Durability and longevity of bb bows

[oneeye]

  Gave a guy a 62" bbyew d/r about 7 years ago, 3 years later it lifted a small bamboo splinter on the back next to a node. I told him to bring it back and I would repair it. Long story short he glued it back and wrapped it with duct tape. personally i would have wrapped it with sinew and called it good. Needless to say he took the tape off it last month and shot it for a while thinking everythings fine well it finally it blew up.
  Now this guy shoots every night consistently a minimum of 40 or so arrows, so we're talking about 10,000 shots per year conservatively out of this bow.  70,000 in its lifetime.
  What kind of shot average are the rest of you guys getting out of your bows?   Scott

[Justin Snyder]

When I made my first Boo backed Osage it was 4 months before the hunt. I shot between 100 and  200 shots a day for 4 months. That is over 15000 arrows in four months. The bow held up great, but I started loosing feeling in my fingers. I still shoot that bow once in a while.

[oneeye]

How often do you get boo splinters lifting ?  I very lightly scrap the rind off.  Scott

[Justin Snyder]

That one was scraped and sanded down a long way. It lifted a splinter part way through the hunt, but I was hauling it around on a four wheeler beating it up.  I super glued it back down, wrapped it with sinew and went back to hunting. I quit scraping so far and I haven't had a splinter since.

[Jesse]

Not sure how long they last. I have not had one that made it to a finished bow fail me yet "knock on bamboo ". I shoot mine often but couldnt tell you how many shots. All I can say is that even if I knew they only lasted an average of x amount of shots it would still be worth it for the years of use I get out of one.

[Pat B]

As tough as bamboo is it can be pretty delicate too. The way it is handled can make or break one...but that goes for any wood bow.
  He should have left the duct tape on it!    Red Green would be proud!

[Hillbilly]

Scraping doesn't seem to be good for boo. Light sanding with fine paper isn't as likely to leave those little scraper marks that can cause problems down the road.

[mullet]

 I quit scraping Bamboo a couple of years ago. The only boo I've had splinter was because of over heat treating the back.

[adb]

I quit using bamboo period.

[Ryano]

Like any other kind of bow, I've seen them last indefinetly and I've seen them blow to pieces for seemingly no reason after a couple hundred shots.

[Jesse]

I quit using bamboo period.

Because of problems or you just dont like it?  Do you scrape the rind?

[Mechslasher]

i think 70,000 arrows is asking plenty from an all wood bow.  10,000 would have made me happy.  i've had one bow to lift a splinter and that was my first bbo and it was my fault for sanding the nodes down too much.  i've left them proud every since and have never had another problem.

[adb]

I quit using bamboo period.

Because of problems or you just dont like it?  Do you scrape the rind?

Well... many reasons I guess. It's very dry where I live, especially in the winter, and ALL my bamboo backed bows have checked. Regardless of what finish I've used. Doesn't cause any problems, but some of my customers have freaked seeing their "broken" bows.
Bamboo is labour intensive as a backing. Cutting and planing and sanding something round to make it flat is a headche. Hickory, maple, ash, etc., is so much easier and more consistent. Bamboo's nodes give me fits... trying to match spacing, they're weak, etc. Scraping, no scraping... some of my bamboo backed bows (as Gordon will attest) just fail for no apparent reason. VERY frustrating after many hours of work. All this adds up to me looking elsewhere for backing material. As probably 80% of the bows I make are backed, I wanted a much more user friendly material.
All that being said, if you can make it happen with no problems, a bamboo backed osage bow is probably the sweetest and fastest bow you'll ever make.
Funny thing too... the only bow I've won BOM with was (you guessed it) a bbi. Go figure!!

[adb]

Prime example for me... BBI, 50#@28", rigid handle. I don't think I could improve the tiller much. This bow failed early in it's career, lifting a splinter requiring a replacement for the customer. Frustrating for everyone.

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[Josh]

that is a beautiful tiller on that bow.  -josh