Durability and longevity of bb bows

[Jesse]

Yeah I know what you mean. Bamboo can be a pain to work with besides the risk of lifting splinters.

[Gordon]

All of the bamboo failures I've experienced (and there have been more than a few unfortuantely) have happened early in the bow's life. If they make it past that stage, they seem very durable. I went to a trad archers event recently and looked at a collection of John Strunk's most recent boo backed bows. All I could think was WOW. I can't give up on this stuff yet -  if he can figure it out, so can I.

[Rich Saffold]

My take on bamboo

Bamboo is a grass, and its not really that tough compared to wood. It doesn't take dryness, or getting dried out, and then re-humidified very well and this will kill a perfect looking bow..Bamboo can look perfect even though its total garbage since it was mishandled on its way here from Asia, or at least how we need it to be taken care of.

If bamboo doesn't grow where you live it will be tough for these type of bows to do well there..It can be done, but absolute care must be taken to keep the bamboo stable mc% wise..and within its working range..

Where I live I get to cut a lot of bamboo, but I don't use all of it for bows and perhaps 40-50% of a haul would be a high percentage..I also get to cut a lot of varieties of bamboo and this has taught me not to get all excited about a given species...Thick walled black timber bamboo is probably my favorite though. I'd love to try what Jaap is growing in Georgia, but at 20$ a slat plus shipping...well you get it..


This being said,  I do love working with it, and cutting my own makes it more enjoyable.

Rich