Hey guys I bought some bamboo arrows at the GLLI in Michigan the other day. I was wondering if any of you guys have ever shoot many of them. The guy who sold them to me said I could shoot them from a 30# bow to a 60# bow. So far I have shot them off a 44# recurve, a 53# JV Outback longbow, and a 57# Cari-Bow longbow and they fly great out of all of them. It doesn't make sense to me but they fly like a dart.Any thoughts would be welcomed.
My experience with bamboo arrows is similar. The material is very forgiving for spine.
Besides, you can't get much cooler than a bamboo arrow.
Guy
Hey Gary,
You'd probably get a lot more response to this thread if you posted it on Pow Wow instead of the classifieds.
Good luck,
Bob
I think it's to do with the taper of the arrow that makes it fly so well from a range of bow weights.
I am about to find out... just bought my first couple dozen. They say anything from 55-80#. I hope I have the same experience as you>
I like them too
Yep, I've built several dozen and have been very impressed. Getting nocks and points on straight can be a pain at first, until you get used to working with grass, but they fly great.
I love the stuff ,been using stuff I get from a garden store. Works good out of my recurves and long bow.
I get my bamboo arrows from John at Glacier Traditional in Montana. He makes great bamboo arrows. I'm surprised how well they shoot out of my 45# longbow. I got them because I heard bamboo is "nature's carbon" and supposedly much tougher than wood. So far so good, none have broken, splintered or showed any stress cracks after about a month of shooting them in my backyard, whereas my wood arrows begin to show stress cracks usually by then. I recently ordered some flu flu bamboo arrows from him for my 30# self bow and can't wait to see how they shoot.
Oh, and they look great in my cheapo hand-made bamboo quiver I made out of a 3" diameter bamboo pole!
I swear. After 5 years, I finally have you with matched and tuned arrows, shooting dessert plate groups at 40 yards and you come up with these things :knothead:
With that said, I am looking forward to helping you drag out a few of the deer you are going to take with these crooked all nodded up things!
Bamboo is higher in Zen and Chi than carbon.
Being retired now gives me alot of time to ponder different things. I know I can fustrate you Steve, but you got to admit it keeps life interesting. Besides we need to have stuff to talk about on our way to bear camp this year. I'm so glad to see that there are others who like these shafts. I thought I was diving into un-charted waters. Does anyone have any suggestions for cresting these things. Steve thought markers would work.
The same craft acrylic paints I use for regular arrows work fine on bamboo. But due to the natural waviness of the shaft it can be a challenge to get uniform lines or thin lines.
Guy
Bamboo arrows work very well, but they are a bit labor intensive to make. Somebody selling these nowadays?
Look ar the mughal arrows in the Greyson archery collection,I am stunned everytime I look at them.
I Love bamboo arrows and they are all I shoot. Here's a set of 6 I finished up not too long ago.
(http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l144/NDanforth83/101_1308.jpg)
(http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l144/NDanforth83/101_1310.jpg)
QuoteOriginally posted by Chimaster:
Hey guys I bought some bamboo arrows at the GLLI in Michigan the other day. I was wondering if any of you guys have ever shoot many of them. The guy who sold them to me said I could shoot them from a 30# bow to a 60# bow. So far I have shot them off a 44# recurve, a 53# JV Outback longbow, and a 57# Cari-Bow longbow and they fly great out of all of them. It doesn't make sense to me but they fly like a dart.Any thoughts would be welcomed.
How much do they cost for a dozen?
Bare shafts cost about $140 for 100 pcs after S&H from Internet. They came tempered, straightened and pre-spined. If you make the arrows yourself the cost is about $2 each arrow finished (labor is free :D ). Self nock works well if reinforced. You may use bone for the reinforcement. I used old Printed Circuit Board, micarta, or even canvas soked in expoxy for the reinforcement to save cost.
You may decorate shafs any way you like. Rob DiStefano had mentioned using Sharpie to color the shaft. That works out great. Remember to seal it with Polyurethene...
I bought them from a guy named Joe neat in Ohio his phone number is 513-8680832
I checked out the Greyson collection of arrows, they are awesome. I can't wait to get my bamboo shafts to start building them. They will be with me on opening day.
If I build anymore natural shafts, I plan on going with bamboo. Definitety a+ in the coolness and durability departments. I have a feeling I'll get the itch when hunting is over and things slow down this winter :)
Beautiful arrows, NTD! I'm a beginner at all this, so sorry if this is a dumb question, but one day I'd like to make my own bamboo arrows. Anyway, when installing the field points, do you taper the front of the bamboo shaft like you would a solid wood shaft? If so, what kind of tool do you use and how do you keep them from splintering? Also, what tool do you use to make the self nocks?
I have been building solid bamboo arrows from bamboo laminate flooring. One piece of 6'x 5/8" flooring will make 14 shafts. Cost for solid bamboo comes to about $0.50 per shaft. I have been learning that the spine means nothing so my next batch are going to be built to weight. They are so tough it is amazing. (http://www.underseaimages.com/images/IMG_5020.jpg) (http://www.underseaimages.com/images/IMG_5021.jpg) (http://www.underseaimages.com/images/IMG_5024.jpg)
Dave, are you cutting square blanks from the flooring and then rounding them into the shaft shape?
Ed Q, sanding-type taper tools like a Woodchuck make short work of tapering for either glue-on points or regular plastic nocks. Some people reinforce the ends by gluing bamboo bbq skewers into the center of the shaft for a couple inches (may be necessary to drill shaft for fit).
Guy
Yes, I rip them into 3/8" strips and then use a dowel maker (veritas) to make 3/8" shafts. Sand them down from there. BUT, I am bringing some stock to an arrow mill in a couple weeks and will have him make some precision shafts for me. If the bamboo is not too hard on his equipment.
Hildebrand?
Guy
I have 2 hunting arrows from stringstretcher that he made from Bamboo, my GOD do they fly beautiful from my Sky Hawk, all I have to do is resharpen the broadheads.
After yesterday shooting these I'm seriously thinking hooking up with stringstretcher to have a dozen arrows made & hopefully he can give me some pointers on making em.
Labor intensive yes, but I'll probably only shoot cane arrows from now on.
I am Loving this Post! Great topic!
Guy,
Yes Neil.
Dave
here is a set i recently finish out of hill cane with apple wood foreshafts.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v428/Mechslasher/Hill1.jpg)
Just finished a bucketful of arrows. It is like going to golf driving range to bring this bucket to practice.
(http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/ad199/mingisun/IMG_0747.jpg)
Both are reinforced self nock. The one on the left uses canvas soaked in epoxy. The one on the right is used PCB.
(http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/ad199/mingisun/IMG_0749.jpg)
Beautiful arrows guys.
Cane is great a good source is David Knight at primal needs archery he has really great,straight and grain weight matched shafts as well as finished arrows.as for cresting I like to use Feibings leather dye.
My shafts came from David Knight.
QuoteOriginally posted by Ed Q:
Beautiful arrows, NTD! I'm a beginner at all this, so sorry if this is a dumb question, but one day I'd like to make my own bamboo arrows. Anyway, when installing the field points, do you taper the front of the bamboo shaft like you would a solid wood shaft? If so, what kind of tool do you use and how do you keep them from splintering? Also, what tool do you use to make the self nocks?
Hi Ed,
Thanks for the compliment. Yes I taper them just like a wood shaft. I use a cheapo pencil sharpener type and I wouldn't reccomend it. Using that tool you have to be very careful not to splinter it. As soon as I have the funds I will be getting a belt/disc sander and will taper that way with a jig.
For the nocks I use a ceramic tile saw and then clean it up with sand paper. The nocks are wrapped with silk thread.
Thanks for the info, Grey and NTD.
What about self nocks? What's the best tool to make a self nock with bamboo? Is it preferable or necessary to insert a narrow bamboo/wood dowel in the hollow end of the bamboo to make the self nock? Or can you cut into the hollow part and reinforce it with artificial sinew just above?
Either/or, or all of the above.
How's that for a definitive reply?
If you're tapering for a plastic nock it seems to work better with the bbq skewer filling up the center of the shaft right at the taper.
If you're making a self nock it will work fine with or without the bbq skewer. Wrapping the shaft at the nock with artificial sinew, real sinew, silk, small diameter nylon thread, etc. will give cheap insurance against a split nock and can easily contribute to the beauty of the arrow if a little care is taken.
For actually cutting the nock, there's a round blade tile saw that fits on a frame similar to a small hacksaw frame that works really well. Here is a picture of the blade (http://media.mydoitbest.com/imagerequest.aspx?sku=307858&size=2&warehouse=C&newsize=200) .
Guy
Gotcha. Thanks for the pic and info, GreyTaylor.
Great thread! I know what I'll be doing to beat the "Cabin Fever" after the season ends.
I just mounted up some woodsman glue on's, I can't wait for opening day on friday. I re-worked the taper on these with a regular taper grinder. I hate to say it again but I will these things fly great. Mine also has about 2" of a bamboo dowel in them for strength. Showing me all these cool arrows has gotten my wheels spinning. I think I've just found a new purpose for being retired. I really like the flooring idea. Can you give a little more advice on turning them down please.
The flooring is laminations of bamboo which results in a solid hardwood shaft in comparison to the cane which I think most of the posts deal with on this topic.
I use the Veritas dowel maker to get the shafts to 3/8" diameter. And sand from there. http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=52401&cat=1,180,42288&ap=1
I would be curious to know the grain weights of the cane arrows that guys are making? I also would be curious to the spine deflection.
The solid bamboo shafts I have made range from in spine from 39# to 46#. My bow is 48# longbow. The spine on the solid bambo also depends on how you nock against the lamination seams. If you think of the lamination seams as the grain, if you orient your nock as you would a wood grain the bamboo arrows are stiffer. But there are some issues with the way the arrow reacts. The weight of these arrows with fletch, points and nocks are about 600 grain. Compared to my Hilderbrand breasted spruce which are about 460 grain.
I am currently about to fletch a few bamboo arrows that I will nock so they flex parrallel to the plane of the lamination seams which makes them much less stiff compared to nocking at right angle to the seams. The spine on these will be <35# so I am curious how they will fly.
I don't have a spine tester at home so I don't know the spine of the bamboo arrows that John at Glacier Traditional Archery made for me, although when I placed my order, I told him they were for a 45# longbow. So I can only assume they're spined for that weight. All I know is that they shoot really well.
I did manage to weigh them on my little grain scale, and their weight ranged from around 535-565 grains or so throughout the dozen. They're about 32" long, though, and the weight includes field points, feathers and artificial sinew for nock, points and fletching. Interesting that your solid bamboo arrows weigh about 600 grains. How long are yours?
Bamboo has much heavier specific gravity comparing with wood (0.8 for bamboo, vs. 0.35 for cedar and 0.75 for hickory). On most of the bamboo arrows I made from whole shaft (not from the flooring lamination):
29" length
1" length dowel insert (1/8" size) at front for tapering
100grain point
self nock and feather
TOTAL around 450 grains
I can understand the shafts made from flooring lamination is much heavier since they have no hollow portion as the natural whole shaft.
On my spine tester, bamboo shaft spine does not seem to have wide variation against the orientation. It's like the natural carbon fiber shaft that the cylindrical wall makes the the spine more uniform in all orientations.
However, the hollow bamboo shafts have more mass weight spread. Since I bought the shafts based on spine, my strategy is make a whole lot of arrows and then group them by final weight.
In general I feel bamboo shafts are tougher than wooden shafts. The week spot seems to be on the node. About 80% of bamboo arrows I broke from hitting rocks or steelplate snapped at the node.
This is a very interesting post ! I just ordered bamboo plants yesterday ! Here is a link on making bamboo arrows, might help answer or create more questions.
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/23526
Dan
I just ordered some shafts for John at Glacier Archery the other day. We talked for a long time. He is a real nice guy and knows alot about bamboo. He also said that bamboo is very forgiving and can be shot from different bow weights. I just finished the arrows I got from Joe Neat in Ohio. I used natural turkey feathers with a Pope and Young cut, and 125 woodsman elite broadheads. I crested them with magic markers. The magic markers give them a more primitive look. Kind of a natural dye look. I asked Brian from Tall Tines to save his left over snake skin so I can try cresting with that.
I have Japanese arrow bamboo growing in my back yard. It compares to rivercane in weight and stiffness. Tonkin cane shafts are much heavier and stiffer then either cane or other bamboo. I didn't see where anyone had made that distinction but thought that it was needed.
David Knight sells some good Tonkin cane. After this season I'll probably have a go at it.
How do we get in touch with david knight? I'm checking out all bamboo leads.
Hey all, I'm new to the forum and really interested in bamboo. I've never made arrows before but I went ahead and ordered a bunch of raw bamboo shafts anyway. Bamboosupply.net sells bales of 500 for about 70 bucks with shipping, so I figured that would leave plenty for me to screw up! One question I had was about fletching. Should I use the same fletching glue as I would on a wood shaft, or is there something different out there? Thanks in advance for any advice!
I got my shafts from Joe Neat out of Ohio. I bought them at the GLLI, they were already cut to lenght with the nock cut in. I just used Duco cement on the feathers, works great. Let me know how those shafts work out, I'd like to do the same thing. I think they just group them by weights. I've shot them off all my bows at different bow weights, so I think the spine doesn't matter. I shot a nice buck in Wisconsin with the bamboo this year. The arrow flew great.
What I meant to say is that I ordered raw, unstraightened bamboo, not shafts. Going to try my hand at straightening. Thanks for the reply about the glue.
These are made by David Knight for $140 a dozen. Absolutely beautiful work.
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z267/horatio1226/IMG_3818.jpg)
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z267/horatio1226/IMG_3817.jpg)
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z267/horatio1226/IMG_3816.jpg)
I would say 'ol Gary did get the bamboo figured out.
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b351/osminski/Post%20pics/4a21bcd1.png)
I have a doz of david knights arrows they are great,have a doz carbons as well have shot them together and can not tell a differents other than knights arrows are so much cooler looking.I think his site is primalneeds.com
That is a great buck Gary! You're a machine. You now have me very curious about trying some bamboo.
Jon,
It is the darndest thing. GW brought some of his bamboo arrows to Kalamazoo yesterday to try out his new TallTines longbow. I looked down one, then spun it on the table...those things would drive me NUTS with all the wobbles, but they shoot broadheads like lasers. I would NEVER believe it if I had not seen it over and over with my own eyes.
Yep. I think I better try some!
Just made my first from bamboo bought at Home Depot using a tutorial from someone else...spins good with point in place but my first I used material I had a LOT of....serving thread, hot melt glue, super glue...haha. I will make up a few more with sinew, pine pitch, etc.... Then when I shoot this first one as a test....I wont be heartbroken if it is destroyed. Well except for if I ruin the point as I only have 6 and have not learned to make my own points yet...one thing at a time. LOL
(http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL285/1460516/24045051/409749891.jpg)
(http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL285/1460516/24045051/409749883.jpg)
(http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL285/1460516/24045051/409749892.jpg)
(http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL285/1460516/24045051/409749909.jpg)
In my limited experience..only made a few dozen from planting stakes..
I'd wouldn't say they are super forgiving in the spine dept.
I had to spine sort, cut and tune just like any other wood shaft.
This first one is in the 60-65# range on spine tester.....
I am guessing I could sand lightly the length of the shaft to reduce slightly but best is to just straighten, spine and sort....if too heavy can always trade for knapped points...right? :)
Lady my wife is friends with has it growing behind her house so going to give that green stuff a try and do the drying, straightening, etc from scratch to see if I notice any advantage over Home Depot other than cost. :)
(http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL285/1460516/24045051/409749901.jpg)
(http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL285/1460516/24045051/409749897.jpg)
So I would like a more "traditional" arrow than carbon. What's going to shoot the best and be the most forgiving for a beginner arrow builder-wood or bamboo.
For a beginner shooter..carbon..it's straight and takes out the bad arrow ( read ..needs to be straightened) part of the equation when working on form.
for a beginner arrow builder..depends on what stage you're starting from and what tools you have available.
If you're starting from harvesting the material I think bamboo is easier since it's already shaped. Making dowels from a log is real work..not to mention finding a good log to make em out of.
If you're going to buy pre-made shafts, I'd go with wood.
They're more uniform, and you don't have to worry about the hollow shaft.
John- thanks for the help!
Anytime :thumbsup:
I would second using a consistent shaft as a beginner. But you also may consider aluminum. They come in more spine (stiffness) flavors compared to carbon shafts so you can match it to your bow. If you have a center cut shelf though you are probably OK with Carbon.
Dave
Where do you look for Hill Cane?
I would like to get some.
Hill cane is native cane that only grows in a limited area of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It's botanical name is Arundinaria appalachiana. It grows along the creek that runs through my property. I will have some for trade but not until I harvest it again in January.
Google it. Lots of good info.
For natural shafting I don't think you can get simpler than good POC shafting. That was my first shafting many years ago and I made many sets of good arrows with little monetary output.
Find some good poplar shafting. You will not go wrong.
You might enjoy this. It's a fun project.
http://www.tenbrookarchery.com/tutorials/bamboo-arrows
Cody- that was a cool little tutorial! Thanks!