In case anyone else is wondering, it's not too bad to remove a bamboo back. This one splintered on me a couple months ago and I put it on the side. Picked it up this weekend and figured I would give it a shot and see how bad it would be, thinking there's no way that it would take as long as starting a bow from scratch.
I tried a rasp, sure form, draw knife, belt sander, and then I tried the spoke shave. That's where it's at. The spoke shave made quick work of removing the bamboo, then I did the finishing touches with a block sander. About an hour to remove completely like it was never there, and then I glued a new backing on.
That's good to know ,I will stick that in my pocket hope I don't need it....lol
I have replaced a bamboo back before, I left just a little of the original bamboo so I ended up with a trilam. I didn't want to get into the first glue line so I stayed just above it.
This one was already a tri lam, so I didn't want any extra glue weight and I didn't want a quad lam, lol. It wasn't bad at all to stop right after the glue and not take anything off of the core.
Good job Mr. Ben..
I've done that too, takes time but isn't bad.
I get aggressive till I start seeing the glue, then get careful..
Yep good to know, bamboo is the only backing I haven't had an issue with so far. Got two with hickory bachs I need to remove, but I'm saving them for a rainy day.
I've got a tri-lam sitting in the corner beside me that's waiting to have the backing replaced. I didn't think it would be too bad, but it's nice to hear from someone who has done one.
Dave.