Bamboo Splinters

[Roy from Pa]

I love building BBO Bow's. But have had several Bow's that the Boo splintered up on the back. I taper my boo from 1/8th at the riser to 1/16th at the tips. I use Maso Boo.

Have any of you had similar problems and how do you do your boo? How do you remove the rhine? I use a scraper. Do you think thicker boo is better than thinner boo? What about moisture content? When not working on a bow, I keep it in the drying box at 92 degrees till I can get back to it.

[Tom Leemans]

I know some people leave the nodes alone, but I reduce them slightly, without flattening them, like Dean describes in his video. Pretty much just enough to smooth them over a bit. Beyond that, you only need to remove enough of the waxy rind to give yourself something to take stain and/or finish. I use one of those thin spongy sanding pads more than anything. It takes longer, but you have to sand the tiny ridges down anyway after a scraper. I use progressively finer grits as I go, and quit when the surface is just dull and feels smooth everywhere. Kinda like sanding drywall joints, when you think you're getting close, you may have just gone too far.

[Eric Krewson]

There is good bamboo and bad bamboo. The bad stuff splinters on the back.

I had back splinters from Frank's bamboo, great luck, no problems with Wingnut's bamboo and flawless performance with local backyard bamboo.

I would seek out another source for bamboo than what you are using.

I went to my source yesterday and bought 3 complete culms for a very reasonable price.
According to the guy who has the patch it is giant timber bamboo.

Here is what I brought home. The distance between nodes in incredible. Most of the bamboo backed osage bows I have out in other peoples hands is backed with this bamboo.

   

[Roy from Pa]

Eric, does that Boo get lighter after you take of the rhine?

[Bruce Martin]

Eric, I assume this bamboo is cut green. Can you give some guidelines as to how to cure it before it can be used? I had some just like that but it cracked right at the nodes (which were left alone). I had done some bend tests with it before using and it had great power fibers, so I was disappointed with the failure at the nodes. I had split it green and cured it in a warm greenhouse, but maybe I should have just put it away and waited.

[Eric Krewson]

Roy, This is green, fresh cut bamboo. It will turn tan as it dries.

Bruce, I have had problems quick drying bamboo as well and take it slow now. Cracks at the nodes aren't a real problem, super glue them and use your bamboo.

I am trying something new on this batch of bamboo. I punched out the inner nodes with a hoe handle and am going to let it dry in trunk form.

[tradbower]

Roy
  Iam haveing the same problem. Backs cracking and splintering.
  The last 3 bows, I have built broke on me,well into the building process. I have 9 more pieces of boo left from this order, I hope the rest will hold up. I use a scraper to take off rhine. Then sand litley with 220 .

[Longbow 01]

How much are yall paying for boo trunks that size?  i want to try my hand at a boo bow and wanted to know a ball park price for the boo

[Mike Mecredy]

Each type of belly wood is slightly different from the other, but igf you keep the thickness about 1/3 boo and 2/3 wood you should be good.

[Bruce Martin]

Thanks Eric, I'll give it another try. It had real potential with the power fibers.