GOT-A-BUNCH-OF-BAMBOO

[islandpiper]

Recurve Shooter stopped in today and brought me two HUGE  sticks of bamboo.  The larger was twelve feet long and about five inches in diameter at the butt.  Should make some great bows.  I split it all down the middle so it could dry with the least stress.  The smaller one was about ten feet long and 3-4 inches in Dia, and i split one of them into quarters and worked one of the splints down close to what it should be for a bow.  Amazing stuff. 

I'll probably be asking lots of dumb questions as this project proceeds. 

piper

[Del the cat]

5" diameter! Sounds great, I've only seen scruffy little poles. I shall have to play with some boo sometime.
So many materials, so little time...
Del

[dwardo]

Do you know of any UK suppliers Dell? I would wonder if the postage would be rediculous too 

[DCM4]

Double nodes or single?  Pics!

[Del the cat]

Do you know of any UK suppliers Dell? I would wonder if the postage would be rediculous too 

There must be garden centre suppliers but garden centre prices would be daft for big stuff, and distributors prob want you to buy a shed load.
One of the guys at the club got some boo arrow shafts direct from China, they were V good. The are places selling prpared lams (flybow?) but I'd want to do it from scratch... plant the seed grow the boo ...just kidding.
I expect Mr Google could find some...
Del

[Mark Smeltzer]

My experience with boo is that it wants to dry with a natural deflex.   I would do what ever I had to do to make sure it dries with a reflex built into it.
Just my 2 cents.

Mark

[islandpiper]

I'm guessing the dried in deflex is probable.   I may take the split halves and rope them together in pairs, bent the way i want them and let them dry. 

I don't know a double node from a single.   I'll get some pics. 

piper

[dusty]

UK bamboo supplier
I have just pick up to 6 inch 78inch long poles from this supplier
http://www.ukbamboosupplies.com/
I was going to pick my son up from Uni in Durham and payed them a visit
The pole are 4 meters long but they will cut the top 2 meters off the pole or you so the nodes are nice and even
I have just split them and got 16 strips that are now drying in the workshop as moisture content was 15% so wont take long to drop to 10% that is the norm for where I
live
Had a good chat to the owner and he supplies a few bow makers prices are fair to
the two poles cost £30 so £2 per strip

[islandpiper]

Boy, TALK ABOUT SHRINKAGE!!!   The biggest section of that bamboo was the size of a CD disk when it came it.   I got some pics today and i'll post them ASAP.  It is now about 3/5's of that size.   

I split out a bow size piece the day it came in and planed and sanded the back almost flat.   The next day the inside had shrunk back, leaving a rim of the green outer bark curled way around.  No point in doing anything with it till it is dry, dry, dry. 

I split out lots of sections and tied them bark to bark, with blocks in the middle to induce some reflex.  We'll see how that works. 

piper

[HoBow]

This isn't really the best time of year to get boo down there.  October-February would work much better and you probably would not get any shrinkage.  If you do cut some down this time of year, make sure to get some that is mature and several years old.  You can walk around a patch and tell the difference. 

[Del the cat]

UK bamboo supplier
I have just pick up to 6 inch 78inch long poles from this supplier
http://www.ukbamboosupplies.com/
I was going to pick my son up from Uni in Durham and payed them a visit
The pole are 4 meters long but they will cut the top 2 meters off the pole or you so the nodes are nice and even
I have just split them and got 16 strips that are now drying in the workshop as moisture content was 15% so wont take long to drop to 10% that is the norm for where I
live
Had a good chat to the owner and he supplies a few bow makers prices are fair to
the two poles cost £30 so £2 per strip

Cheers Dusty, good info.
Del

[islandpiper]

Man, talk about shrinkage.  The bigger stick was the size of a CD on the end when i started out.   It is about 1/2 that size now, just split in half and let to dry.  The webbing on the nodes is crispy and deflected several inches out of line.  I think when i get time i'll take it all out of the air conditioned shop and put it in my HOT shop at thome and let it bake for a while.  No time right now to make bows anyway. 

Too bad........that would be more fun than my regular work. 

Piper

[islandpiper]

Still no pictures......sorry, sorry, sorry. 

I had a partially made hickory board bow.   It took a set while tillering and i put it away in the corner.   Well, I got the happy thought that I could use some of this bamboo and back the hickory.  So, i split out some parts and sanded them flat and glued one on each end, center of grip to tip, with TB II. 

I sort of sprung in some whole-limb recurve when glueing, and it is still there now.   

This hickory that was sort of like a wet noodle before may as well be spring-grade aluminum now.   Talk about STIFF!!!  I'll give it a couple days to really dry and then start tillering for keeps.  And, I'll try to get my camera into the same building as the bow one of these days. 

piper

[Parnell]

I've been holding onto some boo like you are talking about but haven't had much luck in getting it flat enough to back with.  What tools did you use, a hand plane and belt sander?

[Gordon]

Whether a bamboo backing strip is straight, reflexed or deflexed makes no difference what-so-ever - at least in my experience.