Author Topic: Anybody ever try an all bamboo bow? (Read 1593 times)

SEMO_HUNTER · « **Reply #20 on:** March 03, 2012, 08:21:00 PM »

I'll have to check on the width of my boo, but after flattening out nice and flat on the bottom of the slats, those dimensions shouldn't be a problem. I kinda figured to keep it at least 1 1/4" wide at the fades out about 12" or so then straight taper to the tip from there, sound about right?
Thanks for the tips Art.

wood carver 2 · « **Reply #21 on:** March 03, 2012, 08:44:00 PM »

What about the thickness of the two lams?
I keep getting the feeling that two 1/8" lams might result in a low poundage bow.
Dave.

SEMO_HUNTER · « **Reply #22 on:** March 03, 2012, 08:47:00 PM »

Art said, "and plan on around 1/2" limb thickness at mid-limb"

So I'm guessing that 1/4" thickness on each slat without a belly core. I'm actually thinking about maybe an osage core if I can thin one down without it breaking and maybe going with about .040 on that? May have to plane it in 2 sections though?

Trying to taper the boo slats toward the tips is what's got me bumfuzzled. I don't have any way to do that yet.

wood carver 2 · « **Reply #23 on:** March 03, 2012, 09:01:00 PM »

It certainly would look nice with an accent up the middle. I have cherry, walnut and jatoba that I could use. I'm not sure if I can get it that thin though. I don't have a drum sander and My planer might eat the wood if I went below 1/8". So, how does a 3/16" back, 1/8" core of hardwood and a 1/8" belly lam sound? Maybe add a thin power lam to beef up the middle? And tip wedges.
Dave.

Ken Allen · « **Reply #24 on:** March 03, 2012, 11:23:00 PM »

Not all bamboo but i am just finishing an bamboo back and belly bow with 3 lams of osage in the middle. These are fast becoming my favorite bows.

SEMO_HUNTER · « **Reply #25 on:** March 03, 2012, 11:49:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Ken Allen:
Not all bamboo but i am just finishing an bamboo back and belly bow with 3 lams of osage in the middle. These are fast becoming my favorite bows.

Ken - would you mind sharing some particulars with us? Like width, length, and thickness of the lams including the back and belly thickness of the boo lams? I'm seriously going to persue this and I think Wood Carver is also very interested, so any help would be much appreciated and may save quite a bit of time on the trial and error. Not to mention material waste. Any pics would be great as well. Thank you in advance.

SEMO_HUNTER · « **Reply #26 on:** March 03, 2012, 11:56:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by wood carver 2:
It certainly would look nice with an accent up the middle. I have cherry, walnut and jatoba that I could use. I'm not sure if I can get it that thin though. I don't have a drum sander and My planer might eat the wood if I went below 1/8". So, how does a 3/16" back, 1/8" core of hardwood and a 1/8" belly lam sound? Maybe add a thin power lam to beef up the middle? And tip wedges.
Dave.

That would add up to nearly 1/2" total thickness depending on the core lam thickness, and based on what I've already built in BBO's most of mine were right at 50# and total thickness mid limb were right at 1/2" or just a tad bit more. I'd say that should be in the ball park of what your looking for. I like to keep mine between 50-55# tops, but then different woods and different combos of woods together will determine the poundage also even if the thickness is different. I'd say the first one would be an educated guess at best, then we'd have a good idea what was needed to hit target wt. on each build thereafter.

jtbluefeather871 · « **Reply #27 on:** March 03, 2012, 11:59:00 PM »

Don't know if this counts or not, but my Dad and I are building one this weekend using only boo. But no nodes on the belly. Will post pics when she's done.

vanillabear? · « **Reply #28 on:** March 04, 2012, 12:13:00 AM »

SEMO_HUNTER · « **Reply #29 on:** March 04, 2012, 10:58:00 AM »

I just got done reading through that link VB and what an awesome build. That young guy used way less tools than I have for his BBB build and still made a great looking bow. I guess that I don't have anything to complain about do I? Maybe he's just short and skinny for his age, but Nick looked like he was about 14yrs. old back in 2009.

Just goes to show that you don't necessarily have to be an old dawg to know something, huh?

Thanks for the link it was a great help and I've got it saved in my favorites!

wood carver 2 · « **Reply #30 on:** March 04, 2012, 12:59:00 PM »

JT, I'd be very interested to see your bow build.
I've got a few ideas now, but the more I see, the more I learn.

Thanks.
Dave.

SEMO_HUNTER · « **Reply #31 on:** March 04, 2012, 01:27:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by jtbluefeather871:
Don't know if this counts or not, but my Dad and I are building one this weekend using only boo. But no nodes on the belly. Will post pics when she's done.

I'd definitely like to see it too, please post pics when it's done. You can post them here or start a new post whichever you wish.

I'm interested in how it's going to work with the nodes removed. Do you mean just sanding the nodes down smooth or planed flat like a lam?

SEMO_HUNTER · « **Reply #32 on:** March 04, 2012, 04:44:00 PM »

Here's what I've come up with so far. In the pics you'll see my 2 bamboo backings that I've picked out that will allow me to alternate the nodes for a 60" bow. Then my pattern drawn out on thin birch plywood, and the 3-15" plus chunks of actionwood for the handle portion that I got from KennyM, very nice stuff!

My layout for the bow goes like this.
1 1/2" center out to 12" down the limb, then narrows to 1 1/4", 10" further down narrows to 1", then narrows down to 1/2" at the tips. Looks like a nice even taper to me, but I haven't cut the template out yet cause I need a new bandsaw blade and wanted everyone's opinion on this design before I waste a good piece of plywood on it.

Also torn between which color scheme to go with on the actionwood. I've got from left to right Desert Camo, Green Camo, and Grey Camo.........I'm leaning toward Desert Camo with a pair of diamond backs or prairie rattlers over the boo back when it's satisfactory to me. I've also got brown Fiebings leather dye to go with that color scheme on the belly. Should look pretty awesome if all goes well.

wood carver 2 · « **Reply #33 on:** March 04, 2012, 05:18:00 PM »

Looking good! I haven't done anything but think about it so far. I like the desert camo to go with the skins. I'm going to torch my belly and use a thin (maybe 1/8") jatoba lam in the middle and a tip wedge. I'll go with 1 1/2" at the fades or a bit farther out, then taper to 1/2" and when I'm done, I'll taper the last 8" to 3/8". I'm going to use a riser that I salvaged from a failed bow and cut a shelf in it.
By the looks of things, you're going to finish before me. I'm working some dumb hours this week, so I might not have much time to play.
Dave.

SEMO_HUNTER · « **Reply #34 on:** March 04, 2012, 05:41:00 PM »

Well, I'll probably be a bit slower on mine also. Getting the materials together and a good plan in place is half the battle. Once I get rolling on it everything should click right along from that point. I just want to think this through diligently before I dive into it cause that's how I normally screw things up. LOL

Does anybody have a good pattern or some dimensions for the fades on the riser block? I'm thinking about 12" total length on the riser including the fades, but not sure where to start the fades and what radius I should use on the taper? Any help on this would be much appreciated.

Also while I'm thinking about it Dave, when you mentioned tip wedge...........would you explain that a bit more? And would you still use a wedge if you plan to do tip overlays? Cause I've planned on tip overlays out of some off fall from the riser block.

Dmaxshawn · « **Reply #35 on:** March 04, 2012, 05:53:00 PM »

The one on the left has bamboo back and belly with osage and ipe cores. Came out nice a little light but heavy enough to hunt with.

IMG]http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn61/Dmaxshawn/DSC02187.jpg[/IMG]

Dmaxshawn · « **Reply #36 on:** March 04, 2012, 05:54:00 PM »

The one on the left has bamboo back and belly with osage and ipe cores. Came out nice a little light but heavy enough to hunt with.

wood carver 2 · « **Reply #37 on:** March 04, 2012, 06:01:00 PM »

I'm only a beginner, so don't take anything I say as gospel. I like to go by the seat of my pants, but I learn fast. I'm just thinking of using real thin wedges maybe 1/8" tapering to nothing, about 6" long to stiffen the tips. I just thought the tips might come out a bit weak otherwise. I guess I'll see if they're needed when I do a dry run. I'll make the overlays small - just a bit of antler or bone or whatever strikes me at the time.
Dave.

wood carver 2 · « **Reply #38 on:** March 04, 2012, 06:03:00 PM »

Nice bows Shawn. Very similar to what I have in mind.
Dave.

SEMO_HUNTER · « **Reply #39 on:** March 04, 2012, 07:39:00 PM »

Oh yes Shawn very nice! I could only hope that mine would look that good, that's exactly what I had in mind exept I'll be doing my glue up without a form so I don't know how I'd get that nice arc on the back of the handle blank. Still working on that part of it.

Any idea what thickness the boo and lams are?

Dave - I understand that the less mass at the tips equals a faster bow, just what I've read here on the bench.

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Author Topic: Anybody ever try an all bamboo bow? (Read 1593 times)

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