Have been attempting a short bamboo backed bow and keep having problems with the boo spliting length wise. What am I doing wrong?
Maybe leaving the edge of the boo too rough? I try to smooth things out along the edge before exercising the limbs very much, and never had a problem.
Can you post pics? Is it splitting along the grain? From the nodes or just along the internodes? Where did you get your boo from? was it already a glue-up when you got it?
I just made a bamboo backed bow, finished it and put it in the oven overnight (100-120 degrees) to dry it out prior to finishing, which caused it to split just as you described. Could your problem be heat/drying related as well.
If your bamboo is not dry when you glue it on your slat, it will tend to crack once it does dry. Once it's glued in position, it cant move as a whole, so it cracks.
Bamboo is like hickory, in that it sucks up moisture. It has to be real dry before you use it. It also changes shape quite a bit when dried. If you flatten a piece of damp bamboo, once it gets dry enough to use, it won't be flat anymore. It will have cupped towards the back, making the flattened side convex.
I dry the bamboo befor glue up and keep in the box untill I glue it up. It normally splits with the grain just into the very surface, it does not render the bow unshootable, just ugly.
want to thank everyone for the ideas going to give another try. see how it goes. I'll let you know.