Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: superdav95 on January 28, 2026, 11:38:56 pm
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hey guys. This is not your typical self bow build. it will be a 58" ntn bamboo recurve self bow that where the limbs have been z spliced at the handle. This was then put into a slight deflex at the handle and then glued to a handle. I will be gluing a horn plate over top of the z splice on the back side and possibly finger grooves added later. anyway here are some build progress pics. Im hoping this bow will be about 50lbs at 28"
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Love it David that will probably hunt at the flight shoot. Can’t wait to hear speed test.
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Nice profile, looking forward to the final results.
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Love it David that will probably hunt at the flight shoot. Can’t wait to hear speed test.
Yes I’m hoping it does well in speed testing to see if it will hunt at flight. Fingers crossed. I’ve got a couple heavy Turkish horn bows I’m going bring too to see how they do! Should be fun.
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Nice profile, looking forward to the final results.
Thanks badger! Me too.
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Seems to be moso bamboo? Do you heat treat the belly?
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Seems to be moso bamboo? Do you heat treat the belly?
Yes. It’s moso and it’s heat treated.
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That's looking awesome so far! Are there plans to add anything to the belly or is it just the moso bamboo? Nice work.
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That's looking awesome so far! Are there plans to add anything to the belly or is it just the moso bamboo? Nice work.
Thanks rob. Ya it’s just the bamboo nothing on the belly. It’s been heat treated like my other builds so it’s basically a tension monster. I made one of these steam recurve selfbows earlier last year but it was only 30lbs. Shot nice but very light. I posted a short video last year on it. Typically with my bamboo bows they were 5 piece builds so was testing out the recurves really. I had been testing many methods to steam bend bamboo. It’s sounds easy until you try it. We think of bamboo as this magical grassy wood material that we imagine will bend however we want. The fresh green or even recently green stuff bends like rubber but when it dries and hardens it’s a different story. The bamboo moso pole that I use is the larger diameter stuff which enables me to get the wider limbs.
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That's awesome, I saw your youtube videos of the 5 piece bamboo ones and they are really beautiful. They look like a lot of fun to shoot! Really nice.
Do you do any flattening to the bamboo? I've only used bamboo for other fun projects but really want to make a bow sometime.
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That's awesome, I saw your youtube videos of the 5 piece bamboo ones and they are really beautiful. They look like a lot of fun to shoot! Really nice.
Do you do any flattening to the bamboo? I've only used bamboo for other fun projects but really want to make a bow sometime.
Thanks. No heat flattening is done to remove the crown or rounded side. I do use a series or rasps or belt sanders to remove material on the belly during tiller. This gets the bend looking the way I want. I’ve done build with lighter bows kids bows that were just narrowed and not tapered and they work pretty good too but for higher weight bows I use the full width with slight taper and narrowed tips. Keeps mass off the tips but maintains draw weight. We shall see how this one fares for draw weight. I feel it will be around 50lbs. Fingers crossed. I’ve sent kits to guys over the years to experiment with. Let me know if you would like one.
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Awesome bamboo selfbow, Dave! I love the splice and handle work!
Couple questions…What are the dimensions (length) on your handle and fades? Any concern with the handle popping off or will the deflex in the handle help with that? I’ll be watching to see how this one turns out for you.
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If you get this to work right with those tips stiff enough, you may well build the fastest self bow in the world with no hope of ever beating it.
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Very cool. Clay Hayes did a video a year or two ago where he went to a tropical island, made a bamboo self bow with a snake plant fiber string, killed a pig with it, and cooked it in a primitive bamboo pressure cooker! ;D
So yeah, I guess it can work. Yours looks a lot prettier than his.
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Awesome bamboo selfbow, Dave! I love the splice and handle work!
Couple questions…What are the dimensions (length) on your handle and fades? Any concern with the handle popping off or will the deflex in the handle help with that? I’ll be watching to see how this one turns out for you.
Thanks Willie. Ya the handle section is 10” long and mirrors the limbs width at widest part which is 2 1/4” wide. The bow is closer to 58.5” long ntn. The splice was 3.5” z splice. This I my second time doing this with bamboo and the first one didn’t explode so I hope this one survives. I had pretillered the limbs prior to glue up so it should be close. I’m guess and hoping at least 50lbs at 28”. It’s basically a very wide pyramid type I guess. It may yet be the most crazy interesting bow for me yet if it survives.
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If you get this to work right with those tips stiff enough, you may well build the fastest self bow in the world with no hope of ever beating it.
Thanks Kevin. Ya I’m hoping so! If I can get it to be at 50lbs or just over that would be awesome. Right now at brace it’s feeling like around 50-55. This is purely based on my going by feel from build many of these. We shall see. I will only shoot this bow a few times here to speed test and keep my fingers crossed.
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Very cool. Clay Hayes did a video a year or two ago where he went to a tropical island, made a bamboo self bow with a snake plant fiber string, killed a pig with it, and cooked it in a primitive bamboo pressure cooker! ;D
So yeah, I guess it can work. Yours looks a lot prettier than his.
Thanks WB. I’ll have to see if I can find that video by clay. I’m a huge fan of his work!
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Very cool bow, David. Interesting build along.
I've seen other bamboo self bows but they had the power fibers(outside) as the belly but I can see how the hollow belly style works for your bow. :OK
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Very cool bow, David. Interesting build along.
I've seen other bamboo self bows but they had the power fibers(outside) as the belly but I can see how the hollow belly style works for your bow. :OK
Thanks Pat. I’ve actually tried a couple of those too. They are great for hastily made survival bows. I did not see the same performance though.
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A update on the bamboo self bow and a few more progress pics. I got the handle sanded up and put a coat of tung oil on it to seal it a bit. Ill add more later. the handle is made up of bloodwood, black walnut and black palm. i also added thin horn plates for string groove nocks at the tips. Ive had the string bite in and come close to splitting the bamboo on previous builds. thanks for following along.
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Really nice. Those hollow-belly bamboo limbs look so cool. I bet it's going to be faster than fast.
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Another beautiful bow. You do some really fantastic work, Dave. I look forward to seeing some tiller pics and maybe a video of it in action.
Mark
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That looks amazing. Looking forward to seeing the draw pics!
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Im looking forward to chronograph tests. The critical arrow weights to test are 450 grains and between 150 to 170 gr. I have high hopes for this bow, especially in broadhead. Flight may prove difficult due to the longer draw length. Short stiff arrows do better than longer ones due to spine and weight.
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Thanks guys! I’m hoping to get a string made this week if I can sort it out. I’ve got some flax linen I’ll try first and if that fails I’ll used a sinew material string used for old tennis rackets. I’ve heard of good results with those. I’ll make a b55 string for now to do some testing but will need to get on the arrows like you say Kevin. I’ve got some 29” shafts ready to get at those weights. I plan to barrel round the mid section of the arrows. I’ve got a few to replicate from Arvin so here’s hoping I can figure it out. Thanks again guys for all the input.
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Beautiful bow dave, love the woods in the handle.
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Beautiful bow dave, love the woods in the handle.
Thanks man.
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hey guys. i got it to brace and holy cow this thing is way heavier then i anticipated. I had pre tillered both the limbs using my bench vice tiller set up before glue up so i knew that the bend would be close but its closer to 60-70lbs. plucking the string it sounds like a piano string for cryin out loud! The bend looks good and well balanced at this brace so i guess thats good. anyway here are some brace pics at low brace of 5.25" from belly. I want at least 6-6.25" Ill try posting a video too if i can get it to work. Ive got some reduction to do which isnt all bad i guess. Ill keep yall posted.
Video clip
https://youtube.com/shorts/x4XMTLokRYk?si=yJx1ZzZbZ-2sG73X
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Dave are the ends working at all know? I know you are more familiar with what you are doing but I would try parallel for 8-9” then straight taper to the tips. That’s assuming the bamboo is thick enough on the ends. But make all but the last three inches not bend. But that’s me . IM watching and learning. Like it so far!
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That’s coming along very nicely Dave. Can’t wait to see how it performs for you. Im betting it will be a good one.
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Dave are the ends working at all know? I know you are more familiar with what you are doing but I would try parallel for 8-9” then straight taper to the tips. That’s assuming the bamboo is thick enough on the ends. But make all but the last three inches not bend. But that’s me . IM watching and learning. Like it so far!
You must be in my head Arvin. I just did that! Anyway this makes me feel better the get the outers moving a little more. These bows tend to have more of a circular tiller. This also should lighten it up a bit too. Good call! I’ll post a few pics of it when closer to 55lbs.
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That’s coming along very nicely Dave. Can’t wait to see how it performs for you. Im betting it will be a good one.
Thanks brother!