Bamboo shafting (straightened and spined)

[Little John]

Has anyone tied the bamboo shafting available from china, Looks real good, straight, uniform and on par in expense with poc or other domestic shafting and with free shipping. I can see a quiver full of fine bamboo arrows with out the endless hours of straightening only to get a bunch of unmatched spined arrows. As soon as I get a little extra cash I am going to try a 50 pack.      Kenneth

[loon]

I have some that have pretty different weight by over 100 grains or something.  A 50 pack may be a good idea so you can sort them by weight.

Yeah, I kinda wish I hadn't bought all those gnarly canes...

[Pat B]

Kenneth, I think those shafts are Tonkin Bamboo. I haven't tried them but lots of folks have and apparently they make good arrows. I don't know what their physical weight is like but they seem they would be a little light.
 Hope all is well with you and Kathy are doing well. We're doing OK here.

[mullet]

They work good, Little John but are kinda brittle compared to raw, hand straightened Tonkin shafts. Those have been sanded down and straightened with a lot of heat and rolled between steel slabs.

[Danzn Bar]

They work good, Little John but are kinda brittle compared to raw, hand straightened Tonkin shafts. Those have been sanded down and straightened with a lot of heat and rolled between steel slabs.

Agree with Eddie...heated a little green, caramelizes the sugars and makes them very brittle at the nodes.......not nearly as durable as dried hand straightened cane.
DBar

[Little John]

Sorry to hear that they might not be as good as they seem, might still try a few any way. Thanks for the responses.     Kenneth

[DC]

I made some arrows from bamboo from China. I don't know if it's the same stuff but on the website it mentions the spine. It says spined a 28". If that's the same site take the spine with a grain of salt. You can see in the picture that they are spined  45-50#. All of them were in the 50-65# range. Top Predator noticed the same thing. Other than that they are beautiful shafts. Very straight and finished nicely. If you order maybe order a little on the light side, maybe 10#

PS because they are too heavy for my bows I haven't shot them much so I can't speak to the brittleness concern. I was waiting to bulk up

[osage outlaw]

I made 2 dozen of them last summer.  I haven't shot them very much but they seem to be OK.  It was very nice to not have to straighten them.  I agree with Mullet and Danznbar about them being a little more brittle but I haven't broke any yet. 

[Little John]

Thanks for the replies everyone, DC at least it seems like stiff bamboo still shoots good and seems to be pretty spine tolerant. and probably brittle bamboo is still tougher than most wood shafting. Nice to know that they are real straight and nice looking, wonder how they are for weight uniformity. I don't mind having a few culls. I notice there are a lot of venders, wonder if some offer the premium stuff?

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Get the stuff from the company with tiger in the name, that's the premium stuff. Most of the others don't even sell them spined but some do. I've heard nothing but good things about the tiger company.

[DC]

That's the one! Tiger Shaft on Amazon. You'll notice in the write-up that it says "spined at 28".

[loon]

There's also oulay, which is where I got mine from. Not sure of which is better/how different they are.

[mullet]

Most everybody selling them on ebay is buying them from Tiger out of China. Some are selling them cheaper because they buy more from Tiger. When he first started selling them we had to delete his link because he wasn't a paid sponsor. But I checked it out and it showed how they were straightened.

[loon]

Most everybody selling them on ebay is buying them from Tiger out of China. Some are selling them cheaper because they buy more from Tiger. When he first started selling them we had to delete his link because he wasn't a paid sponsor. But I checked it out and it showed how they were straightened.

I think oulay produces their own, in China, though..

Tiger might be better.

[jimmi the sammi]

Have purchased many 100's of shafts from Tiger in weights from 40# through 90#.  They are quality shafts.  Many of the local guys are now shooting them and really like the product.  Feathers stay glued on.  I have tapered both ends for nocks and points with no problems.  If you can put together a bulk order it is less expensive to deal with him direct.  A few of the shafts have split length wise but not very many.  They are tough overall.  Hope that helps.