Anyone have advise on a better way to taper bamboo shafts.  I have ruined about two shafts for every one successfully tapered in my first few attempts.  I am using a tru-center taper tool which works great on eevrything else but with the bamboo shafts being hollow I am having some issues.  Any advice would be appreciated.

Glue in a hardwood insert and taper it instead of the bamboo.

Don't use the pencil sharpener style tapering tools.  It's very easy to catch the grain and split the shaft.  I made a simple jig to go with belt sander and the result is much beter.

Besides, better off to glue a 1/8" dowel before tapering.  that will make the wall a bit stronger since bamboo is hollow.

Thank you gents!

what mm said.  make yourself a 5 and 11 degree jig to use on a disk sander.  i have the degrees marked on my sander and just clamp a small block of wood.  turn on and spin.