This is for all our Trad Gang Bowyers out there. I was wondering if you Folks can still get Real Bamboo Lams? Is it the same stuff they make Fly Rods out of? I was wondering if the lams are Tonklin Cane? I know Action Boo is available. I had a couple Mohawk Longbows that were made out of REAL dirty Boo limbs. Man oh man did they shoot sweet!Does anyone know where you can get it from? Thanks for your help Folks!

True tonkin cane is too small in diameter to get laminations out of... I'm not familiar with dirty boo, but i've heard some guys call that stuff tonkin cane.....It's not.... The best action boo you can get is high grade Moso bamboo....

Check these guys out. This is excellent bamboo.

http://www.higuerahardwoods.com/

Oh boy here we go again!   :rolleyes:        

Tracy

Well I went to allot of work creating my on action boo from tonkin cane. I didn't see an difference in performance. It was just one test,but enough for me not to continue.
Abe

And there you have it from two of the best . I concour agree and do not dissimulate. For whatever that is worth. Moso is great stuff.
Tonkin is great for fly rods because you get a rounder culmn and that is where the densest material is. My understanding , and it may be wrong is that flyrods built with flats are usually Moso and the real great rods have a more rounded surface . Perhaps a rod builder can clarify that.
God bless, Steve

So what the Bowyer's that responded here are saying is MOSO or action boo is the way to go. MOSO is the best quality action boo out there. Abe from Cari-bow in your honest opinion there is no benefit from natural over action Boo. I guess it's like building a house.Using plywood or particle board. Thank you for your input.

Try the bowyers bench and you should get more hits. This in no way reflects that you cant value Kirk's input as he's an excellent bowyer.

We still build bows with the bamboo known as Tonkin Bamboo not tonkin cane.  It is "dirty bamboo".

Supplies in the US are very short but we do have some in hand for our customers that want it.

Mike

From what I understand is that Mr. Hill was the first to bring Boo to the states for Bows....
   What kind did he import..?

Thanks for that info wingnut!      

Like I said I went to allot of work trying to grind only as much as I had to from the top surface. I figured if I went to that much work with no benefits it was all I needed.

If anybody is looking for a bamboo source and you have the ability to grind your lamination's contact Carson Brown at Echo Archery.  He recently received a large shipment, I believe 1,000 pieces, so he has plenty to go around. Carson is a Trad Gang sponsor and a great guy to deal with.

Allen

Tom, are you looking for something to play with? I might have something for you.

Thanks Allen. I have plenty of bamboo. Right now, I offer raw MOSO bamboo backing strips for bamboo backed bows. Like Allen mentioned, these can be ground down for lams. I am hoping to offer ground lams in the future, but for now, my prices on the raw are good enough that you might want to grind them yourself.
When I say Raw, I mean it has the natural outer surface of the bamboo as it grew. They are dry and ready to work. Pretty flat, from large diameter moso bamboo. They are 2" wide and 6' long. 8 foot lengths available but incur an oversized shipping charge.