Foam Core or Bamboo Core

[Sixby]

Where can you get foam core for 30.00? I can't buy the material for even close to that for a bow.

God bless you all, Steve

[Gen273]

Steve,

At Zipper it is a $30.00 up charge over bamboo.

[Robertfishes]

I'm thinking The "foam" used in bow limbs is a Syntactic foam..I copied the following from wikipedia..
 
Main article: Syntactic foam
 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2012)
A special class of closed-cell foams is known as syntactic foam, which contains hollow particles embedded in a matrix material. The spheres can be made from several materials, including glass, ceramic, and polymers. The advantage of syntactic foams is that they have a very high strength-to-weight ratio, making them ideal materials for many applications, including deep-sea and space applications. One particular syntactic foam employs shape memory polymer as its matrix, enabling the foam to take on the characteristics of shape memory resins and composite materials; i.e., it has the ability to be reshaped repeatedly when heated above a certain temperature and cooled. Shape memory foams have many possible applications, such as dynamic structural support, flexible foam core, and expandable foam fill.

[atatarpm]

I like my foam core limbs they deal with changing weather a lot better the the bambo core limbs that I have.

[Pheonixarcher]

Atatarpm, could you be more specific? How do they deal with changing weather better, and is there anything specific that makes the foam core limbs stand out above 'standard' limbs. Are the limbs that you are comparing of equal length, draw weight, and design?

[katman]

No offense meant atatarpm but at my hunting distances I can't tell the difference in different weather conditions between 'foam' and non-foam limbs. I think the Olympians at 70 meters can.

I have had several foam core limbs as well as the normal cores, some sounded noisier than others. Like Kirk said they have a higher pitch. Usually just increase size of the hush puppy and that takes care of it. Different string materials/diameters also can have an effect on there sound. I may be wrong,and maybe some of the bowyers can correct me, but I think felt smoothness is a function of limb design/length and build quality more than core material.

So to answer your question it depends on the limb maker, design and craftsmanship. I have foam cored limbs I love as well as bamboo and maple ones. Some love foam some hate it. You need to try it out for yourself. If you are into as much speed as you can get then foam is the way to go.

[twistedlim]

Gotta believe the fiberglass does the work in any case.  Foam is lighter but I would think wood would last longer.  I have seen foam break down but never protected wood.  Just my opinion.

[captain caveman]

Two questions
What is action maple or action boo?
And how are my wood limbs absorbing m

[captain caveman]

Sorry premature post
How do wood limbs absorb moisture when they are sealed with some what looks to be varnish?

[zipper bowss]

Much like most other things with bow building there is no one size fits all. Foam is not for every design just as carbon is not for every design.
The only time I have noticed any real different sound from foam is when the cores are deep. It does not like to be in a deep cored limb. For Zipper bows foam is a perfect fit with the carbon we use. The carbon we use is stiffer than glass so it does not need as much core. The foam we use has a softer feeling draw than bamboo. That makes it a perfect fit with the carbon we use. The softer feeling draw of the foam kind of helps cancel out the stiffer feeling draw of the carbon.Hopefully this makes since. Sometimes I'm not the best at explaining things.
Let me say this again. Foam does not like to be in a deep cored limb.I have seen no durability issues with foam. I'll take foam over bamboo any day.That is when the design is favorable to the use of foam.
Bill

[joe vt]

I don't doubt there are benefits to the foam regarding changing moisture and weather. However bows made 50 years ago with maple are holding up just fine.


I had only one set of limbs with foam core. I didn't care for their sound. I didn't notice a difference in smoothness and performance. I sold them and replaced them with bamboo. I have bows with maple, yew, actionboo, actionwood, and bamboo. Smoothness, performance, stability, and quietness, IMO comes from the bows length and design.

Captain, 'Action' wood I believe is just very thin laminated wood (stacked and glued wood)   Action wood  provides very consistent limb cores.

[atatarpm]

Ok here's the story as it happened to me; with a day off in Mt I was shooting ends of three out of two bows one with bamboo core limbs and the other with foam carbon limbs. As luck would have it I sent a flyer down range that snaked in the grass while I was looking for it a weather front came through that dropped the temp by 15 degrees and changed the humidity. When I got back to shooting and pick up the bamboo core bow I noticed how stiff it felt and how the cast had changed in the bow. Then I picked up the carbon foam bow expecting the same thing and to my surprise there was no change in the bows draw or cast. It still sent the arrows to the target with the same authority as it did before the weather moved in.

[atatarpm]

Katman nontaken sir I love the discussion sir.  Thank you Ric

[BAK]

Another point to consider is that all bamboo is not equal.  If the bowyer choose a very clean, low in nodes form of edge laid action bamboo it should act as a fairly homogenous core, but if it was a flat sawn piece with numerous nodes you can get very weak spots and an increased chance of failure.

[flyfish1]

I may be wrong but I dont see how your limbs could be effected that substantially if they are finished in fullerplast or thunderbird.

[katman]

Thanks Ric, could it be that the shooting break and drop in temps got your muscles a little stiff and loosened up with the first shots with the boo limbs? Just thinking out loud.

[Roger Norris]

I have several of both.....I like bamboo.

[atatarpm]

Could be Katman it took me about 20 minutes to find my snaker and the bamboo core was the first bow that I picked up, but I should add that even with that much time off on indoor ranges I have not noticed that much difference between the two of them.    Ric

P.S. any thoughts you have most certinanly will be thought of and listened too.

[Pops]

I have 2 Zipper sxt the foam core is 3 lbs
lighter and is faster. The deer did not seem
to notice the limbs being any louder than
the bamboo core.