what are the advantages/disadvantages to a parallel limb lam vs. one that tapers?

also, what is the purpose of a reversing the tapers as opposed to having them face the same way??

thanks for any info,   mike

It's all about the bend of the limb.  A tapered lam will cause the limb to bend more towards the tip then a parallel.  The more the taper, the more the bend.  You need to experiment with the bow you are building to get it to bend the way you want.

Reversing the tapers will stiffin the tip, unless you match them going both ways.  That is used to get it to bend around the curve easier.

Mike

A paralell limb will retain more of the shape of the form out towards the tips when braced. My experience is that in my r/d longbow the paralell is faster but a tad louder. It also speeds up my recurve and makes the tips more stable. It will cause the tips to be heavier so you may notice more shock on release. It will also put more stress on the wedges/fadeouts than a taper. I have gravitated towards building all of my bows paralell because the lams are easier to grind. A tapered limb may feel smoother to draw and will likely be quieter than a paralell limb bow made in the same form. Reverse tapers make the tips heavier and much stiffer but put more stress on the fades. Some bowyers use reverse tapers in conjunction with tapers so that they can slide them in and out to and adjust limb thickness almost infinitely and only have to grind or buy one size taper. The net result is a paralell limb but it saves the bowyer time and labor.

When I build a bow I like the parllel laminations because it gives you better arrow speed but for the longer draw lengths I will taper the lamanitions but I use as slow a taper as possible to keep the tips stiffer for a smoother draw. Usually you will find that the more tapered laminations you have in a limb the more the bow will stack and hand jarr when shot.
Reverse tapers are good especially for shorter draws. The ideal limb will bend the most down near the fadeouts and will bend all the way to the tips but bend progressively less as it nears the bow tips...Glenn...

thanks for all the info!!  great food for thought...

mike