Heating bamboo?

[wood carver 2]

Can natural bamboo slats be heated and bent to add reflex or to conform to a curved surface?
Just curious. I'm back at building an all bamboo bow.
Thanks.
Dave.

[Pete Joy]

I've heated bamboo for arrow shafts and its amazing how much it can be flexed,so I'd think youy should be able to

[Cuban Missile]

You don't need heat.  You can just glue in reflex in a form.

[wood carver 2]

Thanks for your answers. The reason I was thinking of heating it is because it's fairly thick. Normally I use thin bamboo and it bends easily.
Dave.

[2treks]

Bamboo should be thinned for bow backing.

[wood carver 2]

Chuck, I left the bamboo thick because it is the bow. I'm trying for an all bamboo longbow with two laminations. I saw one like this before and I liked it. When I'm using bamboo for backing I plane it very thin.
Dave.

[2treks]

I see, I would think you still need to thin it some toward the tips.
I have never done an all bamboo bow. I always put some wood in the core. and taper the boo some.
I remember a story in Primitive Archer a few years ago,that showed how to build one of two bamboo slats. Might look for that.

Hope to see it when done. Good luck

CTT

[wood carver 2]

Thanks. I'll most likely thin it towards the tips then heat in some reflex before glueing.
I'll post pictures if it doesn't blow up.    
Dave.

[gudspelr]

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=001887#000000

Hopefully that link works, it's one of my favorite threads.  If it doesn't, do a search for boo backed boo build along by dutchwarbow.  Matter of fact, I now have some bamboo sitting and waiting to turn into a similar bow as his if I can keep from messing things up   .  I'd be really interested in your process and any tips on how you build yours.

Good luck

Jeremy

[wood carver 2]

Thanks Jeremy, I'd forgotten about that thread.
If I have time, I'll try and get some work done on it this week. Right now I have a white oak and cherry riser and I have a slat flattened for the back as well as a slat that is flattened and heat treated (read blackened) for the belly. I have to taper the back and decide on whether or not to include a power lam.
I'm not very experienced as a bow builder so any tips you might share would be appreciated.
If there's any way I could help, just ask.
Dave.

[gudspelr]

Dave-

I'd planned on trying to heat treat the belly bamboo, as well.  From what I could gather when figuring on building this kind of bow, a bit thinner back than belly can be good, particularly when it comes to having material to scrape off the belly for tillering.

Out of curiosity, do you know how "deep" the heat treating goes?  When scraping, would we just be getting rid of the benefits of the heat as we scrape?  Or do the results of the heat go deeper...?

As for the power lam, I personally like it and plan on adding one, but then I'm also planning on cutting a little arrow shelf, too.  Do you know what your dimensions for the bow will be yet?  I've never had a recurve and am wanting to give it a whirl, so figured I'd try and leave the limbs fairly wide before they taper out to the tips.  Also, I'm sure you've already heard this, but from what I understand, it's a BIG no-no to try and sand down the back piece of boo...something about splintering and breaking...

Hope all goes well and would love to see what you come up with.

Jeremy

[Loren Holland]

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=006321#000000

this was the last bow i made before, deployment, it is a bamboo backed bamboo tri-lam, with a zebra riser. it wasn't a recurve, but was a pretty aggressive R/D.  the only heating of the bamboo i had to do was to get the belly lam to mirror the steep curve of the fades.  I used a thin backing, like for any other bow. then used two vertical bamboo flooring boards for the lams. I actually glued up the backing and one lam, tiller/tapered it some, glued up the belly lam last and tillered off the belly like any other bow...i didn't heat treat because i heard how boo gets brittle.  the bow could have been shorter, but i was more concerned with making sure the attempt was a shooter than testing the limits of boo...it was originally a very heavy pull, but seeing as i used it to fill a last minute order for a buddy, it got tillered down to 30lbs at 22". it turned out great, but i really would have like to have seen how much more it could have done....well a couple more months, and i'll be back to build on for me finally

[wood carver 2]

Jeremy, I tempered the belly lams using a blow torch and I burned them black on the outside. It doesn't appear to have penetrated too deep. The color contrast between the dark and light bamboo is really nice. This bow is going to be a R/D longbow about 68" long and 1 1/4" wide at the fades. I cut a piece of cherry for a power lam today, but I didn't have much time to play because I was helping my Niece with her art project. She's learning to do a relief carving in wood and I have to stay close to make sure she uses the tools safely and to teach her proper technique.
Loren, I really like that longbow! That is more or less what I have in mind for mine.
Get back home safe.
Dave.

[gudspelr]

Great looking bow.  I've got 6 bamboo slats, was thinking of doing a 2 piece bow and 2 tri lam ones, like yours with the bamboo flooring for a core.  I've got a really cool (and DENSE) board of black palm that I'm planning on using for riser/power lam and maybe some tip overlays.

Thanks to both of you for the input and dimensions.  Dave, sorry-hope I didn't hijack your thread too much....


Jeremy

[wood carver 2]

No problem Jeremy, the more input, the better. I'm still learning. Don't forget to post pictures!    
Dave.