broadheads and bamboo

[otis.drum]

bought some bamboo (100 shaft) in a spine of 75-80# and for $2 a shaft posted i just had to give them a go. also bought 5 different sized broadheads to try out. tusker aztecs, deltas and concords, and ribtek 160gr and 190gr. yes i know i'm cheap. but i have some outbacks on order and if all else fails i will use get some blackstumps.

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i fletched up the boo with some feathers i bought cheap from cairns archery supplies, as they had had them for ages and not sold many.

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i'd have to say that my favourite looking heads are the aztecs. i really enjoy the curved cutting blades and hope they perform well in the field.

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the first thing i noticed was that the spine on the bamboo was a little low which wasn't going to suit the heavier heads i was trying.

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i was given a old fletching jig, and whilst it was pretty poor, it was better than the one i had (none). i has done the job, and is certainly easier than fletching right helical by hand

because of the way the bamboo grows it was hard to find a piece of the bamboo that was pointing dead ahead, and therefore it was hard to get the broadheads to line up dead straight. so much so that i was surprised how straight they flew. i expected them to plain a lot more.

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as yet i have only had a quick few shots down in the sand, and while they seem to be weak spined for the bows i'm using at the moment, they do fly well and straight considering they are bamboo and not consistent in their diameter and straightness.

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i have now also made up a set of bamboo arrows with 125gr ribies to see if that can up the spine a little.

i don't shoot long distances so i'm tolerant of small accuracy inconsistencies, and if the bamboo behaves i will be going back for seconds...once i fill pigs with the 100 i already have

if the arrows are consistent i will let everyone know what i found with them. if not i'll go back to wood and carbon.

[Gringa Bows]

they look good Otis,are they a heavy arrow.............................Rod

[UPTHETOP]

Its good to see the bamboo being used Otis, you mentioned the spine but how where the differences in the weights to each other. Did you try and stain any off them at all. You shouldnt loose to many with feathers of that colour.
Great to see you giving them ago.
Dont forget a photo of the first pig done in by one.

Cheers Wayno

[Stickbow Hunter]

Good to see Otis. I too would like to know what the overall arra weights were?

One thing I noticed and don't think is very good is the small amount of taper on the broadhead end as can be seen with the Ribteks. It isn't enough IMO but I guess you were limited by the wall thickness of the Bamboo. Perhaps some wood inserted into the head end would enable you to do a proper point taper. Anyway it will be interesting to see how they go on some pigs.

Jeff

[otis.drum]

i don't have scales sorry guys.

jeff, the bamboo walls are very thick relative to the overall diameter of the shafts. the bamboo actually bottoms out in the taper tool on the head end, compared to continually winding and shortening on the nock end.

as far as strength goes, a mate shot one with a field tip into a gum tree from 15m with his 70# bear recurve and did not damage the bamboo, so they seem to be strong.

[Stickbow Hunter]

Well see how they go then mate. I only mentioned it as only having the taper inside three of the five ribs on the 190W is not the best strength wise IMO.

Jeff

[woodie]

hi Otis, nice arrows. Are they the boo arrows that come from china on ebay?
If you have a set of digital kitchen scales here is a conversion for you grains = gm times 15.4324
if that helps.

Woodie

[otis.drum]

of course jeff, i understand, but not worth (for me) the extra effort to foot with hardwood. i'll see how they go.

woodie, no scales for me. and whats a kitchen?

[woodie]

is the a misess otis that will not let you in the cooking room of the house?

Woodie

[otis.drum]

nah she's the one that can't find the kitchen. but thats ok, i like cooking anyway.

[aussiehunter]

they look cool....
where in cape york? weipa?

cheers
pat

[otis.drum]

[quote="aussiehunter"]
where in cape york? weipa?quote]

yes weipa

[stickshooter]

Hay Otis how are you getting on with them bamboo arrows
cheers
Nigel

[otis.drum]

nigel,
been out for a hunt. swamps aren't firing yet. have put a few arrows into sand from upto 30m and they seem to be flying pretty well. spine isn't as bad as i thought.

i forgot all about this post, so i will update when i have further testing.

[longbowinfected]

I bought 100 bamboo blanks [Tigers Woods] some months ago. Longbow Steve keeps joking that I will have these arrows for years.....they are so tough. Steel on steel pigs does break them behind the point but you do survive stone and hardwood better than any arrow I have ever shot.
Now they are pretty straight but not perfect so do not do a spin test and bitch about it.
There is no grain run out.

The spining I found to be spot on for the 31 inches. I do think having grain scales iscritically important if you intend to use bamboo. The exterior thickness and interior cavity can vary that two shafts the same length and spine could vary by seventy five grains...not many that bad though.

I shoot a 43# longbow for FITA target, field and clout with AA.
I shot the last National Championships in Brizzie, all events fir the week with them.

Because i was going to reduce them down to 28" I bought arrows spined for 35-40#.
I weighed each one with my grainscale and the arrow masses were variable but I divided them into 4 groups of 25 arrows. This got each group into around a 20-30 grain spread.

The shafts grow tapered. I cut the thick end off the heavy blanks and the light thin end off the light blanks. This got them all within 5-6 grains which was reduced to nil difference by grinding the 5/16 stainless steel points I got from John McDonald.

They ended up with black and white checked cresting with my usual four small low 2" tied on flights in barred black & white with stainless points each weighing 435 grains.

They shot well out to 60m for target and for clout [145m] and field at the Nationals..

I also shot them at a Sticke and Stringe event at Weston Valley for a Short Canberra and did 625/900 [50, 40,30m on a big face.

I was so encouraged that I set up some broadheads by using wood screw adapters at the business end and very light Razor broadheads. I did this for the Gathering shoot. I did not have any time so figured that if they weighed 10 grains heavier with four slightly larger flights that they would shoot exactly the same as my target arrows and they did. I got the best score ever for the 3D broadhead range. I can also now interchange varmint busters, judos and or any other screw in points I wish for events and light game.

If you know Ron Woodhouse at all, ask him how they flew. I was chuffed.

The trick is to buy a huge number like two hundred with a friend and work at matching various sets. Store your extras for the future when it gets harder to get products like Port Orford.

I recently bought a Bear paw tapering tool and a tool for setting the points and it made the job a lot easier. You need to get the tapers better than 'that will do' with there being a hollow down the middle of the shaft.

I plan to use some for my ELB and it will be tricky making hollow self nocks.

Kev

[Tuffcity]

Timely thread for me! I just dug out some bamboo shafts that I ordered about 6 months ago. Spined them but haven't weighed them yet. All spined out within 5/6 pounds of each other (85/90)

Toying with the idea of self nocking them with some rosewood I have lying around- either by drilling out the end of the shaft and a hole in the shelf nock part and glue together with a 5mm dowel- then form the self nock. Or, taper the shaft end then taper drill a hole in the rosewood and shape into a nock.

LBinfect: how do you like the bear paw? Waiting on one myself.

RC

[muntries]

Kev, what about filling the hollow end with something like epoxy and then tapering for a little extra strength?? Would give you a bit of leeway maybe?

Simon

[longbowinfected]

Sorry guys, been away at rade shows without internet connection.

Good suggestion re nocks. I was thinking of trying to cut parallel grooves ending in a drill hole and binding the boo with silk and gluing it.

Love the Bear Paw taper tool. Hard yakka doing 50 arrows at a time. Probably not as good as a pro electric one but the quality and standard are great. The tool just feels right and looks pretty. Looks to be durable as well.

They really seem to make thoughtful tools.

Kev