bamboo flooring for bow lams

[bigbellybuck]

Anyone use bamboo flooring for bow lams? I had a small, but fairly well known bowyer tell me that is what he uses. Don"t really know him. Could'nt tell if he was pullin' my leg.

[PV]

Quite a few people use it for lams.

[TomMcDonald]

And bow backing.

[Apex Predator]

I've never heard of anyone using bamboo flooring for backing successfully.  It works great for cores though, but it's not all created equally.

[4runr]

I had some that my friend Roman tried and it was junk. He found some from a different manufacturer that was better than some he got from reputable suppliers. I don't know the names of either manufacturer so I'm not much help, but to say watch what you get.

[TomMcDonald]

Originally posted by Apex Predator:
I've never heard of anyone using bamboo flooring for backing successfully.  It works great for cores though, but it's not all created equally.

I've heard people using 'verticle bamboo flooring' for backing bows with success.

[Apex Predator]

I stand corrected.

[soopernate]

I have never heard of it for backing either...I HAVE heard of lots of failures.  I do know that when used as a belly wood and coupled with raw bamboo AND put into four inches of reflex or more you wind up with a hard hitting bow.  Got a friend in AK that built some doozies that way

[Jeremy]

All of the "action boo" in bows is simply vertical laminated bamboo.  The same stuff the flooring is made out of.
Like AP said, it's not all created equal.

[Bob Sarrels]

It must be vertical.  I core the bulk of my bows with it and have been very happy with the performance.  It is just a bit heavier than pure bamboo due to the glue.

[strungstick]

Any particular brand or type you guys are using?

[Mike Mecredy]

I buy the 4 x 36" cartons and I take 3 boards, run them through my lam grinder to get the finish off, then glue them up in a stack with titebond II, clamp them and let dry a day.  I then cut my laminations off and they come out about 1 5/8" wide.  I then grind them down to the desired thickness I need. The last ones I got from Lowes and the green carton simply stated "solid bamboo". I think I paid $68 a carton, in Jan, but I've built about 30 bows so far with it and I still have over half a carton left.   Pretty easy stuff to work with.

[ChristopherO]

Mike,
Are you saying that when you glue 3 boards together in a stack you then turn that stack on it's side, hence 1 5/8" width, to create your lams?  
I have some left over tempered horizonal boo flooring from a project and am now wondering if that would be a way to incorporate it into a bow.?.

[Mike Mecredy]

Yes,  basically, I cut 90 degrees to the glue lines.

[ChristopherO]

Thank you for answering that question.  Your bows have quite a following.  They look great.

[stringstretcher]

I have two bamboo backed bamboo flooring bows.  One is my go to bow, the one I harvested to 8 pt with last year, and another one that I built and tried a different style on but came up low on poundage.  Both are great shooting bows and it was vertical grain, three and four laminates with bamboo backing

[Mike Mecredy]

Chris Thanks for the kind words,


While we're on the subject.  I want to recomend a decent lamination grinder to you guys.  I (sceptically) bought from Harbor Freight, a Central Machinery drum sander this year.  I gave about $400.00 for it and for the price I'll have to say it paid for itself several times now.

I know I've said not to scimp on equipment but I'm impressed. Plenty of power and depending on the wood, I can take off about .030 or more /pass without it laboring.  Cedar I can take off .100 without much work. (But who wants to waste that much wood?)

As with any low priced machinery, you just need to adjust it now and then.  

The directions for assembly are trash though.

But if you're a guy who makes his own laminations, weather a pro or hobbist, it's not a bad idea.