who sales Tonkin Cane

[bowfanatik]

I need laminates for limbs , who sales Tonkin Cane

Or some good bamboo for limbs , recommended please    

[M60gunner]

Why not try Howard Hill Archery. It was listed as a for sale item.

[Orion]

Yep.

[Bob B.]

I believe Joel from Jet archery sells Tonkin cane.

 http://www.jetarchery.com/

Bob.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Good luck with that...Tonkin cane is typically used for fly rods & sometimes arrow shafts, but rarely used for bows. The largest that stuff grows is about 2.5" in diameter.

Typically most bowyers use vertical grain, laminated Mosso bamboo.  Kirk

[Alexander Traditional]

3 Rivers shows to have Tonkin cane for laminations.

[Moots]

You might contact Vince at Mohawk bows.  He uses Tonkin cane, and would know a source for it.

[bowfanatik]

Originally posted by Kirkll:
Good luck with that...Tonkin cane is typically used for fly rods & sometimes arrow shafts, but rarely used for bows. The largest that stuff grows is about 2.5" in diameter.

Typically most bowyers use vertical grain, laminated Mosso bamboo.  Kirk

Kirkll is right

[wingnut]

It's not tonkin cane, it's tonkin bamboo or at least it's called that.  Another name for it is dirty bamboo.  Kirk some of the biggest bowyers in the country use it.

Mike

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Type in Tonkin bamboo into the google search engine some time... you will see more listings for "Tonkin Cane" than you do Tonkin bamboo.

If that's the case Mike, Name them... The stuff doesn't grow big enough to be cost effective to make laminations.

There are many, many different species of bamboo.....Bamboo products are no different than many other hardwood products on the market today.  Low quality products are often sold by small importers with one small shipment at a time as well as large corporations bringing in enormous shipments.  Both have the objective of selling inferior bamboo cheaply.  Always look for high quality bamboo products that are being sold by reputable specialized companies like Higuera Hardwoods.


Tonkin Bamboo or Tonkin Cane is the common name for the bamboo that is primary used for staking plants around the world. It is characterized by a thick wall and smooth nodes. The stakes are fairly straight and tan in color(color can vary slightly from pole to pole) and the nodes are fairly far apart. It tapers slightly from top to bottom(not uniform in diameter top to bottom). It only grows to a maximum diameter of about 2”. It is the ideal stake for staking plants although is has many other non agriculture or horticulture related uses. It is also used for building high quality fly fishing rods.


Moso Bamboo is characterized by it's thickness, minimum diameter is 2” and maximum diameter is 6”. It has a fairly thick wall. It is fairly straight (that doesn't mean perfectly straight) although it may have some slight bends to it. The nodes are closer together and more pronounced than Tonkin Bamboo. It is very strong and you cannot bend anything over 2” easily. It can be split in half. No two pieces are the same! The color is tan but the color may vary from pole to pole. The taper varies for pole to pole. It will have some scratches on the pole. At the nodes there is a thin membrane that sections off the bamboo. It is hollow between the nodes. Moso bamboo is the primary bamboo for making bamboo flooring....

[wingnut]

Well we have built with it for years, Bill Foreman makes about 1500 bows a year with it, Hornes used it almost exclusively for years.  So for the three of us that abouts to nearly 2500 bows a year with Tonkin.  We have now moved to mostly composite cores but it's very hard to beat Tonkin (dirty) bamboo.  Also A&H was using it for a few years but I don't know if they are now.

This species runs 4-8 inches in diameter and we buy it in the round.  Moso has a very large percentage of pith and a small layer of power fiber.  The power fiber on Tonkin runs throughout the thickness.

I had Jaap take a look at it once and he said he'd never seen the species before.  He used some in Yumi bows and liked it.  

When we were building "all natural" bows Moso about put us out of business due to high failure rate.  The Tonkin is a far better product.  Unfortunately there is a very limited import supply that is pretty closely guarded.

I think the guys that used it before us named it Tonkin.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

If it's growing 4-8" in diameter it isn't tonkin bamboo Mike....

Mosso bamboo is the highest grade bamboo you can get for flooring material, and makes excellent bow limb cores.... It's also available to the public, and not some carefully guarded secret....


   

B]["The Tonkin is a far better product. Unfortunately there is a very limited import supply that is pretty closely guarded."    
[/B]  

I believe your attempt at discrediting my information has failed Mike... You see.... I make posts on this forum to help folks out. Not impress people with my vast knowledge of a superior product only to tell them it's unavailable and a closely guarded secret.... Smoke and mirrors don't cut it in my opinion.

[M60gunner]

I did a search on Tonkin cane bamboo. There are two importers of Tonkin cane bamboo listed that sell more than just tomatoe stakes. Both supply the fly rod makers. I have a DVD by one importer about how the cane is grown and harvested. It is a cash crop and harvested when it gets to be about 2-2 1/2 inches in diameter.
So IMO someone, somewhere, sometime tacked the name " Tonkin cane bamboo" on the lams they were selling because of Tonkin canes rep for being a top grade bamboo. But let us not forget for Tonkin cane or the cane that Craig sells from Japan  to have the ability to spring back to its original form it must be heat treated. Hill knew that and used "heat tempered" is his advertisements.

[wingnut]

So Kirk, I tell the truth and you blast me for it.  
I've been working with bamboo a long time and was just trying to set things straight on the Tonkin thing.  No effort on my part to discredit you on this subject but to set the record straight.  I didn't name the bamboo and I don't control the sale of it.  As I said, we use very little these days as we have found a core that is easier to deal with and performs as well.

There is a lot to learn about bamboo and I know we only scratched the surface.  I will caution those that are using flooring that to be careful of voids and high pith content when selecting lams.  It makes a big bang when it goes off.

Mike

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Well what ever kind of bamboo you were using, and these other guys are using, it isn't Tonkin Bamboo if it grows to 4-8" diameter.


I've been working with bamboo flooring for many years before i started into bow building and you are dead right about all bamboo flooring not being created equal. There is a lot of cheap crap on the market out there..... I discourage guys from purchasing bargain basement flooring from lumber liquidators.....  Besides finding a high quality manufacture like Hyqueria hardwoods, I also recommend using the vertical grain laminated stuff. The amber color stuff is heat treated and does seem to have a bit more spring to it, but the natural color holds up real well too....

I have never ran into one piece that had any pith in it from my source.

This is what it looks like. and here is the company that makes it....

 http://www.higuerahardwoods.com/blog-series-bamboo-information

 


So what is this other core product that you use that is easier to deal with than bamboo?