Making it faster any one can help.

[kid bow]

Made from oak this bow is 40# at 28" so it's a good one. I'm just looking I make her faster. What tips do you guy have for making these faster? Recurving it's got..... A fiberglass tape backing on it... I know bad but I had no other backing available. Anything helps.

[Pat B]

 How long is the bow and what wood is it? The tips could be reflexed more. You can narrow the tips to reduce their physical weight. Tempering the belly will add a few pounds.

[kid bow]

Bow is 64 in nock to nock. How would I temper the belly of the bow ? And would reflecting make it faster

[JW_Halverson]

First, move this thread to "Around the Campfire" as it is not a Primitive Bow since it has effing-glass on the back (Something I am not convinced would really do diddly to improve the speed of a wood bow)

Secondly, start narrowing the last 8 inches of the limbs a little at a time.  Check your tiller CLOSELY as you go.  When you just get a suspicion of a whiff of a hint of whip tillering, STOP NARROWING THE TIPS! So many bows have far too much mass out on the tips.  Mass equates with inertia, inertia is hard to overcome both when it is not moving and again while it is still moving. 

[PatM]

Don't attempt to manipulate the profile with a backing already in place.
 Make another.

[kid bow]

Ok calm down jw jeez man just calm down. My friend made this for me.  He's a beginner and  didn't think it would hold up. I want it to be faster so I can use it to hunt

[Pat B]

I agree that the FG tape probably isn't doing much for the speed or protecting the back. Brown grocery bag paper would be more effective and JW won't gripe about that. 
  I use a heat gun to temper bow bellies. I like to cook it until it is a nice chocolate brown. You can use Mom's stove but you'll (first) get her permission and be careful not to over do it. It will smell up the house with burning wood smell. Once you've tempered the belly give it at least 3 or 4 days to rehydrate or it WILL blow!
 reflexing the tips will add some speed also. What dos the back profile of your bow look like?
 Like PatM said you won't b able to do any heat manipulation with the backing still on. Your best bet would be to build another and leave this one as your friend made it.

[kid bow]

It narrows near the tips to just under half an inch it's about an inch and a half wide at the grip

[Pat B]

How far back down the limb?

[kid bow]

4-5 inches

[Pat B]

Post a pic of the back profile or at least one limb. You might be able to reshape the profile with little affects on the tiller and reduce the physical weight also. Both of these can add speed to a bow.
 What kind of arrows are you shooting? What do they weigh?

[DarkSoul]

In my honest opinion, you should start another one. Making a bow faster when it is already finished is too little too late.

If you insist on increasing this bow's performance, your options are very limited due to the glue that was used for the backing. Any attempt to steam, heat or boil the bow into shape will result in delamination. The only viable option is to kerf bend the tips into recurves. Recurving or reflexing will increase early draw weight, and over-all draw weight, and at least improve performance.
Shortening the bow (the only other option that does not require heat) is out of the question, since the bow is already short with 64".

[PEARL DRUMS]

Get a string for it. Bet that gives you 15-20 fps.

[Newindian]

Key to speed number one is no set, after that there is a cacophony of other things to keep in mind and/or do to a bow. reflex/recurves is one of the easier to understand this increases early string tension and draw weight for a bow. The simplest thing is to make you tips as Thin as possible this reduces mass and air friction ( but generally friction won't really affect you than much) you can also temper bows as has been mentioned as well as low stretch strings. There are also designs like Molly's which use a lever for a mechanical advantage
Really as best I can sum it up to get your limbs to move as fast as possible you are trying to use as little mass and as little surface area as possible without causing damage (set) to the bow and where possible increasing the desire of the wood to return to it resting shape (tempering/reflex)

[huisme]

I forgot who it was, but a winning bow of a RO board speed contest was a pyramid with about two inches of set. I'm pretty sure as long as set doesn't increase over time and isn't so severe as to rob a bow of its draw weight or structural integrity it's just considered undesirable for its association with a poorly designed bow.