hackberry and bamboo????

[Shondy55]

hey guys,
     im going to start a hackberry bow soon and i want to back it with bamboo.  is that even a good design? also where do you guys get bamboo? i saw some big pieces for sale at a local gardening store they were about as big around as a coffee mug, would that work? thanks!

[SLIMBOB]

I could be way off on this, but I'm not sure Hackberry is the best bet for bamboo backing.  Hack makes a fine back itself, but is pretty weak in compression.  Someone may come along who has done it and differ.  Just my thoughts in the abstract.

[Jmilbrandt]

I've never tried it but I don't think that backing it would be the best design for hackberry. It steam bends so easily try a nice recurve instead and save the bamboo for a board that would be more compatible.

[Dvshunter]

I have done it once. It worked fine for me but I would tend to agree with the others. Hackberry makes a fine selfbow. Save your self the trouble and just go selfbow. Use the bamboo for another project.

[Christian Soldier]

Just as the others said, Hack is really better suited for a self, plus its a lot less work. Keep the limbs about 2" wide for at least the bottom half then taper it to 3/8" at the nocks and you are set design wise.
A holmgard is also possible but probably not a great idea for one of your first bows. 

I've made a couple hack bows that worked fine as selfs (even in my naive early stages of making bows). If I was making another one (which I will do someday soon), I'd go self.