5 piece folding bamboo bows

[sleek]

If you have a reliable way to recurve the bamboo and allow for 50 pounds draw weight, you have an absolute game changer.

[superdav95]

If you have a reliable way to recurve the bamboo and allow for 50 pounds draw weight, you have an absolute game changer.

I believe I do.  This is the first set of limbs I’ve done that were not just test pieces.  So far so good.  Now to get a number of these done and ready to test at various draw weight. 

[ssrhythm]

wow!. thanks gents. very generous of you guys to say.  There are a lot of pieces of the puzzle that finally clicked to get me to this point. A-lot of broken bows and trial and error if you know what i mean.   I was thinking of doing a comprehensive build along for these bows soon and posting on youtube and or here.  do you think there would be enough guys here interested in these and would this is wise to do?

PLEASE DO!  Those bows are beautiful, they perform very impressively, and holy mackerel does that design open up a ton of transportation options.  I'd never be without a bow during my travels, and I'd always have a backup option in the backcountry when hunting.  That is simply fantastic!  Love it man!  Thanks!

[JW_Halverson]

wow!. thanks gents. very generous of you guys to say.  There are a lot of pieces of the puzzle that finally clicked to get me to this point. A-lot of broken bows and trial and error if you know what i mean.   I was thinking of doing a comprehensive build along for these bows soon and posting on youtube and or here.  do you think there would be enough guys here interested in these and would this is wise to do?

PLEASE DO!  Those bows are beautiful, they perform very impressively, and holy mackerel does that design open up a ton of transportation options.  I'd never be without a bow during my travels, and I'd always have a backup option in the backcountry when hunting.  That is simply fantastic!  Love it man!  Thanks!

Then the next hurdle to overcome is the arrow. Are you imagining a hinge in the middle, or telescoping sections like a fly rod?

[sleek]

Jw, you joke, but I believe socketed arrows are a thing...

[willie]

If you have a reliable way to recurve the bamboo and allow for 50 pounds draw weight, you have an absolute game changer.

I believe I do.  This is the first set of limbs I’ve done that were not just test pieces.  So far so good.  Now to get a number of these done and ready to test at various draw weight.

what does the metal strap do to the bending process?

[sleek]

The strap puts hard pressure on the wood being bent, trapping the wood so it can't splinter.

[willie]

hey sleek, that sounds possible, but its hard to visualize in action. It looks from the pics that the strap is clamped down after the bend is made. Maybe Dave can tell us more about what it's for.

I was hoping you can say more about the "game changer" idea.  What limitations do you hope to overcome?

[superdav95]

Hey guys.  Sorry I was away at our youth camp running the archery for the boys and  didn’t have much cell coverage.  The metal strap is likley redundant but I put it on to help put little pressure on the bend to keep it from splintering on me.  Bamboo is really tough stuff but does not like to bend when it’s been dried.  These recurves turned out amazing.  I got home today and pulled them off after 2 weeks or so to dry in the air conditioning house.  I set them with some heat to hold them too.  I will post some pictures soon of these revived limbs.  The game changer may be what sleek is referring to in that these recurves all boo limbs may qualify for certain flight competitions that it may not have been able to before.   If I can get the same performance out of these limbs it will be a game changer I believe.  Add to this the folding hinge feature will be the next thing.  I did a bunch of shooting with my 2 folder this week at camp and had a number of parents there with their boys eyeing them up and I gave some a chance to shoot them.  They were wanting to buy them right there.  That sound promising.  I got some names and phone numbers for later as I was not there to sell anything.  I had one 17 yr old boy shooting the 44lbs folder who wouldn’t put it down.  He must have shot that bow 300 times!   Anyway. It was put through it paces and still holding up great. 


Thanks again for all the interest and generous comments guys.  I have another youth camp for the girls that my wife runs and yet again I’m doing the archery.  I love it and the kids do too.  Once I’m done this camp mid July I’ll get working on putting together the video series on YouTube and link it here.  Sleek and I can work out the editing a bit to keep it reasonable and not be a bore. 

[willie]

The metal strap is likley redundant but I put it on to help put little pressure on the bend to keep it from splintering on me.  ......... If I can get the same performance out of these limbs it will be a game changer I believe. 

sometimes a metal strap is incorporated to force the off side of the limb into compression while bending, but it has to be clamped before bending. Maybe something to experiment with if one wants to put reflex into a working section of the limb

actually with bamboo, the opposite action might have performance potential.