all bamboo created equal?

[OldBow]

There are about 30 species of bamboo which is a true grass.
Pretty good bet they are not all created equal.

[Rich Saffold]

I do the same, and on some bows which get really thin at the tips I will taper the bamboo  to help insure lateral stability of the limbs.

[Ryano]

Gordon, Look at all the old lemon wood bows you see from the 40's and 50's every one Ive ever seen has about at least 3" of string follow. Not to disagree with what the others have said but I would suspect it had more to do with your belly wood or the limb profile/design than the type or kind of bamboo you used. My brother has made more bamboo backed bows and bamboo back and bellied bows then anyone I know and he always makes his bamboo knife edge thin on the edges and only like a 1/8" thick at the most at the thickest part of the crown, and his bows never, ever, follow the string no mater what kind of wood he's used for a belly or mid lam. Laminated bows are a different animal than a selfbow and different rules seem to apply. I'm sure you'll figure it all out it just takes a little experamentation to figure out what works best for you. 

[grantmac]

On the topic of thinning bamboo, has anyone tried a spokeshave or blockplane? I have used my beltsander but it's a slow, noisey and messy operation.
 Cheers,
          Grant

[Gordon]

Grant, I use a bandsaw, block plane, scraper, and belt sander in that order. With a little practice, it doesn't take that long.

[grantmac]

Bandsaw to split or to actually thin? Thats the only tool I can really afford right now, although it would make bowbuilding much easier. I think using a plane seems like the next thing I'll try, just clamp the boo down to a 2x4 and go at it. Anything is better than listening to the beltsander for another couple of hours.
      Cheers,
            Grant

[Badger]

    If I am using boo with a wood like cherry, or yew or most any white wood I get mine knife edge also. I just don't normally use boo with softer woods. I like to use the boo thicker with the heavy woods just because it makes the limb lighter. I still like to make sure my belly wood is at least as thick as the boo or preferably a little thicker. I don't like a boo backed bow to loose more than 1" of it's glued up profile. Steve

[Ryano]

Grantmac, my brother uses a jointer. Its kind of dangerous but he's very good at it and it only takes him a few minutes to do a piece.

[Gordon]

Grant,

I use the bandsaw to get the bamboo about 1/4" thick. I use handtools and a sander for the rest of the thinning process.

[artcher1]

I use a band saw as well to get the bulk off. From there I clamp it down on my heating cull (belly side up) and use the ol' farrier's rasp on it. Doing it like that is about ten times faster then when I was using my block plane. From there it goes to the belt sander. -ART B

[Badger]

       The way I do it is to run the belly over the belt sander just enough to give a flat enough surface to run through my bandsaw, I use the corner of a 1x2 next to the blade of the bandsaw for a fence, then just a couple of minutes on the belt sander to finish up.  ( if I am away from power tools I prefer a rasp for bamboo)
       I am working on a bamboo backed osage this morning, the boo backing weighs 8oz the belly will weigh 18 oz when finished, this is the ratio I normaly like to work with. Steve

[grantmac]

I think I'll give a few different tools a try this next time, I'm thinking a surform might work fairly well. Experimentation is the name of the game I suppose.
 Thanks,
         Grant

[Gordon]

I haven't tried it yet, but I bet a shurform would work well.

[Mechslasher]

i use moso, since i have a good local supply, and i find its backing properties to be excellent.  the only draw back to backing with boo is its overpowering property on "weak" belly woods.  i also like 1/8" thick backing slats, if the boo is too thick it will overpower most any wood except for osage. 

[radius]

I have only made 2 BBO's so far. Actually, they're not even finished yet!  But I found thinning the bamboo to be the most obnoxious part of the game.  However, a good old makita belt sander with 36 grit, a good pair of earmuffs, a dustmask, and hey presto!  You got flat bamboo.  Then I drew my intial shape on the belly side of the bamboo, cut/sanded it to shape, and belt sanded it again to reduce the thickness.  Grant, did you still want to return a couple of those hickory strips to me?  You can have that "osage" back, i don't foresee using it.

I've got a little bandsaw...not great, but serviceable enough to cut close to the line...pm me...