly thin to actually bend because of leverage, as you say.

But if thin enough to bend, they would weigh almost nothing, thereby increasing dry fire speed. It would be interesting to see if that lack of weight made up for the loss of cast due to string angle.

No disagreements from me - just quoting your post as a springboard for my theory 

[Dances with squirrels]

Some people think every bow should be tillered to a perfect arc, no matter the unstrung profile. When there is reflex in the outer limb and the whole limb is tillered to a perfect arc, then the outer limb is working more than the rest. The more substantial the reflex, or the more it's isolated there, and if tillered this way, yes, the reflex can pull out with use... i.e. the limb takes set there because it was made too weak in search of that arc their mind's eye wants to see. I've seen guys do this bow after bow after bow and never figure out why their bows all take more set in the outer limbs.