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Loo – Maple – Black Cherry – Osage, 39# @ 28”

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Tuomo:
My newest bow, number #191, most likely a keeper for myself, intended for calm, relaxed indoor shooting.

The bamboo backing is so-called Lồ τ bamboo (often simply called loo, Bambusa procera) from Vietnam. It is intended for fly-rod making and serves as a replacement for Tonkin bamboo. Its physical properties are almost as good as Tonkin: it has a very high elastic modulus, is extremely strong, easy to work with, and has exceptionally long distances between nodes.

Specifications: 39 pounds at a 28-inch draw length. Loo bamboo backing; sugar maple and black cherry core; osage orange belly. Osage power lamination, and a laminated ipe handle. Green vegetable-tanned leather grip, mother-of-pearl strike plate, and horn nocks. The string is a 12-strand Mercury 2. Total weight is 604 grams. Maximum width is 27 mm, tapering to 9.4 mm at the nocks. Tiller is +8 mm.

The most remarkable feature is the bamboo backing: despite the length, there is not a single visible node. The only one is hidden beneath the handle leather.

This bamboo is quite special. This bow originally had a jatoba belly, but it failed and broke. Another bow with a bulletwood belly took excessive set and became unusable. Even with the osage belly, this bow took almost 50 mm of set. I believe that the only suitable belly materials for loo bamboo are ipe—or possibly even horn. I am currently making bows with those materials and hope to finish them soon.

Tuomo:
More pics...

Tuomo:
And the last pics...

medicinewheel:
Fine bow as usual!
Never heart of that bamboo type; seems to be some very special material. Looking foreward to those in the making!

Robert Pougnier:
Another beautiful bow Tuomo. That's very sleek looking. The riser transitions (powerlam?) are very elegant.

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