Bamboo Board

[Bill]

Gents, the other day whilst killing some time down town shopping, walked into a floor-board floor covering business. I asked the owner-manager about bamboo boards. The gentleman showed me a box of boards (also gave me one board to take with me) he said the floor board was made up from compressed bamboo. My question is to whoever is this the type of bamboo board I hear so much about, that can be used for bow construction. In looking at the board you can see all the different pieces of bamboo that have been compressed to make up the board....Bill

Some not so good pictures, so what do you think, for there's a box of them available.

[kimall]

Bill if you look at the end grain on the board and the lines on the joins run up and down you have got yourself the right thing.
Cheers KIM

[Bill]

Now some pictures....Bill

[kimall]

That's what you want mate you are onto bow making gold there.
Cheers KIM..
PS When you cut this stuff wear a mask as it is natures asbestos.

[Gringa Bows]

yeah Bill thats the stuff vertical bamboo,got a box of the natural colour in my shed that i'm useing now....................Rod

[Bill]

thanks Kim, I take on board your good advice.
now all I need to do is, decide on what style of bow to make. So Rod whats your preference as to the best disign that will fit this type of board without to much work and no electrical or mechanical tools.........Bill

[Gringa Bows]

hey, no electrical or machanical tools , umm ask Kim..

[kimall]

What my trad choice for tools is a 4 inch angle grinder with a 40 grit disc.
Mate I will see if I can dig up the thread I did with a board bow a while back.One thing I found was that it tends to take a bit of string follow if used as the bulk of the bow at higher poundage.I also did not have a lot of luck using it as backing but in a bow of lighter poundage it is ok.I have in mind to cut a few laminations and glue them up with black glue and make a self bow sort of design to see how that goes.
Cheers KIM

[kimall]

Here is a thread from a while ago.
http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.p ... lit=bamboo

[kimall]

And another......
http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.p ... boo#p56249

[Bill]

To Kim,
It's now getting late, but I must thank you for the information.
I do like the look of the bow in the second thread, posted about may last year.
Tomorrow I'll set about having a go at making a boo-bow.

[ichiban]

with out tools its a bit tricky mate but i would say that a prolly a piramid bow or a flat bow thats 1.75" wider for most its length is the way to go, i also recently discoverd that temepring bamboo may also aid in its tensile strength as yesterday i was playing silly bugers ith the band say and roughed out a bow 50" long and 1.5" wide and i had it shooting comfortably, to test how well this worked i drew it to 30" and amazingly didnt have a problem. set was huge after the 30" draws but what elce ould you expect

[woodie]

kimall what are the sizes of your 60# bow that you made?
I have some bamboo board here that I want to make a bow from.
woodie

[kimall]

It measures 1 1/2" wide at the riser flares a bit slimmer in the handle just over 1 inch thick at the handle and tapers down to about 5/8 wide at the tips.It is backed with tassie oak 1/4 inch thick.I found that the boo bends a lot through the handle and had trouble getting a rigid handle to stay put on earlier bows so glued ab extra piecde of boo on for a handle so it would bend the same.
Cheers KIM

[woodie]

Thanks mate I'll have a go at that.
How thick? it is 1" at handle but what at the tip?
Sorry for all the Q's but I have had no luke with bamboo board in heaver bows.
Woodie

[kimall]

Tips about 1/2 inch thick but it is 60 odd pound if I remember right and I think this material seems to work a bit better if the poundage is kept a bit lower so I am going to lighten it and retiller it soon.
Cheers KIM

[Bill]

It has been stated.

"also recently discoverd that temepring bamboo may also aid in its tensile strength".

My question Is the bamboo floorboard able to be tempered ? does this heating effect the glue that is holding the compressed strips together?......Bill

[ichiban]

u know you think it would but no the glue used in the boo lamination process holds up to the heat well, the only thing is that you need to leave it about a week after the tempering to alow it to back to equilibruim. and if you ante to a reflex while temepering would be the time to do it

[longbow steve]

That board is already heat/kiln tempered going by its colour. The glue used for the boards is Urac so Ichi is right it can be heated.
Having done some bend tests (nothing scientific) the tempered board seems to fracture with more crispness than the un heated bamboo. It also seems marginally stiffer. Steve

[ichiban]

that one dose seem darker but i thought it was the finish, i have been tempering boo from bunnings which unfortunately is caramelised but retempering and alowing it to rehydrate seemed to help in my last few tests, still i personaly dont like the boo board self bows as i have never seen one perform as well as it could have if it where backed. so i still surgest tempering it then backing and reflexing it.

[woodie]

How do you temper the bamboo, either it be board or raw bamboo? I might be sanding dum here.
Ron (woodie)

[longbow steve]

I imagine most would use a heat gun Woodie but IMO I dont think it is nescessary or conducive to longevity? May be a day or to in the hotbox or car to drive out moisture before glue up.
Steve

[woodie]

hi all, dont know if you have seen them, at bunnings there are un sealed bamboo decking boards.
Woodie

[ichiban]

yep i use a heat gun and since my boo bows are laminated the back isnt an issue but it dose seem to reduce set. bunnings is where i get my boo sold as screening for $8 you get enough for 2 backed bows or 4 bellys if your cairfull