A real question, not trolling.

What is /are the purpose/purposes for laminated limb tips?

There are many comments and pictures about them. (Ie older Wing Archery "small deep tips" vs bigger Wing Head Ski tips; other makes with wedges).

Are laminated limb tips "just" for providing strength to the bow tip and a gentle transition for the string loop, or is there some other purpose (aside from subjective "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" reasons.

Too much mass on the limb tips would slow arrow speed, right?

Please school me on laminated limb tips. Why they are used? Optimal design characteristics? What is good, and what/when are they "bad" or too much (or too small, not present)? Function(s) / purpose(s)?

Combination of esthetics and function? Where do these lines cross in a pragmatic approach?

Just curious.

Depends a whole bunch on who you ask. Some folks will tell you they are neccessary to reinforce the limb tip. However. that can't be the case with every design since there have been lots of bows made without them.

Reinforced limb tips are a hold over from the says of Yew wood longbows I would guess. The linen string material that was used for bow strings wsa very abarsive. That being the case it was commpn to reinforce the limb tips for example with horn, so the string grooves wouldn't be cut directly into the soft wood.

The “wedges” stiffen the tips.

What Pat said.

Strength,would not have a bow without them!

The tips are the narrowest part of the limb, so they are also the weakest. So to add strength, overlays are added. They also lessen wear in the string loops by keeping the loops round, instead of bending around sharp corners. In addition, they look cool.

MP

You have all the answers unless you were referring to static tips. That eliminated tip bending which decreases string angle.You can get away with a shorter bow without excessive finger pinch. Working recurve tips do the same things in a slightly different way.>>>----> Ken

Thanks for the replies. Now I have one more question.

What makes a bow ( a limb or limb tip) “ fast flight” (bowstring) capable?

There are recurved with laminated limb tips, but are not FF capable ( need dacron string). Other bows with laminated limb tips ARE fast flight capable.

What makes a bo fast flight string capable?

No study has ever been done to prove or disprove fast flight capability, so folks tend to err on the dacron side of the discussion. I use, and have used low stretch on bows with no tip overlays...a 1966 Black Hawk Scorpion. It has well over a thousand arrows through it with a 452+ string and zero sign of wear in the string nock area. You have to be confident though that it will work and many folks just won't take the chance.

I use the fast flight on my self-bows with no tip reinforcement, on my yew and hickory. I think the worry is that a laminated bow may come apart, I haven't seen one do this yet and proved that the string did it, as George said people tend to err on the dacron side. I will never go back to B-50 or B-55, the low stretch is that good at least on my non laminated bows.

Disclaimer: This is my experience, not guaranteeing it will work on all bows.

Never, ever dry-firing a bow and never going radically too light wt. (gpp) arrows makes bows FF capable. (Makes them Dacron capable too! ;-)

Obviously their for reinforcement.They may help if you jab your tip into a rock or something like that.

Aesthically speaking they can be quite striking and exquisite.Like a Dwyer or Berry with his hooked nock overlays.

That being said I have had quite a few bows with no tip overlays and I like them.They have as light a tip as possible.I shoot skinny FF strings on them with built up loops.I never had a negative issue with these bows without tip overlays.

The material on the tips is used as a safety measure. It depends a lot on how much confidence the Bowyer has in his bow construction. Some will not warranty their bows with low stretch strings. It never hurts to play it safe. I shoot both and even interchange strings on the same bow. I don't really see the difference as being worth the risk but that is just me.>>>>-----> Ken

I put them on most of my bows with the first concern being aesthetics. Secondly, I like very narrow limb tips. Some are so narrow that without an overlay to file a string nock into their is not enough width to cut grooves in the side deep enough to hold the string.

Here's a limb tip with pin nocks without overlays that has been shot a lot over the years and shows no sign of problems. Full disclosure, I don't shoot FF type strings. Not for fear of damage, but just because I have a lot of B50 and B55 on hand and it works fine for an "old schooler" like me.

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