question about bamboo on the belly

[D]

I was looking at a friends bow yesterday and it had boo on the back and belly.  We got talking about it and he said that the belly boo and been toasted.  After looking at it I really wanted to build one.  So my question is do you have to toast boo if you put it on the belly???

[Pat B]

Toasting really increases the compression strength of bamboo. Bamboo is very strong in tension but not compression so toasting is preffered but not absolutely necessary.
  If you are planning on making a boo belly/backed bow be prepared to make a few for trial and error. They have to be pre engineered just like a glass lam bow before glue up. The only tillering you will be able to so is from the sides once the bow is glued up.

[D]

Yeah I was thinking Ide have to build it just like a glass bow with tapered cores.  Thats my next question how does boo act in stiffness in relation to glass??  Does it add as much weight as glass does???  Thanks for the help Pat.  I look foward to seeing ya at the classic in a couple of weeks

[MoeM]

Boo is better in tension than compression and I don`t think it has same "strength" as glass- but it`s much lighter.
Work backing and facing real carefully and use tapered lams. Tillering it you can not only decrease withnes but also trap the back which will help stability, decrease weight and benefit the facing.
For some pics of those natural glass-look-a-likes you can visit    this   page of a very experienced bowyer for those kind of bows.
Good look!

[D]

Thank ya moe.

[D]

Those are some great looking bows.  Wish I could read German though..lolol

[LittleBen]

David, welcome to the future my friend. Goole is an epic force in the digital universe. This link is a translation of the page in question.

 http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.bamboo-bows.de/index.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.bamboo-bows.de/index.html%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-Sear chBox
Hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did.

Don;t feel bad though, I read the whoelk thing in german first before remembering google will translate (I only understood 1 out of every 6 words)

[macbow]

Those are some great looking bows.
Ben thanks for the link. Had no idea the,translator was there.

[D]

That's awesome.  I didn't know there was a translator either.  That will make life a lot easier.  Thank you for the link.