The common response on forums is that it's bad luck and you will need to make a fair few before one will stay together long enough to be shot.I believe many just give up after this for some time anyway and feel that it is just some mystical art not for mere mortals.Well believe me if I can do it then it cant be that hard that's for sure.
Lets have a quick look at what we are trying to do first when making a bow.Even without getting involved in the bow design part many are woodworking for the first time and to try to learn these skills on something as demanding as a bow is a challenge that's for sure.The other huge hurdle and prob the one that stops most is the wood itself as no two pieces are the same even from the same species and when we ask the question we get told of tight grain,growth rings,sapwood,grain running off the side and of course it cant be twisted warped too dry or too green.Even if we work all that out it may be spotted gum from the coast and not the mountains so it is still no good.Its a wonder we ever get a bow out at all. 
So where am I going with all this rambling (BAMBOO FLOOR BOARDS) I cant understand why more don't try this material as it solves so many of the probs we face as inexperienced bow builders.First thing is that it is a very consistent material so it will be the same every time you start on a new board and will be the same the whole length of the board so if you have a even taper from handle to tips then you will get a nice even bend in the limbs without even knowing anything about tillering.It is nice and soft so you can work it with hand tools easily and very few tools are needed and a spoke shave will work nicely unlike many types of hard woods that will tear and rip when cutting tools are used.A cabinet scraper will work great to finish the finer tillering.The other fantastic thing is that even if you get the tiller wrong it will tolerate clumsy efforts in the tillering as you learn the basics.This is not normally the case with hard wood as it can explode if things are not well balanced in the tillering department.The bamboo may get a bit of string follow if abused enough but stays together.
So it cant be all good you say and of course there some shortcomings but not ones that really are a concern for those building their first bows.It will take some string follow(stay bent a bit after being shot) and is better suited for bows up to 40-45 pound and is perfect for kids bows but I have made bows up to 60 pound but backed them with tassie oak and had good results performance wise with these bows.
To test my theories on the bamboo I decided to make a kids bow today from the most basic methods just as a newbie might the first time without the need to be buying machines.My goal was 30 pounds as that is a common weight for kids and the length was 54 inches because that was the length of a bit I had laying in the shed.It started 40mm wide and
I made handle section 4 inches long but did not glue anything on as some may not want to buy special bow building glue so it will have a wrapped handle.It is a straight taper from the handle to the tips and about 20mm wide at the tips.No tip overlays on this one either.After planing the sided down to this shape I drew a line on the side from the handle to the tips again tapering to 10mm and planed off the belly to close to the line and finished with a rasp rounding the edges to a squashed ellipse shape.This was enough to get a tiller string on it and had it tillered in prob 1 hour down to 27 inch draw.It is a bit under my target of 30 pounds (27) but close and kids don't care what poundage it is anyway.A quick sand and a bit of stain and my Daughter was shooting it in the backyard.
As I said before it may not be the fasted bow(but still good) but this is just from a bit of scrap floor board with no backing or anything fancy just a bit of wood.and it may not work out perfect the first time for you but if your kids are anything like mine they love shooting a bow Dad made and when you have a couple under your belt it is so easy to start making them a bit longer and heavier draw weight as your skills improve.
I will add some pics of this one when the varnish is dry.
I get my boards from a carpet shop but there are more and more shops selling these boards now.There are differant types and the one you need to ask for is the VERTICLE Bamboo floor boards.
Also I forgot to mention that bamboo is very bad to breath the dust so use a mask when making any dust.
Cheers KIM
. where do you get yours kimall?
I think you might had typed an error, but anyway, could i use tip overlays for bamboo?
ask where they keep flooring should be there.