Bamboo laminate ASL hill style longbow 66" 51@28

[silent sniper]

Happy Friday everyone! I am showing off my latest build, a 5 laminate bamboo ASL hill style longbow. This is my first attempt at an all bamboo bow and it turned out alright. The full draw is a little soft in the outers but I will change that in my next one. Here are the specs;
-66" ntn, 51@ 28
-limb is comprised of 5 pieces of heat treated, tapered bamboo. The riser is black walnut
-max limb width 1-3/16, tapered to just under 1/2" nocks.  symmetrical length limbs with equal tiller for 3 under release.
-genuine wild boar leather grip/strike plate from a hog I shot
-padded loop X99 string
-automotive gloss clear coat finish
-holds 1" of rested reflex and has very slight string follow after shooting.
Speed was 154 fps at 10 gpp. The weak outers killed the speed on this bow, I know this design has the potential for mid-high 160's.

An all bamboo bow is an interesting bow compared to the osage and hickory bellied ASL bows I have built in the past. The all bamboo limb is lighter and softer to shoot than either osage or hickory. I do think that bamboo takes a little more set though compared to the other two woods mentioned. But the all bamboo limb is extremely resilient and quickly returns to its rested position compared to a wood limb.

All in all it was a good first attempt for an all bamboo bow, it certainly wont be the last one I build. The bow is gentle and quiet and a true pleasure to shoot.
Cheers,
Taylor
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[hoosierf]

Cool bow Taylor

[Bamboo-Bows]

Looking great! Awesome to use the leather made by your own hunt!

[Pat B]

Nice bow, Taylor. Maybe a compression strong belly lam like osage or ipe would help eliminate the full draw softness and improve the speed. With the all boo body lams and boo back the physical lightness should show better performance.

[Bob Barnes]

as soon as I saw the title of the thread I kinda guessed it might be one of your nice bows.     I'm impressed with your work and this type of bow is on my to-do list right now.  The only two thoughts are that a reverse taper limb tip wedge like Howard Hill uses, or a noded bamboo belly, like the back.

[Stixnstones]

Always excited to see your work, great job as always

[Hamish]

Hey Sniper. I agree, you will solve your issues when you adjust the taper of the lams on the next one. Current one looks good, but maybe a little whip tillered.

I've always liked the look of these American semi longbows, never tried one yet.

[silent sniper]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the nice words.

Nice bow, Taylor. Maybe a compression strong belly lam like osage or ipe would help eliminate the full draw softness and improve the speed. With the all boo body lams and boo back the physical lightness should show better performance.

   
I agree that this bow does not perform to the full potential of the design. I will work on the design a bit on my next attempt.

as soon as I saw the title of the thread I kinda guessed it might be one of your nice bows.     I'm impressed with your work and this type of bow is on my to-do list right now.  The only two thoughts are that a reverse taper limb tip wedge like Howard Hill uses, or a noded bamboo belly, like the back.

Bob, thanks for the complement! There are a few different ways to build this design. You can go with a lam over handle design like the glass hill bows or a solid belly as I did here. Mine is built in the same style as Howard hills early all bamboo bows before he started using glass. But there is more than one way to skin a cat depending on the end goal your looking for! My bow is whip tillered because I got a little aggressive early on in the tillering stage trying to work out a stiff spot. When done properly I do not think tip wedges are needed.

Hey Sniper. I agree, you will solve your issues when you adjust the taper of the lams on the next one. Current one looks good, but maybe a little whip tillered.

I've always liked the look of these American semi longbows, never tried one yet.

Hamish, the American semi longbow is a pretty neat design. A proper ASL is narrow and thick cored, more similar to that of an ELB than a flatbow. I really enjoy making them!

[RyanY]

Beautiful bow. I don’t know if I would attribute the average performance to the tiller necessarily. If it is whip tillered it looks very mild to me. Given the width at the tips and the width taper, I would expect the strain to be pretty even along the limb with that tiller shape. A more circular tiller might increase stored energy slightly but at the cost of more moving mass. That might benefit a hunting weight arrow though. I’m curious how much set it took/lost reflex and what the behavior is like after unstringing? Given the number of laminations, I also wonder what the hysteresis (?) force draw curve looks like if that makes sense. Maybe the laminations are holding the bow straight/reflexed but the material is actually fairly stressed.

[simson]

very nice!
I love the classy look and the colors, that black walnut and your brown leather are matching perfectly.

Would like to see an unbraced pic ...