Does anyone sell natural bamboo backing strips?

[Mububban]

Does anyone in Australia sell ready-to-go natural bamboo backing?

Gilnockie did mention this mob a while ago:

If you go to this site you can buy all the bamboo you will ever need.

http://www.bamboo-oz.com.au/pricetimber ... TS_PALINGS

Stipulate that you want the palings to be free of splits and borers.

I'm guessing they'd arrive cut to width and I'd need to sand/plane them down to the desired thinness?

[longbow steve]

Kevin, try bunnings, I think the cost of sending somthing that long would make it restrictive unless purchased in bulk. Bunnings used to have the unbleached poles that you could select the least mould affected from.
The shipping from Bamboo Oz was ok from QLD to Sydney but I am concerned shipping to you would be high.
Steve

[Bandsaw]

Yeah you're right steve. Although it's one hell of a mission finding a piece with the right diameter in the first place. But that could be just my local bunnings.

[Mububban]

Thanks, I've emailed the bamboo supplier but will also check my local Bunnings.

Basic questions:
- am I looking for the largest diameter i can get, so any cut section is as flat as possible?
- how exactly do I cut the length of pole to the desired thickness? Use my mate's bandsaw? Will it being a fibrous grass rather than wood cause any blade binding etc?
- I want the finished strip it to be as thin as possible right?

Anything else I need to know?

[greybeard]

Thanks, I've emailed the bamboo supplier but will also check my local Bunnings.

Basic questions:
- am I looking for the largest diameter i can get, so any cut section is as flat as possible?
- how exactly do I cut the length of pole to the desired thickness? Use my mate's bandsaw? Will it being a fibrous grass rather than wood cause any blade binding etc?
- I want the finished strip it to be as thin as possible right?

Anything else I need to know?

Generally, the larger diameter poles are from the base of the bamboo which results in the nodes being closer together, six to seven inches, as you go up the pole the node spacing can be twelve to thirteen inches but the pole diameter can reduce to three to four inches.

Reducing the thickness on a bandsaw is difficult and hard to maintain accuracy. High speed sanders or an angle grinder with with a coarse disc remove excess material efficently but you will need to hand finish to the desired thickness.

Spokeshaves are good for the finishing process but a ruff up with coarse paper is recommened before gluing.

Unfortunately there is no easy way out.

Spokeshaving Bamboo 03.jpg (17.23 KiB) Viewed 3027 times

Daryl.

[longbow steve]

Hi Kevin, Poles need to be around the 100mm+ mark, Moso is fairly thick walled so it is quite easy to get the backing strip from these.
Like Daryl says prepping can be done a few ways but all take care and effort. I use a large linisher that can do the half strip length at a time, you could use a small belt sander inverted in a vice or the methods Daryl suggests.
The thickness of the strip. I work them down to a flat surface then lay or mark the backing strip shape out and work down to 1-2mm from a knife edge on the strip. Steve

[Mububban]

6 x bleached 25mm strips, each 2m long will cost $32.40. As they are too long for the post we will have to put on a courier who will charge $44. So all up $76.40, or $12.73 each.

Although I am still getting my friend to show me how to do it so I do know the full process - considering my lack of workspace, lack of time to work on projects, and my general "office worker" lack of handyman skills $13 per half-fcompleted strip sounds way more time/cost efficient than making them from scratch myself!


If I get the 25mm wide strips, could they be applied to a bow that's say 35mm at its widest point? Considering that the only material I can readily source is bamboo flooring, which could get overpowered easily by the natural bamboo backing?
Available widths are 25mm, 30mm, 40mm and up.

[looseplucker]

What Daryl said.

I use an Ozito electric plane and adjust it a few times on my way down to the required thickness. Once I have it uniformly flat I then cut out the width profile and work to getting it just shy of knife edge on either side with the plane set at the very finest. A spokeshave is good here if you get nervous about using the power tools. I finish my strips using a sanding drum on my drill press, but I also have a disc and belt sander which is useful.

Finally to make sure the thickness taper is pretty uniform I go over it with a digital caliper at various points along it.

[Mububban]

Yeah I meant using the bandsaw to cut it to the desired width, not thickness, sorry if I didn't explain myself well

Lacking funds or space for a bandsaw, I've got an electric plane (love it!) that I'll try using to do the bulk of the work, then it'll be out with the trusty spokeshave and a long sanding block.

I really must invest in some calipers next....where did I put that darn magical money tree?

[looseplucker]

Mububban

Jaycar do a cheapie digital caliper - $20 and they work just fine.

You "can" use a bandsaw to reduce boo thickness - but using it more like a rasp, holding the boo at an angle to the blade - but you need a pretty robust blade and 3-4tpi.

[Mububban]

Sounds good. Are they a Bunnings jobbie, or somewhere like Carbatec?

[looseplucker]

Nope Jaycar do all sorts of budget electronic whizzoids - stuff for cars and things and other widgets:

http://www.jaycar.com.au/about.asp

[otis.drum]

i would be going for a wider strip. 40mm, so that you have a bit to play with.

[Mububban]

I'm just worried that the natural bamboo the full width of the bow could overpower the bamboo flooring I'd be using. hence thinking that maybe I'd make a 30mm+ bow but with only a 20-25mm wide bamboo backing.

[otis.drum]

How would that work? Would it just step from a 30mm belly/core to a 20mm backing? Would this make it more likely to give problems where the core was not backed?

I do myself, and may suggest, a backing that is tapered into the belly. So I glue it on full width and then thin the width of the backing by filing the back thin and tapering to thicker toward the belly. So I sort of trap the back thinner. Does this make any sense at all?

have you thought about using a more compression resistant lam for the very belly of the bow. And I wonder if you can heat temp the bamboo flooring like normal bamboo for the belly?

[looseplucker]

It would work fine- no different to "trapping the back" where the back of the bow is narrower than the belly. I have tried this and it works fine and Dennis La Varenne has posted some very informative data on the site as to how it all works.

[Mububban]

I've looked around and so far cannot find any suppliers of olid timber flooring to try working with, so for now I'm stuck with the bamboo flooring. However I'm very much still on my L plates when it comes to bowmaking so it's cheap and soft to work with But also not that high in strength.

Otis I think I get what you're trying to say, I'll have a play when I can get some bamboo and if I break some, well it's all learning isn't it? I'll try and dig up Dennis' posts.

[otis.drum]

looseplucker,
trapping the back is what i do. i was asking if this would be done or if it would be left like a step from 30mm core to 20mm backing.

mububban,
i would be interested to see how th bamboo flooring handls the compression. without having tried it i can't know, but i wouldn't think it will like it much. look forward to seeing what you find.