Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Dustybaer on January 14, 2007, 01:41:17 pm
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since i didn't want to hijack belabear's thread, here are some pics of the progress:
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nice heads! how sharp can one get bamboo?
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not sure, but definitely not as sharp as stone or glass. what i'd like to do with the next set is temper the heads before i mount them and see what difference it makes.
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Anyone that works with bamboo backed bows knows that bamboo can get razor sharp.
Marius, Those are nice heads and arrows. The head would be good for small game and possibly deer sized game. Primitive folks, in the past and today use bamboo(or cane) heads sucessfully. Pat
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Marius-Bamboo can get razor sharp as Pat said. I've made knifes from it like some primitive folk' did and heads too. Taken small game and a deer with them. I heat tempered them first and then sharpened them with a file and finally rubbed the edge lightly with broken glass-if you dont think they get sharp, hope you never get cut with one-to the bone bro' !...nice arras.........bob
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thanks guys. too bad bowhunting is illegal in germany. i'd like to try these heads on some bunnies ;D
kowechobe, do you think it's better to temper first, then shape and then sharpen? or would it work as well if i shaped them first, then tempered and then sharpened?
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Marius--I tempered them first, but I think if you shape them-temper-sharpen , you will be ok............bob
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Like Bob and Pat said.Boo can get scary sharp.When I was younger we would split a piece and use one side to fillet fish.You can also make a nasty self defence weapon by cutting a 2' by 24" piece, wrapping a handle area with tape and then splitting the rest in quarters length wise.When hitting an object or person it spreads into 8 sharp cutting edges.These were used in the far east.
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Good lookin' arrows, Marius. I've seen documentaries of Papuan natives cutting each other's hair and slicing up pigs with bamboo knives, looked like they were razor sharp. Eddie, that sounds kinda ouchie lol.
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thanks guys. now a question about tempering. i was gonna bake them in my wives oven (unless you have a better suggestion, which i'm sure my wife would appreciate ;D). what kind of times and temperatures do you recommend?
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Dustybaer what do the weigh?
Pappy
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Marius--Dont know about oven-never did it-too risky with wife. Tempered mine with a mapp gas torch or propane-some used a campfire. I got them slowly to a very slightly burned color over a long time--VERY SLIGHTLY BURNED--just some surface ash that can be sanded off easily--made them hard as h###.............bob
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pappy, sorry i did not weigh them before i mounted them. i'm making another one as we speak and i'll make sure i weigh it first. since i make them using nothing but sandpaper, it takes me a while to finish one ;D
thanks bob, that's why i was asking about alternatives. i thought about my heat gun too, but i can't find the friggin' thing ;D maybe i should join the "big project" thread and clean up my basement.
edit: pappy, i just weighed the arrows and they are 27 to 28 grams (416 to 432 grains)
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Pappy/Dusty, in another thread I showed a cane arrow with a bamboo head I did. It was light, about 90 grains. To up the weight I inserted somw 1/32 dia solder into the hollow portion of the shaft behind the head. This brought the total weight of the 31 inch overall length arrow to 495 grains. You can vary this weight by the length of the solder pieces you put in the end of the shaft to compensate for cane dia, weight etc. I used CA on the edge of the head and sanded it to a fairly good edge. As indicated I think it only good for small game. I do think it would take a deer with a well placed shot in a vital organ.
Dick Bernier
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dick, you know it's your fault that i ever started with bamboo heads. ;D i did some searches with google but could hardly find any images, so i decided to just try and make some myself. but it all started with this very head you just showed.
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Sorry Dustybaer :( I'll have Amy beat me with a wet noodle when she comes home later. By the way this arrow, at 12 yards penetrated a foam block 7 inch's from a 53# Osage self bow. It is good to do these things as we keep creating brain cells. At my age I need all I can get ;D
Dick, working on more brain cells.
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Dustbaer, If I can find the other point I made it is a good show and tell. I used two halves of bamboo like the first point and on the edge of each I sanded/filed a grove. Into this grove I inserted a razor blade parallel to the edge of the bamboo. I glued it together with CA. Not very primitive but you could shave with it. ;D. I'll look for it today. I did not attach it to a bamboo shaft, but I may.
Dick Bernier
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sounds very interesting, i'm looking forward to the picture.
not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but mine are not laminated. i was thinking about it though.
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Bamboo arrowheads MUST be killers - because primitive peoples esp. in the Pacific islands depended on them quite a lot for survival. They also used hardwoods for arrowheads.
It surely is important what type of bamboo you use, there are so many varieties!
Hillbilly and others: Rick Williamson reports that in Vanuatu bamboo knives were used during intiation ceremonies to circumcise the boys.
Don't try this at home !!! LOL
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sbartels,Oh! Man, you made me pucker up with that last tid bit of information. :'(
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CIRCUMCISE WITH BAMBOO--YAHOO------HOY BOY!!!!!!..........bob
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thanks stefan, you really gave this thread a new twist ;D
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Dustybear, be sure to bring some bamboo heads to the archery meeting at Neubrunn.
Do you temper the bamboo from both sides or just from what used to be the outside of the pole?
We got hurricane winds here now, the timbers in the attic are creaking...
spooky.
all train services have stopped, people are told to stay indoors ...
Survival gear ready in the basement.
Japanese friend of ours who lives in Germany says: Yeah, it's just like the typhoons I used to know in Japan.
Gee, tropical storms in Germany and not one flake of snow all winter!
No Mr Bush, there is no climate change and it was a wise decision to staff the environmental department with industry tycoons and Big Oil executives....
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Damn that sucks ,But gas is cheap. ;)
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Dustybaer, still looking for that arrowhead. I haven't forgot you. When I find it I will mount it. Circumsized? :o God I'm glad I did not know what was going on. Whew!!!!!!
Dick Bernier
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well, I shot the arrows you see in the picture below to see how they group. the arrows are of different length, spine and material. the only thing they have in common is the weight, approx. 27g (410gr). since i can only shoot about 10-12 yards in my back yard, i can't judge the flight to well, but at least i can see how they group and they grouped well. the narrow boo point split lengthwise on the first shot, so i'm making a new one as we speak, but the wider one did amazingly well. actually it hit dead center three times in a row. what's amazing is it's not FOC it's ROC (rear of center) despite the mahogany foot.
edit: i forgot to mention, i weighed one of the tips and came up with approx. 1g (15 grains). no wonder the arrows com out ROC.
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field tested the tips. pretty sturdy. this one penetrated that limb and about 1/4" was sticking out the other side. couldn't pull it out, so broke it off. i can imagine it would have gone right thru a rabbit or squirrel (if i could hit one, that is ;D ).
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Dustybaer, I cannot find that other head, but I will make another one. Probably in the next two weeks. Your penetration test on that limb kinda squares out with my test. I suppose they would "do the job" if necessary. To Eddie's point, they can be very, very sharp if care is taken on the edges.
Dick Bernier
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Love this thread. Never even thought about bamboo heads before. Used bone and steel. By the way, how come they don't let you hunt with a bow in Germany? I have seen this in several threads. Do they allow hunting at all? Just curious.
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agbowyer, yes, hunting with rifles is permitted and we have the same pro and con discussions here: animal rights versus hunting. hunting is viewed as a very elitarian sport, probably from former times, when it was reserved for aristocracy. it is still very expensive to get the hunting license and it takes a couple of years to get it. i think the reason it's prohibited is the (wrong) impression that bow and arrow doesn't kill an animal fast enough.
dick, don't worry about the point, unless you wanted to make another one anyway, in which case i'd be very much interested in seeing it ;D
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That was a great thing, hitting the limb with the bamboo point.
About the FOC/ROC: As we know, primitive South Sea arrows are often very long to help them stabilize. Might be advisable with bamboo points (but they also often don't have any fletching to speak of, just a pandanus leaf tied to the shaft somewhere...)