Moso bamboo flooring

[bigbob2]

H Guys. Looking for some input from any one using boo flooring. We can't get the normal vertically laminated "natural' or carbonised flooring here any more and I am nearly out of stock. I happened to be viewing an old video on another site and they were apparently using the Moso flooring as lams. The Moso I got is far heavier than my regular stuff and I know Moso is used in wood bows but has any one used it for lams in glass bows and if so what was their experience.I have a box of the stuff I was sold a few years ago by mistake. Also in a previous post I mentioned ceasing building bows due to health concerns . an update is my health is all good now and I have had to return to building bows as I have had very heavy mechanical bill recently in the order of $6000 !.On a pension that bites!.

[jess stuart]

Pretty sure Kirk with Bigfoot bows used/uses moso bamboo flooring.  He said it was good stuff superior to the regular stuff.  I have thought about buying some from Hygeria but don't use all that much bamboo.

[bigbob2]

Thanks Jess. Turns out I only have a couple of strips now any way [ senior moment] as  I forgot I did take it back to supplier , so might just try these couple strips and see how they go.Over here in Aussie land, vertical laminated has all gone replaced by horizontal and strand woven , both no no's in my book.

[jess stuart]

Not as comman around here as it once was.  I asked at Lowes why they stopped stocking it.  Sales guy said they had a bunch of failures and to replace to many floors.  That was the inexpensive flooring not moso.

[Stagmitis]

I went through a phase and bought the best moso flooring I could find from several top manufacturers doting quality. I had issues with all of it and had some bows come apart. However I build deep core hill bows where the core does matter. Maybe its fine for high glass to core bows like recurves and R&D`s. I have a ton left over and only use it for prototype bows since its dirt cheap. I think the only way I would trust it in a bow that matters is to rip veneers glue it back with smooth-on into  1.5 blocks then cut my lams. Nothing compares to a properly tempered, high quality natural moso or madake bamboo. 

[Crooked Stic]

Big Jim has got bamboo planks now. 36x11.5x .700 $28 The shipping is the killer tho.

[bigbob2]

thanks guys think I will steer clear of it and use other species as lams .I have used flooring  for years but did have some bows deconstruct over the years for no obvious reason.

[Mad Max]

Hard Rock Maple (vertical grain) is really good.
Specific Gravity .72
Janka Hardness 1450---Do you have any wood over there as hard as Hard rock maple??

[Mad Max]

https://www.spikevm.com/list/specific-gravity-austalia.php

[bigbob2]

Thanks for that list Max. I am aiming at trying silver ash. I will have to check out its propertes but some I used as thin accent strips sure seemed flexible and rebounded quite well

[bigbob2]

On another note , does any body lay up in humid weather?.Quite often here is is over 65% humidity and I believe its not recommended to use smooth on in high humidity situations.When it is borderline and indeed most times I always soak lams etc in hot box just prior to lay up

[KenH]

KI live in Southwest Florida -- it's ALWAYS humid here in summer -- six months at least.  This morning -- 8AM -- it's 93%.  I've never had any problems laying up with Smooth-On, and do not use a pressure-hose form or a hotbox to cure.  If there were problems with humidity like that, no one in Florida would ever be able to build a bow!

[bigbob2]

thanks Ken more useful information. Gives me a little more space to build now.

[Onehair]

I would dry up and begin to crack if our humidity got below 90.

[bigbob2]

Hah hah bit like that here too

[bjansen]

Note this was a decade ago, but I used to buy Teragren vertical laminated bamboo panels and slice them up to make my lams. It came, I believe in 5/8 - 3/4 thick, 12” wide and 6ft long.  They were outstanding and I never had any issues. I liked them as they were solid board( no grooves). They may be commonly available now both in natural and “carmalized” which was darker. Both worked very well and it was very economical on a per lam basis (if I recall I had about $3 in a 72” lam).  I still have contact data for the supplier if you PM me - again this was 10 yrs ago.

[bigbob2]

Thanks BJ. Problem is I am in Australia.I can get a bamboo product but it comes in 5mm thickness about 3/16'' and necessitates a lot of extra grinding not to mention the waste, but at least its available.All flooring shops here and suppliers have gone to strand woven which is totally bad news for lams.