bamboo arrow supplies

[M.Hogan]

Just found this on ebay...
For those looking for bamboo arrows good price...judge for yourself.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/100-Bamboo-arrow ... 286.c0.m14

[pdccr]

To be honest i wouldnt bother, they are only spined for 30-35 and you can make your own shafts for alot cheaper.

[CraigMBeckett]

I bought 100 No. 65 to 75 lb spined shafts, they took less than a week to arrive and when I checked their spine they ranged from about 56lb to 85 lb with the great majority within the stated range.

They make great arrows and are very tough. I would not hesitate to buy more in the future when and if I run out of the ones I bought.

Made the arrows by the simple expiedient of drilling out either end and gluing in 2 inches of dowel, then tapering in the usual manner. Because the shafts are thin for the spine had to be careful of both the pile and nock diameter. Wrapped both ends to reinforce the shaft.

Craig.

[pdccr]

Can we see some pictures of the finished arrows craig, i think i would be interested to see how they turn out.

[ichiban]

i figure that you can find/grow bamboo for Free, the japanese belived that 2 years was the opptimum time to harvest arrow boo, so it dosent take long to grow em. i would spend the cash on a spine tester personaly and just grow and cut my own

[M.Hogan]

I would love to grow my own....I heard that bamboo is very fast growing...does anyone know the type/speciecs of bamboo and where to get the plant.

[pdccr]

I had a conversation with glenn a while back, i will see if i can find it for you.

[pdccr]

here it is mate
http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.p ... boo#p80325

[M.Hogan]

Ha Ha...I found this don't know if the species is here though...can someone point it out.

[CraigMBeckett]

MMMM!!

i figure that you can find/grow bamboo for Free, the japanese belived that 2 years was the opptimum time to harvest arrow boo, so it dosent take long to grow em. i would spend the cash on a spine tester personaly and just grow and cut my own

ichiban, I was not prepared to wait 2 years, made my own spine tester and bought the boo at half the price of wood shafts
I would also add that there is a lot of work that goes into a boo arrow in its straightening and tempering, a lot more than goes into wooden arrows and the ones I bought had already been straightened ground and tempered, straightening was generally very good. If you are interested in making your own from the raw stalk I suggest you read http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/ ... orial.html

Can we see some pictures of the finished arrows craig, i think i would be interested to see how they turn out.

pdccr, will get some and post tomorrow, hopefully.

I would love to grow my own....I heard that bamboo is very fast growing...does anyone know the type/speciecs of bamboo and where to get the plant.

M.Hogan, I believe the species of boo in my shafts is tonken, however the best boo for arrows is claimed to be japanese arrow bamboo, or Pseudosasa japonica to give it its correct name, see http://www.mrbamboo.com.au/running_bamb ... arrow.html I believe you can get it from them.

Craig.

[pdccr]

Ok thanks mate, would love to see the finished product.

[CraigMBeckett]

As promised,

Here are photos of some of the arrows I made from the bamboo bought on Ebay and imported from China.

IMG_3412.JPG (23.06 KiB) Viewed 3767 times

IMG_3417.JPG (106.07 KiB) Viewed 3767 times

IMG_3418.JPG (93.14 KiB) Viewed 3767 times

IMG_3419.JPG (71.07 KiB) Viewed 3767 times

The red fletched arrows are 28.5 inches from base of string nock to shoulder of pile, helically fletched with 5.25 inch shield cut feathers.

The white fletched arrows are 31.5 inches from base of string nock to shoulder of pile, helically fletched with 6.5 inch had cut triangular feathers. (used masking tape and scissors).

The shorter arrows are of my "corner of lip" draw length, now used by my son in both his American flat longbow and his compound.

The longer ones are an experiment, have become interested in the thought of using a heavy medieval type warbow, so am looking to draw 32 inches. These were made to help me train in drawing that length using my existing AFB as a first step while I build a 100 lb plus bow, (isn't it wonderful what abuse glass backed bows can take). Unfortunately the bow blew up during the tillering process about 2 weeks ago, and as I have just had an operation on my right hand that precludes me from using it for much for the next couple of months, the next attempt will have to wait. Have procured some poplar to make the war arrows out of.

Craig.

[CraigMBeckett]

MMM!

The photos seem to have too much shadow in them, if they don't show you all you want to see let me know and will try and take some better ones.

Craig.

[Stickbow Hunter]

Those arras look good to me mate.

Jeff

[Gringa Bows]

yep they look pretty good to me too ..................Rod

[pdccr]

I have to agree, they turned out surprisingly well. How much effort did you have to put in to straightening and sanding the nodes down? I would think it would be a lot harder to make them from raw stalks then wooden arrow blanks.

[CraigMBeckett]

Hi pdccr,

The shafts came basically straightened and ground down at the nodes, if any that I used were not completely straight the problem tended to be at the outer nodes and as the shafts are approx 39 inches long it was easy to select straight sections. None of the final arrows needed additional straightening beyond the occasional tweek.

As I said the shafts are a good buy, I think all together including $50 postage 100 shafts came to approx $170 or $1.70 each. Compare that with the prices wanted for POC, "local" (120 km away) supplier wants $3.80 each plus postage.

The arrows shown have been extensively used as is evidenced by the dirt in the binding near the pile and a close look at the white fletching will show additional lines in the finish running parallel(ish) with the binding where the old binding was before I replaced it.

Craig.

[pdccr]

They look very nice and i think they are growing on me .

[ichiban]

there is no way that making a boo arrow is more work than a timber 1 if your starting from scratch, i have made both, and for me personaly spliting and plaining shafts is hard, boring work compaird to straightening boo (even if you include making your own timber nock inserts and foreshafts)

[pdccr]

I think i will definately look for some arrow bamboo. Maybe i am better off buying the shafts as i am not very patient with growing trees

Craig, for those arrows, did you glue and then wrap and if you were shooting off the hand with those arrows would it cut your hand? I had a similar problem but thats becuase i used a very fine fly fishing line, next i think i will try a thread. Do you suggest anything particular, i just bought some new feathers and plan to make some arrows.

[ichiban]

using boo shafts is basicly the same as timber, i personaly always use the lager end for the pile (as obviously boo grows with a slight taper) and use a forshaft whos length depends on the application for the arrow, its also worth mentioning that if nocks are to be cut into the boo itself then they should be just after a node so theres that added strength but its best to use an insert for the nock. they shouldnt cut your hand at all as they are sanded smooth

[pdccr]

Yeah, i would probably just use normal nocks and just put nock inserts. I am looking at 100 40-45# bamboo shafts for $130 postage included. Comes out to about $1.30 a shaft. So i am contemplating it.

[CraigMBeckett]

Hi pdccr,

I gather you are asking about the fletching. I glued then wrapped.

I am currently shooting of a shelf, but I hold my hand just at the top of the handle with the arrow just touching, its a hangup from when I shot of my hand. If I do a poor release I know about it the arrow tells me so, bound arrows should not cut your hands, they never did to me and I have always bound the front and back of my fletches, they don't come off when the arrow goes through something.

ichiban, all to their own and I would add each person sees different tasks in a different manner. Cleaning the shafts, stripping the bracs, heating each node and straightening, then heating in between the nodes and straightening, then doing the same again, burning your hands in the process, sticking pins into each node to let the hot gasses escape. Grinding the nodes down. No I prefer to rip wood and do a bit of planing then knock the dowel through a sized hole drilled in a steel plate.

Craig.

[pdccr]

Wow, maybe i would just be better off with wood shafts. Sounds like a good amount of effort to make your own boo shafts. I'll buy some though and have a play around.

[CraigMBeckett]

pdccr,

Wow, maybe i would just be better off with wood shafts. Sounds like a good amount of effort to make your own boo shafts.

Cleaning the shafts, stripping the bracs, heating each node and straightening, then heating in between the nodes and straightening, then doing the same again, burning your hands in the process, sticking pins into each node to let the hot gasses escape. Grinding the nodes down.

That's what would be involved if you used raw shafts, however the shafts from China have had it all done.

All I did was cut to length, wrap each end with tape, (to prevent splitting) drill out each end using a suitable drill, 4 mm dia I think, then gluing in approximately 2 inch lengths of dowel, had to grind and size it to fit the drilled hole. Make sure the fit is loose but not too loose and score the side of the dowel to let the air escape otherwise you could split the shaft. then when the glue is dry I ground standard tapers in each end for the nock and pile. Not much more work than using a wooden shaft.

Craig.