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Bamboo backed bows (Read 16150 times)
squirrelslinger
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #30 - Jan 7th, 2013 at 6:00pm
 
So... what about an all-bamboo bow?
I am thinking something like this-
http://sensiblesurvival.blogspot.com/2012/03/build-bamboo-survival-bow-in-30-min...
But with multiple layers of bambooo glued together so it is more powerful.
I will post pics the moment i am done
Thanks
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“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
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Masiakasaurus
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #31 - Jan 7th, 2013 at 6:14pm
 
The bowyer that Bill mentioned who uses bamboo on the belly and the back essentially makes all bamboo bows. It looks like -to me- the bamboo does all the work.
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Pikåru wrote on Nov 19th, 2013 at 6:59pm:
Massi - WTF? It's called a sling. You use it to throw rocks farther and faster than you could otherwise. That's all. 
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Bill Skinner
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #32 - Jan 7th, 2013 at 8:11pm
 
Google Harrelson Traditional Archery and zoom in on his Kolomi model.  These are not a fast bow but are one of the smoothest I have ever shot.  I used to have one but I gave it away a couple of years ago.
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Dan
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #33 - Jan 8th, 2013 at 8:41am
 
Quote:
Dan wrote on Jan 7th, 2013 at 1:58pm:
Quote:
As to the glass bow question - no way.  I'd love to see their best work go up against something like a Fox triple crown and see if they can get near the cast of it.  I'd be really surprised - and that's still a longbow, we're not even delving into recurves yet.




It's not my word against theirs.  Fortunately, there's a little something in the world called science, and it can help us out of quandaries like these.  I'll see if I can get FPS figures for my unbacked and backed longbows.  The next bow I get is going to be a modern glass-backed longbow.  I'll put the same arrows through the chrono from each bow, and we'll see what's fastest and what isn't.  Granted, a D-section English longbow isn't going to be as efficient as a flat-backed American-style longbow, so my self-bow will be doubly disadvantaged, but the point is that these comparisons are possible, and we don't have to take anybody's word for it.  For my part, it's from firsthand experience of seeing the incredibly flat trajectories attained by modern glass-backed longbows in competition settings shooting over a distance of 50-80 yards.


They have FPS measures in the books as well and I'd highly encourage you to read over them.

Some of them are sub average glass bow, some are about average. But at the time the average now was state of the art then. So perhaps some context should be mentioned.

A lot of the times you see the flat 60 yard trajectories may also depend a lot on the arrow. Carbon fiber target arrows that are around 7gpp, will fly a lot faster than youir normal hunting arrow out of a self bow.

I agree that the glass backed bow has the potential to be faster than the self bow, I just rembered that quote on the back of the most revolutionary and best sold book series on bow building and I thought I'd bring it up.

This thread is discussed by bowerys and archers much more expierenced than myself, hopefully it can clear some things up.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=8239.0

SS, here's the all boo bow I was talking about. http://www.3riversarchery.com/All+Bamboo+Reflex%2FDeflex+Longbow_i8564X_baseitem...
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I was pretty good at slinging like 10 years ago.
 
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Bill Skinner
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #34 - Jan 8th, 2013 at 8:19pm
 
Fiberglass is sooo 20th Century.  Well designrd bows today use carbon fiber and carbon foam limbs, and titanium frames.
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #35 - Jan 8th, 2013 at 8:33pm
 
Bill Skinner wrote on Jan 8th, 2013 at 8:19pm:
Fiberglass is sooo 20th Century.  Well designrd bows today use carbon fiber and carbon foam limbs, and titanium frames.  


Yep, but I don't think you could construe carbon-foam composite limbs as a "backing" on wood.
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Bill Skinner
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #36 - Jan 9th, 2013 at 3:50pm
 
Some of the first models had carbon fiber on maple.
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squirrelslinger
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #37 - Jan 9th, 2013 at 9:05pm
 
.....
I dislike backing.
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“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
"You don't think the electricity is off. You check it 3 times to make SURE its off"
"Remember, this is not a scalpel. It is a steel wedge that you will be slamming into knotty wood. Hone accordingly."
 
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Atlatlista
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #38 - Jan 9th, 2013 at 9:07pm
 
Backing can be your friend.  Natural wood self bows are a heck of a lot of fun too though.  I don't think there are many pre-modern bows around that I don't crave.  Even the "trad" bows from the 50s, 60s, and very early 70s are gorgeous.
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Masiakasaurus
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #39 - Jan 9th, 2013 at 9:09pm
 
Out of all the mistakes I've made bowmaking the one thing that never gave me trouble was backing them.
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Pikåru wrote on Nov 19th, 2013 at 6:59pm:
Massi - WTF? It's called a sling. You use it to throw rocks farther and faster than you could otherwise. That's all. 
~Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily avialable, they will create their own problems.~
WWW elsabio04  
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Bill Skinner
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #40 - Jan 10th, 2013 at 12:20am
 
Smart ax comments aside, there aren't very many fiberglass backed bows.  Most bows are fiberglass laminates of fiberglass/wood or bamboo core/fiberglass, the fiberglass does all the work, the core just keeps the limb from collasping.  A backed bow is a bow with a layer of something on the back with the primary purpose of keeping a splinter from lifting, which will cause the limb to break.  If you get added performance, that's just a bonus.  Some backings actually detract from the bows' performance.

So, SS, I kinda agree, I don't like backings all that much either, BUT, they can keep a bow together.  So the real question is, "How confident am I in my bow making?"  And "How PO'ed am I going to get if it breaks?"  
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Dan
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #41 - Jan 10th, 2013 at 8:49am
 
One thing you might want to practice on a different piece of woor (say just a log like a foot long) is cleanly removing the outer and inner bark and getting down to just the outward ring and not going in any further. It'd be a lot better to practice on a septerate piece of wood than on your stave when it really counts.

While I still prefer the natural appearance of wood on the back of the bow, you might also want to look into silk backings. Its lighter and much easier to set up for lamination on the back of the bow.

I've only made one backed bow and it was my second bow. I made it before I had read any of the TBBs and with little advice from anything. It didn't really work (mainly because it was way to short and narrow and the boo was too thick), but that was more of my fault than the concept of the backed bow.

My later bows I took care not to nick the outer rings and they work to this day.

Whether you put on a backing or not is up to you, but regardless, its good to practice removing the bark to just one layer of clean undisturbed wood for when you do make a self bow.
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I was pretty good at slinging like 10 years ago.
 
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Morphy
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #42 - Feb 13th, 2013 at 7:07pm
 
Don't mind me, just dredging up more old threads here.  

Sometimes you have to back a piece of wood to get the best out of it.  Some woods are stellar in compression strength per mass but their tension is not up to par.  Your only two options is to make them too wide for their compression strength or back them.  I have a pile of broken china berry bows that illustrate this point very well.   Smiley

I have one limb from a broken chinaberry bow that comes from a 62 inch bow.  1 3/4 inch at widest, pyramid taper.  Would have pulled 65 lb at 28.  I had to finish tillering it with a hanging weight because the other limb was not perfect enough for such a high efficiency/high stress profile (none of the ones mentioned were for that matter) and broke.  After I finished tillering it, it took no more set or perhaps less set for that matter of most hickory bows of the same dimensions.  All with .50 SG wood.  Unbelievable stuff, but without a backing it's just not safe.
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Bill Skinner
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #43 - Feb 13th, 2013 at 7:44pm
 
If you've got China Berry, you should have Hackberry/Sugarberry, that's a pretty good whitewood, especially if you are in a low humidity area, it soaks up moisture worse than hickory.
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squirrelslinger
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Re: Bamboo backed bows
Reply #44 - Feb 13th, 2013 at 7:56pm
 
Dude, ive got box elder, a board-stave of oak, and a board stave of maple. nuthn else, minus thin-wall bamboo... probably abot 1/16th thick.
grows up to 1 1/2 inch diam...
oak is gonna be a longbow already tillered, gonna finish it and final-tiller and tune it. I have the 1st bowyers bible and no ability to get the others... i dont have trouble with makin it one growth ring.
my problem is that i have a sur-form rasp plane thnigee... and a actual hand-plane.. and a hatchet...
and some sandpaper. once i finish the oak-bow, picture time! can a bow pose for pics?
-Squirrel
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“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”
"You don't think the electricity is off. You check it 3 times to make SURE its off"
"Remember, this is not a scalpel. It is a steel wedge that you will be slamming into knotty wood. Hone accordingly."
 
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