Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Flntknp17 on March 20, 2020, 02:45:03 pm

Title: Question about bamboo backing on an osage recurve
Post by: Flntknp17 on March 20, 2020, 02:45:03 pm

Question for you all.  I have built about 50 longbows of many types, but I am interested in building a recurve.  I got two osage 1x2x68 boards and the idea was to steam bend the tips and then back with bamboo.  I am wanting to make a static recurve that has a similar outline to the early 50s Bear recurves with the brush nocks.  I cut one of the boards off to 64" and steam bent the tips into the shape I wanted and also glued on a riser section so I have those things done.  Now its time to add the bamboo and thus my question......since the tips of such a recurve are truly static and will not be bending at all, is there a NEED to have the bamboo follow all the way around the curves of the bow to the limb tips?  Or can I have the bamboo cover only the working parts of the limbs and stop at the beginning of the static tips?  I see no actual point to going through the effort of bending the bamboo to match the osage as well as having the extra weight on the tips.  I can see an aesthetic advantage, but I see a performance disadvantage to having tip to tip bamboo.  I was pondering just backing the working parts.....any thoughts are appreciated!

Thanks

Matt

 

Title: Re: Question about bamboo backing on an osage recurve
Post by: PatM on March 20, 2020, 03:10:26 pm

It's better to have your lamination go full length.  It's not hard to bend bamboo to the curve with dry heat.  It gets very plastic with heat.

Title: Re: Question about bamboo backing on an osage recurve
Post by: DC on March 20, 2020, 06:19:18 pm

Quote from: PatM on March 20, 2020, 03:10:26 pm

It's better to have your lamination go full length.  It's not hard to bend bamboo to the curve with dry heat.  It gets very plastic with heat.

+1  With the boo going right to the tips you can probably remove wood from the statics and actually lose some weight. I've found that Bamboo bends better with dry heat than with steam. There is a fine line between when it wants to bend and where it turns colour and warps. Maybe do a practice piece just to see. Like Pat says, it's not hard. Pat also told me to use a concave form and heat the outside(back) of the boo. That helps too.

Title: Re: Question about bamboo backing on an osage recurve
Post by: Bob Barnes on March 20, 2020, 07:09:04 pm

http://pinnacleselfbows.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Bamboo-Osage-Static-Recurve-Build-Along.pdf (http://pinnacleselfbows.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Bamboo-Osage-Static-Recurve-Build-Along.pdf)

I'll try to post JD's build along...but never have much luck posting URLs...

Title: Re: Question about bamboo backing on an osage recurve
Post by: BowEd on March 21, 2020, 08:09:13 am

Nice build-a-long post Bob.The fella makes some very nice bows.I've still got my Torges D/R form here too.

Title: Re: Question about bamboo backing on an osage recurve
Post by: Ryan Jacob on March 21, 2020, 08:58:01 am

Side note, it helps if there aren’t any nodes where you plan to bend the bamboo, makes the process a lot easier.

Title: Re: Question about bamboo backing on an osage recurve
Post by: Flntknp17 on March 22, 2020, 01:53:01 pm

Thanks for all the help guys!  I will report back on how it goes.

Matt