Split Bamboo Shafts

[KenH]

No, not the ones exquisitely and painstakingly made by gluing up thin strips, like a fly rod...    I'm talking shafts split from a thick walled culm of Moso or other large diameter bamboo with wall thicknesses of say 5/16 or more, and then rounded.

Is anyone doing it?  Anyone know a source of split but not rounded shafts?   Or a source for a 3 ft length of suitable bamboo to split my own.  Bamboo grows all over Florida, here, but I've yet to see the thick walled or large diameter culms.

[aero86]

sounds like a lot of trouble just to work bamboo, unless you just wanna try it.  does your home depot or lowes carry the bamboo garden stakes?  im not trying to be rude, im just wondering

[mullet]

 Ken, I've got some that thick or thicker. I've thought of doing it but keep coming back to those long thin strands that will not be encased in the skin or rind. What will hold all of that together once it is stripped and split?

[KenH]

Same thing that holds a wooden arrow together when you take the bark off, saw it into pieces, and sand them.  Plus a coat of varnish!  I've seen such arrows used in SE Asia. 

Split 'em square; run em through one of those dowel rounding rigs like I've seen here, then fine sand and varnish.  Those "long thin strands" will run pretty much the length of the arrow.  Heck - it's worth a try.  I want lightweight bamboo/cane arrows, and everything I've seen is 'way too heavy.  The "fly rod" shafts are light, but 'way too much work for everyday arrows...

++++++++++
Well, I just went out and tried it with a much thinner (1/8") piece of culm.  Split a "shaft".  I don't have a rounding jig yet, so I used a scraper to head the 4-sided split in the direction of 8 sides.  Then applied 120 grit sandpaper.  Smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom. 

Try it Mullet.  You might like it!  Or send a few thick-wall splits this way and I'll see what I can do.

[StevenT]

I  may get laughed out of camp for what I am about to ask and I sure don't mean to change the direction of your thread.... But would it be possible to make a square shaft arrow out of the split bamboo? You could sand the edges so they are rounded off and not sharp, but it would still be square. Can you shoot a square arrow? Just curious.

[KenH]

There are no dumb questions, Steven; just ones that don't get asked and answered or at least explored.  I just tried rough rounding with a thin-wall split and it seemed to work.  No reason a rounded-corner square shaft wouldn't work.  By the time you got those corners "not sharp" you're almost at an octagonal cross-section anyway.

Here's a discussion of the homemade doweling jig that I would make to round those corners off:

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,17241.0.html

[Justin Snyder]

Lets see some pictures.

[El Destructo]

And hopefully not pictures of Bamboo Fibers embedded deeply into Human Flesh...when the Fibers let go...and pierce deeply into the Forearm or wrist of the Archer.........

[IONIAN]

I've tried and it doesn't work. You will end up with a noodle. The power fibers give bamboo its strength and the interior is just extra weight. I've tried making them in hex shape also and ended up with logs that felt like wet noodles.

[KenH]

  On another site I met a fletcher from the Czech Republic who makes "self arrows" by splitting heat treated bamboo and rounding the square shafts.  He's using bamboo with nearly 3/8" to 1/2" thick walls.

Mullet - did you say you had some thick-wall stuff lying around?  What'll it take to get a piece from you?   My first-born is already accounted for...