Rattan Bows

[legend]

Hello All ,
Can anyone supply me with information regarding the Advantages and Disadvantages of using Rattan for Bow making especially in the recurve style ?
And also are there any suppliers in the UK.
thanks Guys .
M

[Pat B]

Rattan is relatively inexpensive and by sawing a pole in half you can make 2 light weight kids bows. I've never seen a rattan recurve.

[leonwood]

I would suggest doing a google search for "rattan recurve bow" or "rotan recurve bow" There are lost of examples. Rattan works really well for short recurves. It bends really easy with steam or dry heat. You can even tiller them backwards. (leave the hard surface intact on the belly and tiller from the back) The stuff is really light so it looks like a big bulky bow when you want 50+ pounds. The fibers are nice and long but almost impossible to sand flat.  Not sure where to buy it in the UK but you can try searching for martial arts webshops since they use rattan poles for fighting

[legend]

Thanks Guys for the info . Leonwood can you explain to me why the hard surface of Rattan is used as the belly of the bow ?
Thanks .
Mike

[leonwood]

You can do it both ways without problems but the hard surface will resist compression better then the normal fibres so there are lots of people using it for the belly and tiller from the back. It will take less set that way.
It is great stuff for kids bows and workshops because it works really easy and it is almost impossible to break.

[Jonas]

As leonwood said, build it short. Rattan has two advantages: It doesnt weight much and it still bends when a regular wood bow would break. Just dont try to build an ELB