For quite some time I've been wanting to make a bamboo quiver. Yesterday my good friend sleek came by on his way home from his family vacation. On his trip he got permission to cut some big bamboo. He gifted me 2 pieces long enough for a quiver.
The bamboo is green/fresh cut. So the first thing I need to do is get it dried out. I researched the best ways to do this without it cracking or checking. I found that the Japanese flute makers use fire to activate the natural resin in the boo. They heat it over a fire slowly until the resin is brought to the surface. Then it is quickly wiped off. Thus creating a natural sealer, just like putting shalack or glue on a stave. What I read stated that, it wasn't a full proof way of keeping it from cracking but it was the most proven way to minimize the possibility of a crack. Then once your done let dry like a stave for at least 2 weeks.
This is what I did, lol.
I first knocked out the center nodes with a stick. Then I dropped an arrow in to see how the "bottom" node was going to react. Well it punched a small hole, so I went ahead and knocked it out as well. It wasn't going to serve as a solid bottom anyways.
I then began the heating process by starting a very primitive fire. I kept the boo moving to make sure it was heated evenly. With my set up I was able to heat half of the bamboo at a time. You want to make sure that it doesn't get so hot you can't handle it bare handed. Heat it until it is uniformly wet on the outside. Then heat it until the resin just barely starts to bubble. If you remove it from the heat and the bubbles stop instantly it's ready to wipe on quickly.
Here is both of my future Quivers that are now ready to dry for a few weeks.
