cane?

[rkeltner]

i have a question that i may already know the answer to, but i'm going to ask anyway. haying bought some 1/2 in. chair caning reed for some future quiver projects, i was wondering if anybody had tried using it for backing, or is this uncharted territory?

[aero86]

your wanting to back it with strips?  i tried with some river cane.  its very tough to get strips even.  i tried to get strips with the same node spacing, didnt work out too well..  had some limb twist.  someone had a good post a while back about using the power fibers of the bamboo/cane as a backing, instead of whole long pieces.  basically cutting the outside of the bamboo out between the nodes..

[Parnell]

That's an interesting idea but I'm wondering how well the strips of chair cane would hold the dimensions of the bow as it fades in and out.  For the work put into it, I figure it would be tremendously more easy to use linen or silk cloth from a fabric store or old clothes.

[Pat B]

I've seen bows made from bamboo window shade slats laid side by side as a backing. Seemed to work pretty good.