Bamboo for arrows?

[Don Armstrong]

Who carries bamboo to make arrows out of. I saw a big bag at the Tennessee clasic a couple years ago. Pappy had traded for it. He gave my son about 8 pieces to make arrows from. Thanks, Don

[Pat B]

Don, Check with Eddie Parker(Mullet of PA) he has a source near his home in Fla.

[hova]

post in the arrow components forum. theres a few guys that have pm'd my request, I'm sure they'll help ya.

-hov

[sulphur]

lowes has some.  they are intended for tomato stakes but make a fine arrow.  a bag of 25 is $10.

[rainman]

Primal Need Archery.  Kustom King has them now also

[mullet]

Don, I took that bag to Pappy. You can get them from Bamboo Supply in Lakeland, Fl. 500 shafts of tonkin, 4'x 8 to 10 MM for around $55 + shipping.

[Aznboi3644]

Where do you live?

I have some bamboo I cut this past summer.  I've made a few arrows from it and it is strong and straightens like butter.

Nodes will have to be heated and compressed or filed down.  I just file them down.

[mullet]

You don't have to do that with Tonkin. You can sand them down smooth, looks like Carbons when you are through.

[fujimo]

anybody ever run any laminated bamboo flooring through a shaft shooter.
the lamination might make a great shaft

[Tom Leemans]

I seem to remember someone doing some in the past and they were kind of noodley.

[fujimo]

oh dear!!!!

[Pat B]

The power fibers in cane shafts is where they get their rigidty. With bamboo flooring the power fibers are stripped off to make the laminations.

[Grey Taylor]

I think that's how Troy Breeding made some bamboo shafts as an experiment. I had a couple to shoot for a bit and they worked great, high spine and hit 3D targets like an Atlas missile. I really had to work at it to break one.

Guy

[hova]

youre better off getting some large culm stuff , and making some hex splines. i was going to do this , till i realized my planing forms were part of a nasty breakup.

theres a guy on fleabay selling "hexaboo" or something like that. this is all that is , is large culm bamboo , split like a fly rod , planed to 60" , and glued together.

id imagine you'd have to go 3/16" to get 50#. my old fly rods were similar , but some of them the tips were very small.worked on one where the line actually went up through the tip of the rod , instead of a guide.


anyways , if you are going to try using flooring , youre best bet is to put it in the oven and toast the whole thing. id be careful though , as this will make them brittle if you mess it up...bamboo can splinter worse than carbon.

if you havent ever worked with cane or boo for arrows , id go with sulphur's idea of just getting some tow-mater stakes from lowes or wally world , and see what you can work out of those.


i used to make my fly rods out of bamboo from places like hobby stores , or tjmaxx. lots of home stores have ornamental bamboo , the thin stuff is almost always garbage , but the big stuff is nice as long as its not slathered with dye or paint , or burnt up to look "natural"...


-hov