how to make bamboo laminates?

[DonLee]

Can someone tell me how to make bamboo laminates? for a laminate longbow or recurve? I am assuming that bowyers who sell bows dont use flooring / I could be wrong , lol. what do they make them from? if anyone has a thread they can point me too that would be great. Thanks guys I appreciate the help.

[kennym]

I made a few years back, but the bamboo I got was not big enough diameter or thick walled enough. By the time you get it sawed to width and saw convex and concave sides off, you don't have much.

I gave the rest of the bundle of slats to someone...

[Crooked Stic]

Vertical flooring resales and ground to tapers or parallels

[Kirkll]

I’ve used vertical grain bamboo flooring material since about 2006 for fiberglass and carbon backed bows.  But a lot of bowyers buy planks or stair tread materials too.

But…. Until you are completely set up to mill your own laminations, you might want to purchase them at your desired taper rates.    Kirk

[kennym]

Oops sorry I thought you meant actual bamboo laminations from bamboo. Guess I misread it.

[dbeaver]

The short of making laminations is, setup your bandsaw or tablesaw to rip thin strips down to the proper dimensions for your form. Youll want to take the time to ensure your tools can get a fairly accurate .100 or slightly thicker strip that is even thickness throughout.  Assuming you know what stack height you are looking for take your strips and taper them using a number of means, a lot of guys are using tapered sleds to run through a drum sander, though i have seen some very creative custom setups.  Run the laminations on the sled flipping them over each pass and swapping them left and right every other pass being sure that they stay in place while sanding(i use adhesive backed sandpaper on my sled, others ive seen have a lip for a physical location the lams rest against).  Keep a set of calipers on hand and make sure that between your lams, glass and veneers if using them, all add up to your desired stack height. 

Im no pro but i think this is a decent explanation of the process.

[Richard Korte]

I purchase quality vertical grained Bamboo flooring from a great lumber yard here in Washington State called Edensaw Lumber. The boards come in 36” and 72” lengths. I cut them to length on my chop saw....usually 35-1/2” for the recurves I build....then run them through my table saw at 1-3/4” widths. At my bandsaw, I slice the boards into strips a little less than 1/8” thick for tapered laminations, and around 3/32” for parallel lams. Then I run them thru my drum sander, on sleds made by Kennym, loaded with 40 grit sandpaper, checking constantly with calipers. I also attached adhesive backed sandpaper to the sled and a thin stop block on the end. Works for me!     Richard

[Crooked Stic]

Big Jim and The Rosewood Shop  sell the bamboo planks you need for lams. Shipping is the killer.

[DonLee]

Oops sorry I thought you meant actual bamboo laminations from bamboo. Guess I misread it.

yes sir you had it right . thank you .

[DonLee]

I just noticed a lot of bowyers who sold custom bows used bamboo cores. I wondered how they got them. would they also use flooring to make their laminates? i wondered if the epoxy they used was compatible with bow epoxy? it would seem really expensive and difficult to try to saw laminates from a piece of actual bamboo as kennym replied.

[Kirkll]

When milling lams from flooring material its very important to get the right type of flooring. There are many engineered products out there that wouldn't work well at all. You want solid laminated vertical grain, and preferably carbonized material. IMO  How each manufacture builds their flooring makes a difference too.

Years ago you could find it everywhere and a lot of it was just junk, and they no longer build the stuff. it cupped up, warped, and delaminated over time on floors. Definitely not something you want to use in your bow limbs.

But..... unless you are building a lot of bows. Buying flooring by the case is probably not going to be cost effective. Even then... shipping is expensive. If you want to go that route find a local flooring company that will bring it in for you, or order it for you, and you'll save a lot on shipping cost...

good luck.   Kirk

[kennym]

I just noticed a lot of bowyers who sold custom bows used bamboo cores. I wondered how they got them. would they also use flooring to make their laminates? i wondered if the epoxy they used was compatible with bow epoxy? it would seem really expensive and difficult to try to saw laminates from a piece of actual bamboo as kennym replied.

I'm guessing here but for the most part the custom bowyers use vertical laminated bamboo. May be some that use real boo in narrow bows tho.

[Crooked Stic]

Mr, Roy from PA on here makes tri-lam bows that has the actual bamboo on the front nodes and all. No gwass

[Tim Finley]

I used to buy it in ST. Paul Mn. at a flooring warehouse I would get it in 4x8 ft. sheets like plywood .I would cut it to 2 widths at 33 " and then down to  1 3/4 x 33" strips and have the last piece left at 30" that I used for take down limbs but they dont have it anymore so I have been buying it from Rosewood .

[Stagmitis]

DonLee you can buy bamboo slats already spilt from the culm. You can process them flat and use individually or glue a series together and make a vertically stack like flooring.

[bownarra]

I purchase quality vertical grained Bamboo flooring from a great lumber yard here in Washington State called Edensaw Lumber. The boards come in 36” and 72” lengths. I cut them to length on my chop saw....usually 35-1/2” for the recurves I build....then run them through my table saw at 1-3/4” widths. At my bandsaw, I slice the boards into strips a little less than 1/8” thick for tapered laminations, and around 3/32” for parallel lams. Then I run them thru my drum sander, on sleds made by Kennym, loaded with 40 grit sandpaper, checking constantly with calipers. I also attached adhesive backed sandpaper to the sled and a thin stop block on the end. Works for me!     Richard

Use your existing tapers to cut your lams tapered....saves a lot of time and wasted material.