Any thoughts on this?

[Buemaker]

This is a quarter inch thick slat of bamboo on which I have drawn a line. Let us call the outer rounded section A and the inner section B. If it was possible to cut the piece along the line so the two pieces would have exactly the same volume I would think that A would be stronger and weigh more than B. When making a bamboo backing I have strived to make it as thin as 1/8 in the middle and 1/16 at the tips. If made thicker I have been thinking that the bamboo would somehow overpower the belly wood and cause compeession marks. If my thinking is right I think it would be a kind of floating transition in strenght from A to B. And that B would just work as a kind of center laminate so that making the bamboo so thin was not necessary. No big deal, I just sometimes start to think about useless things when I sit in the workshop letting thoughts wander. Do you have any thoughts on this?

[Roy from Pa]

Go for it Bue.
By using the boo slat without thinning it down to 1/8th thick, you are eliminating adding a core lam.
Before I started making trilams, I thinned the boo as always but used just a 1/2" thick belly slat without a core lam.
But that brings 2 problems into the equation the way you want to use it.
1. Leaving the boo thicker could cause it to splinter due to it not being as flexible as a thinner boo backing would be.
2. The reason I went to trilams is because a thinner 1/4" belly lam and a thin core lam will flex/bend so much easier and more curvy when clamped into the bow form than a 1/2" thick belly lam does.
A 1/2" thick piece of osage 1.5 wide is pretty damn strong.

[Shredd]

  I am thinking, split the difference...  Thin it up a little if it is possible, about halfway to the line...  Will a jointer work on boo...

 I have no idea how to make boo consistently flat... That's why them pieces have been sitting in the rafters for years...  I would like to make a tri-lam one day...

[Buemaker]

Shredd, it is no problem making the bamboo thin, I first use a jointer and then a belt sander.
Roy, yes a 1/2 thick hard wood is not easy to conform into a DR shape so would be better to make a staight or slightly backset bow.

[Mad Max]

I hear that thicker Boo makes a faster bow but self destruct's.
I guess it's one of those things that it needs to be thin.

[Flem]

I made an all Bamboo bow years ago, it still shoots. The back was a thick slat, thinned just until it had a flat glueing surface. The other two slats were flattened on both sides. Glued them together and worked it like it was a self bow.

[Roy from Pa]

Nice Flem.

[Buemaker]

Looks good Flem.

[Mad Max]

  I have no idea how to make boo consistently flat... That's why them pieces have been sitting in the rafters for years...  I would like to make a tri-lam one day...

Don't worry about getting it so consistent
Flatten the edge of a 2x4  about 12/16" long and use it to push on the boo nodes (2 at a time) while sanding on the belt sander, mark lines on the back of the boo every 6" or so and write the measurement's it needs to be at the marks and keep going until you get what you want.
You have to tiller the belly to get it bending correct anyway.
I would use 120 grit so you don't remove to much.
use a toothing plane or a hacksaw blade on the glue surface's  before glue up

[Roy from Pa]

Bue, I run my raw boo slats through my drum sander to get them flat, nodes don't make very much difference in the flattening process.
Then cut the bow pattern out of the boo.
Then use hand tools to get my 1/8 to 1/16th taper.

[Shredd]

  Thanks Mark...