bamboo back and belly

[dragonman]

Hi everyone, I havent posted on here for ages, . So here is a bow I made a few months ago for those who may be interested. It is a bamboo back and belly with rock maple core ). Making these bows will take many years of practice, the main problem is the irregularities of the bamboo and tillering them..... I'm very much still a beginner with these,and the tiller is a bit off, but overall it is very snappy and a bit faster than my BBI's.  It is very light in the hand with no detectable hand shock, lovely to shoot. I'm definately going to persevere with these....
It is 58",  52# @ 27" and only weighs 16oz , the belly bamboo was moderately heat tempered from the inside , next one I'll heat more
Bow is at an angle in the fulldraw shot, so hard to judge the tiller, but I admit its off anyway, couldnt get it right!!!!

[Gordon]

I like it it a lot. So how do you tiller this kind of bow?

[dragonman]

Gordon, firstly by making sure it is as symetrical as possible from the start, then by removing belly material, this is only my 3rd one of these so I'm  learning, but it doesnt seem as responsive to belly material removal as a wood belly, dont know why yet??? maybe its to do with the node placement in the limbs?   but they appear to me to be the fastest allwood bows.....

[Parnell]

Still don't really get the tillering process of belly bamboo either.  Don't see how it would be scraped.  I've figured tillering was done by narrowing them and therefore having to make sure that the dimensions of the laminations are nearly spot on. 

You scrape the belly bamboo?

P.s. Sorry Dragonman, that is one beautiful looking bow and I bet it is very fast and very light.

[dragonman]

Parnell, yes its safe to scrape the belly boo, my first attempt at one of these ended up about 175lb and I couldnt pull it, so I played with it and tested what the boo could take and scraping the belly is no problem, narrowing is another option like you say

[bubby]

I really like the look's of that bow, saw another one that a guy did on tradgang, it was all boo and he pre tillered it and then scraped the sides to finish the tillering, again nice bow

[half eye]

Very nice stuff there.....bet something hit by an arrow out of it wont know anything about a precieved tiller glitch,eh? Looks damned fine to the old man.
rich

[james parker]

very nice dragonman,, tiller looks good to me,, have you tried a tempered boo belly yet?or a multi lam?

[jpitts]

WOW.....I really like what you've got with the boo.
Maybe we can talk you into doing a build-a-long for those of us interested in seeing how you build one of these beauties...

[dragonman]

thanks guys , thanks Rich, Robustus I did temper the belly fom the inside of the boo , heard that was the best way to do it? is that how you do it?
jpitts I've never put a buld along together, dont know if I'm the best one to it!!!, its basicaly the same procedure as any laminated bow though...

[tattoo dave]

That turned out sweet!!! Tiller looks good to me. I bet it shoots great. Keep up the good work.

Tattoo Dave

[Cameroo]

That's a nice lookin' weapon!  Can't say I've ever seen anyone scrape a bamboo belly before either.  You learn something every day I guess.  Thanks for letting us have a peek!

[Pat B]

I've seen James(Robustus) temper boo belly slats.    He uses a rosebud tip on a big propane torch and it looks like only a cinder would be left. Looks unusable like that but is quite impressive in one of his bows.

[dragonman]

thanks again guys, thanks for the imput,  I forgot what a nice bunch you all are here on the PA, have to start posting again.....
Pat , does James toast the rind side of the boo till it is black??? and thanks Tatoo for your help with this one....

[mullet]

Yes, James blackens the rind.