Sourcing bamboo slats for backing?

[Kidder]

I recently reached out to Carson at echo archery for some more bamboo backing strips and learned he is out and doesn’t know if/when he’ll secure more. Does anyone have a referral to get backing quality bamboo slats without paying an exorbitant fee?

[Eric Garza]

All of these materials are in short supply, it seems like. The folks who used to make them on a commercial scale are aging, retiring, and dying. No younger folks have mastered the craft and feel inspired to fill the empty niches.

[Flntknp17]

Could well be that the boo comes from China and it is just a very very low priority item in terms of international shipping at a time when container ships are expensive and in high demand?  I recently bought 30 boardfeet of straight grained hickory for cutting slats in anticipation that I won't be able to get good (large diameter) bamboo as easily as I was able to before the pandemic.

Matt

[superdav95]

Ya I second that Eric.  It’s getting tough to source.  I get mine in Toronto.  I usually get my slats there and my 5”diameter moso pole there.  I bought the last 4 decent poles they had left.  They said to me that their supply is down from wherever they get it from and not expected to get any more till April next year! I can see if they have slats left and get you a price if wish. 

[superdav95]

They have some at the spot I get mine in Toronto.  They are moso slats 1/4”x 2” x 8’.  10 of them for 150$. 

https://bambootoronto.ca/products/bamboo-slats

[Eric Krewson]

I used to buy a 25 slat bundles from Frank's bamboo but got two bad bundles in a row so I went elsewhere, I ended up cutting my own.

We are lucky in the south, there are local bamboo patches available if you look them up. I had a great one across town (madake, giant timber bamboo) but the owner died, the land sold and the new owner bulldozed the patch. I found another one about 25 miles away in Collinwood Tn with really big stuff but probably have a lifetime worth of slats put back from the place I once cut from so I haven't checked out the TN patch.

The local patches sell poles for peanuts just to get rid of it. I was paying $15 for a 7" diameter culm that I would get three 6' cuts out of and possibly 20 useable slats.

[ssrhythm]

Can you make a tutorial post on the process of going from standing bamboo to cut slats that are ready to be used or sold for backing?  I'm not sure what all is involved, but I am currently setting up a bow-making shop and will be acquiring a bandsaw soon and possibly a drum sander and jointer and or planer.  I go to SC turkey hunting every year, and I have access to some giant bamboo.  If it's not a ridiculously involved, time-consuming process, maybe I can fill a small part of the aforementioned void. 

[Eric Garza]

Ssrhythm, might be a nice little side hustle. And Kidder, perhaps reach out to Eric Krewson to see if he'll trade you some of his bamboo stash?

[Eric Krewson]

Here is what to do; When you cut down the trunk cut it up in 6' sections, I try to make my cuts at the nodes, not between them. I let the trunk dry whole, on some bamboo if you cut out the slats green, they won't dry flat and will cup up in a U shape and be worthless.

To dry the trunk quickly it is important to knock out the inner nodes so the trunk has airflow through it like a chimney. I use a hoe handle for this, the nodes knock out easily. Sometimes I run a bead of super glue around the ends of the cut to minimize cracking while the trunk dries.

When your bamboo turns tan it is ready to cut or split into slats, drying might take a month in the summer, I keep my cut bamboo out of the sun in my shop while it dries.

I don't split my bamboo into slats, I pop a chalk line on it for the first cut and run it through my bandsaw, I use a rip fence to cut the slats to width.  The slats will still have left over node pieces on the inside, I cut these off with a bandsaw.

The bamboo is way too thick at this point, I stand it on edge and run it through my bandsaw slanted, using the back as guide I cut the thickness on the belly on one side to 1/8", flip the slat over and cut down the other side the same. Don't try to cut the belly thinner side to side in one pass
bad things will happen, the slat is too flexible at this point for a controlled full belly cut.

At this point I run the slat on my belt sander to get the peak down the middle of the belly flat and then make a few passes through my jointer to finish flattening the slat. I have left the jointer out and done all the flattening on my belt sander using a 36-grit belt, it goes pretty fast. I have a dust collection system and found the bamboo "wool" that comes off the belt sander will stop up the piping on my dust collector if I sand a lot of slats.   

I always had a bandsaw, before I had the other power tools, I did the flattening and thinning with hand tools. I hadn't cut my own bamboo at that point and was working off commercial 2" wide, very thick slats that I bought.

Here is what I started with and ended up with;

[neuse]

I just purchased two from crows head archery, last week.

[Selfbowman]

Jaap in Odem Georgia. Good bamboo. Not sure on price. Pm me and I will send you info.  Arvin

[Kidder]

Well I was able to secure a load of it for relatively cheap, from of all places, Home Depot! 25 slats for $120 shipped. 1.75 inches by 72 inches. Another bowyer on a FB page tipped me off to them - he believes they are moso (I haven’t a clue). They seem to have almost a chalky rind - I suspect some sort of treatment for insects. Middle node spacing ranges between 9 and 14 inches for the majority and crown varies with a couple very high crown and some extremely low crown. A few of them have very close nodes (6” in places) and will be less than ideal. But overall, of the 25, 15 should make a solid bow, 5 an acceptable bow, and 5 probably have to go to some other woodworking project. Not bad for the price. But I really won’t know until I’ve tried them and when I do I’ll post an update.

[Kidder]

Here’s a sampling. You can see the two on the right are nice, and the one in the middle sucks.

[superdav95]

Good score Dave.   I wonder if they’ll ship to Canada.