Why is my bow so loud?

[WhistlingBadger]

  Have you tried flipping the bow over just to see how it acts and sounds? I was shocked when I saw all that reflex,
I would think that bow would have more speed in it than 145fps. Does it have high string tension at brace?

OK, this got a little weird.  I put a little decibel meter app on my phone and shot the bow about three feet away from it.  It was measuring anywhere from 60-80 db.  That doesn't mean much, but when I flipped it over, it was around 50-60 db, so about 20 db quieter than shooting it the "right" way.  Any ideas why that might be?

And yeah, I've wondered why it isn't faster, too.  Seems like it should be...unless my cheapo, Amazon chronometer is lying to me.  Or maybe I just made the tips way too heavy.  It is hard for me to know how much I can take off the tips before they start to bend too much and rob me of speed.

[Badger]

    I will tell you something I think I see, not positive. Both limbs seem to have a decent tiller but they are very different. The left limb seems to have much stiffer outer limbs, and the right limb seems to have more of a circular full limb tiller. The string will keep the limbs balanced until right at the point the arrow leaves the bow. The right limb, like any bow with a full bending limb, will distort or vibrate more than the left limb. I don't know the effect of that but I would imagine you could feel it.

[WhistlingBadger]

    I will tell you something I think I see, not positive. Both limbs seem to have a decent tiller but they are very different. The left limb seems to have much stiffer outer limbs, and the right limb seems to have more of a circular full limb tiller. The string will keep the limbs balanced until right at the point the arrow leaves the bow. The right limb, like any bow with a full bending limb, will distort or vibrate more than the left limb. I don't know the effect of that but I would imagine you could feel it.

I think you're right.  So...should I take a few scrapes off the left mid/outer limb and try to even it out?

[WhistlingBadger]

I might narrow down the tips too, and see if that helps with speed/hand shock.  How thin would you recommend I make them?  They are currently about 1/2" wide by 9/16" deep (counting the elk hoof overlay).

[Badger]

With all that reflex you could have a good shooting bow at around 38 to 40#. If you get the outside working on the left you will have to go to the r/s and get the inner limb working a little more. One more test you may have already done. If you just pick the bow u by the bow string right at the arrow knock point how does it hang? I know this is real similar to the other grip test we did.