Bamboo lam bow on a (very low) budget questions

[Gurge]

Hey guys. I've been reading over this site and  finally created a profile to ask a few questions. I'm building my first real bow. I've made a few pvc ones that taught me a bit about limb alignment and tip mass. But bow I'm wanting to step up my game and I'm attempting to make a bow with what's available for free to me. Bamboo and hardwood pallets. I plan on making a riser out of the pallet wood and I've been shaving strips of bamboo down to make laminates. But the outside is still raw and half round. The bamboo that grows in my back yard (I live in East central Georgia in Columbus) is about 3-4" in diameter so once it's flat on one side it's about 1 inch wide. If I make them completely flat on both sides with 90 degree edges they'd be closer to half inch. So I don't know if I should do that and put them 4 wide and do 3 lams or if I should (like I'm currently thinking) put one flattened piece with the round side inside another piece woth a piece of rawhide in between to fill in any gaps and flatten those together on one side with the rounded outside still intact then use 2 of those assemblies as the 2 (I guess 6 technically) lams and tiler at every step but taper from the back to tips on the belly as a final tiller and weight reduction. Also can y'all give me some feed back about rawhide inside a bow as compared to backing or belly? I've looked everywhere but it doesn't seem like anyone even tried it.

[EwokArcher]

I really look forward to seeing that pallet laminated riser. I think that's a very novel idea.
I really don't think the rawhide core idea will work, but I have never heard of it so you could prove me wromg. I imaging it wouldn't be able to stand the sheer force.
I think I've heard of ppl using multiple bamboo lams sitting next to each other as a backing, however I'd wait to hear back from some of out more eccentric resident bowlers to see if they have feed back on your ideas.
Really though I'm gonna remember your pallet wood handle idea that could look fair next to some black glass.

[Gurge]

Tip in the pallet wood-I worked at a plant nursery a few years ago and the big fancy clay and terra cotta pots we got all came from Thailand and Indonesia. And almost all the pallets they come on were beautiful red mahogany.

[Gurge]

[mikkekeswick]

No it won't be true mahogany. There are now a few 'imposters'! All the true mahogany got pretty much used up. Chances are what you have is sapelle. It will still work for your riser so no problems there. However it is a very poor wood for the belly of your bow - it will chrysal before full draw is reached almost certainly. It doesn't have great elasticity.
Bamboo is also very stiff (resistant to tension), this compounds any problems with sub par bellywood.
As for how to use the bamboo for the back of your bow. Use one piece (as wide as you can get), crowned and don't worry about the edges being thin, down the center of the back.
If you have no other options for bellywood other than boo or sapelle then I would go with another piece of boo. Boo is very good in compression IF you heat treat it to a good deep,dark brown.
So my stack would be a boo back, wide as possible, 1 1/2 wide, tapered sapelle core, heat tempered boo belly.
I would make the limbs a pyramid width taper so that you would only need to do a little thickness tapering on your core.
Making the bow like I am describing is tricky because you cannot remove 'bellywood' as you would normally to tiller.....but it will give you a durable bow in the end (even if it takes a few attempts to get the thickness/tapers correct).

[Gurge]

The pallet wood is o lay gonna be the riser. And the only power tool I have access to at the moment is a belt sander. Other than feathering the riser I want to do it all with hand tools. Like I said VERY LOW budget.
Also is tire bond 3 a decent glue for bow lams? I have that but also want to make hide glue because it seems more flexible and natural I guess.

[Gurge]

Also would y'all suggest hide glue or titebond 3?

[KenH]

IMHO you're wasting you time trimming down 3" bamboo into 3/4" wide parallel-sided lams to be used in a wood-glass laminate bow

I build bamboo bows using commercial bamboos slats (I just found a local source for LARGE bamboo), using a belt sander, saber saw and assorted sanding blocks.

I build them the ancient Chinese way -- the inside sanded down flat for the back, and the rounded outside of the culm as the belly.  You can back such a bow with another strip of bamboo (for a rounded back), sinew, or strand flax (not linen) to gain draw weight.  Or make shorter limbs and add siyahs.

Here's a simple flatbow I made using a 52" length with a more or less pyramid side taper and nocks glued onto the tips.  The limbs are about 3/*" thick and the draw weight is about 42#.  I plan on flax backing it just to see what happens.

 

•    
  
   

 

[Gurge]

That's awesome. I just want to build one using free materials. If I can find a decent tree I want to make a few self bows. Which most of my issue with that is just going to the land and doing it. But would that style bow work flattening with smaller bamboo?

[wood carver 2]

I have used 4 inch bamboo poles for bow building. Split them into slats and plane or sand the inside flat. Sometimes the bamboo poles are not perfectly round. Look for these oval poles and split your slats from the flatter surfaces to get the widest slats possible. My bows are 1 1/4 inch to 1 3/8 inch wide at the fades. Scorch the belly bamboo dark brown/black. You will notice that the flat surface you gave it will become convex. Sand or plane it flat again and glue up your bow. Don't burn the back bamboo. It could cause a bow to fail. ( Don't ask how I know this       )
There is nothing at all wrong with using pallet wood for risers and even cores. Just be sure to use sound wood. If you look around, you may find pallets made from red and white oak, elm, cherry, etc. I have a riser waiting to be part of a bow that I glued up using walnut and some really cool oak from a pallet.
As for glue, I have glued up a lot of bows using TB3 without a single failure. It's a very good glue.
Have fun building and don't forget to post pictures of the results!
Dave.

[Gurge]

Awesome. Thank you Dave. I already flattend 2 pieces and didn't want that work to go to waste. I just found a piece of maple firewood my friend had piled up that I was pretty sure had a small burl on it and I tucked away about 2 years ago. Cut it open today (with a handsaw....Took me about 45 mins to get through the 8 inch diameter piece) and it turns out I WAS RIGHT! It's beautiful and I'm gonna put it right on the back of the grip. I'm pretty excited about it.

[Gurge]

Awesome. Thank you Dave. I already flattend 2 pieces and didn't want that work to go to waste. I just found a piece of maple firewood my friend had piled up that I was pretty sure had a small burl on it and I tucked away about 2 years ago. Cut it open today (with a handsaw....Took me about 45 mins to get through the 8 inch diameter piece) and it turns out I WAS RIGHT! It's beautiful and I'm gonna put it right on the back of the grip. I'm pretty excited about it.