Bamboo for Bows 

This year I decided to try growing some bamboo on our farm here in Southern Ontario.  Finding good seed stock here in Canada is hard to do, and quite expensive.  I am starting out with just a few plants to see what happens.  For making the face laminate I chose a variety called Madake.  It’s a timber type of bamboo which grows over 50 feet tall and up to 5” in diameter, for the culm.  The characteristics desirable in bamboo for bow making are as follows:

The nodes should be low or flat on the surface, and the spacing between the nodes should be

12” – 18” apart.  Each node is a stiff spot on the bow.  The culm wall should be narrow, ¼” – 3/8” in thickness with the power fibers close to the surface.  This is where bamboo gets its strength, so when you remove the pith or inside wall to the desired thickness, you leave as many power fibers intact as possible.

When the culms are ready to harvest, they are cut to length and split while green into workable pieces.  It then has to be dried and cured for a year before it’s ready to be used.  Like wood, bamboo gets better in quality the longer it ages.  Bamboo draws moisture very easily, so it need to be stored in a low humidity area.  This could be in a dry box with a light bulb in it to keep moisture away.  Sun cured bamboo has a deep gold color that’s rich and beautiful.