Bamboo

[wood carver 2]

I was just looking though my stash of bamboo and I dug up some natural slats that have been caramelized. Would these be ok to use as backings for tri-lams, or would the heating they went through make them brittle and prone to breaking?
Also, I have a bunch of picked over slats that have 8, 9, or more nodes over their 6 foot length. Are these suitable for bow backs?
Dave.

[Bowjunkie]

I would prefer to use neither, but if I HAD to choose between them, I'd choose the ones with more nodes.

8 or 9 nodes in a 6' piece, strategically placed in an average length bow may result in only 2 or 3 in each working limb.

[Eric Krewson]

Wingnut used to sell caramelized bamboo, I bought a bunch of these slats back in the day. They made great bow backings, very high performance.

The slats were sold as Tonkin bamboo but Tonkin doesn't get over 3" in diameter, these slats were from very big bamboo but obviously caramelized, good stuff.

A friend offered to cut me a bunch of bamboo the other day, I asked for a picture of the patch. It was big stuff but the nodes were very close together, no more than 8 to 10" apart. I passed on the deal because of the node spacing.

I prefer this type of node spacing, about 2 ft. This is Giant timber bamboo.

 

[wood carver 2]

2 foot spacing would be great. The best I have ever found was 12" or so. I only have a few caramelized slats. I'll build a trial bow to see how it works out. In the meantime, I sent an e-mail to a supplier in the U.S. to see how much it will cost to get some good stuff.
Thanks guys.
Dave.

[Carson81]

If you could trim off an edge of the caramelized strips and do a simple bend test, that might let you know if it suitable or not.

[wood carver 2]

That's a good idea. I have a slat that's not as nice as the rest that I can test.
I hit a roadblock with my search for some nice bamboo. The vendor that was recommended to me doesn't ship over the border. So much for free trade...
Dave.

[Roy from Pa]

Dave, ya have a pm.