To build this bow you will need a nice large cane of bamboo. The walls of the cane should be at least three-eights of an inch thick, and the cane need s to be about five or six feet long. Pictured below: Bamboo for bow making
Use a hatchet, or heavy knife to split the cane in half. Pictured below: top, Splitting bamboo; bottom, two pieces of the split cane
Now take one of the pieces of bamboo and use your hatchet or knife to split off the sides and narrow the part that you will use to about two inches in width. Pictured below: top, Splitting off sides; bottom, two inch wide stave
Use you hatchet and knife to shape the front profile of the bow. It should be about two inches wide in the middle and taper to about one inch on the tips. Pictured below: top, Shaping bow with the hatchet; middle, tapering the limbs; bottom, finished profile
Next you can use your knife to carve a couple of notches in each end for the bowstring. Pictured below: Carving notches
Now it’s time to make the handle. Cut a stick that is about an inch to an inch-and-a-half in diameter and about a foot long. Taper the ends of the stick as shown below. Pictured below: tapering the handle stick
Carve out any joints in the area where the handle will rest then test the fit of the handle. Pictured below: top, carving out a joint; bottom, handle resting in place in the cane
If the handle fits you can take some cordage and wrap the handle to secure it in place. In the illustration below I am using some yucca cordage that I had made earlier, but you can use para-cord, a shoelace, or anything else that you have. Pictured below: Wrapping handle
All you need now is a bowstring. I used some more yucca cordage for my bowstring. Pictured below: Finished bow, strung and ready for use
This particular bow, which is only about a quarter inch thick, is not all that powerful, about twenty pounds; but thicker bamboo will make a more powerful bow. I wouldn’t hesitate to use this bow to try and take a rabbit, coon, possum, or other small game. Pictured below: Bamboo bow at full draw
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48 comments:
Does the bamboo need to be dried (if so, how?) or can I just pluck a piece out of the ground and get to it?
Also, must the bow be split straight down the middle or can one give it a more lopsided cut to increase power?
You can make a bamboo bow like this using green bamboo. The idea is that this is a quickie survival bow and in that situation you would not really have time to cure the bamboo. If you cure the bamboo it will make a more powerful bow. I have a friend that has a bow he brought back from Korea that is made of bamboo with a sinew backing. It is a very good bow. I am currently curing some bamboo to make a bow of this type. As for leaving the bow wider, I am not sure. The curved sides would be under a lot of compression, but if the wood holds up to the compression it would definitely add power. It would be worth a try. If you do this, I'd be interested to know what the results are. Hank
To cure bamboo I put the whole canes up in the rafters of my shop and just leave it for a few months. I don't split it until after it is cured. Seems to work fine. Hank
What I accidentally found out when I was testing My bow was that if you split the bow ends in half then it bends better even if it is dry
I was thinking I could double up on the bamboo to increase power. I would think by placing one shoot inside the other, stacked the back of the outside piece to the front of the inside one. Also you can use smaller bamboo reeds to make arrows with
but my bow broke when I tried to tie the string. 2 times
What inch size do I need? 1 or 5 in.?
The larger the diameter of the bamboo, the flatter and thicker your finished bow will be. Use the largest bamboo that you can find. Hank
what type of bamboo would be best to use?
What type of bamboo is best to use?
what type are you using?
I'm afraid I don't know specifically what type of bamboo this bow is made from. The stuff just grows wild here in East Texas. It is a frosty green and grows up about 15 or 20 feet tall and maybe three inches in diameter. Sorry I can't be more help.
Hank
My bow broke, since it was way too thin
It looks like u bent or warped the bamboo. How did you do this
If I were to do something like this, I'd make is a laminate bow. Basically, just follow the instructions here, but repeat them a few times, and stack the separate "bows" you made together, and bind them at the center and near the tip. This will potentially make the bow more powerful.
good article, here i found a good article about how to pick your perfect bow, how to make one and how to hunting with a bow https://www.patriotdirect.org/seven-tips-for-bow-hunting-for-survival/
Can this be done with already dried bamboo? i have several canes that have bee sitting out for a few days and have dried brown. Can I still use these canes?
Dave,
Probably. The bamboo I made this bow from was probably a month old. Dry bamboo is often used for bow backings, and I have seen quality bows made from bamboo; but I have never personally made one from fully dried bamboo. Any body out there have any first-hand experience with making bamboo bows from dry bamboo?
Hank
Do you happen to know what species of bamboo you are using? I have only one type of culm in my yard and I wanted to plant more. I was wavering on Moso because it serves so many other uses (food, screening, construction). I just wanted to know if the younger shoots like the one you were holding in the photos came from a different plant and if it would be suitable in my climate (southeast Louisiana).
Thanks. John
John,
Sorry, I don't know the species. It grows here in East Texas so it should be in Louisiana also.
Hank
Hi, I want to make a bow more powerful so if i am to glue 2 pieces of bamboos togather, what type of glue should I use?
Hi,
how long did you make the bow at finish, I saw that you started with 6 feet but the final length seemed shorter. does it matter what length or is this bow supposed to be a short bow, could you do a long bow style (6 feet) for more power or is it negligible? Just curious about the length. Thanks for the awesome post! -joe
Hi,
how long did you make the bow at finish, I saw that you started with 6 feet but the final length seemed shorter. does it matter what length or is this bow supposed to be a short bow, could you do a long bow style (6 feet) for more power or is it negligible? Just curious about the length. Thanks for the awesome post! -joe
Joe, the finished bow was about 4 1/2 feet. It actually makes a bow stronger if you cut some of the length off of it. With a relatively thin material like the bamboo I'm using here, a short bow is necessary to get the strength.
Tony, I use Tite-bond three for gluing wood bows. Can't exactly be found in the wild but it's great glue for modern bow making
So, I understand the need for a shorter bow to improve the weight, and consequently the power of the bow overall, but for someone like me, who is 6'5 and with a 32" full draw, would a bow the size of yours work?
General rule of thumb is that an unbacked bow (no sinew, rawhide, or etc. on the back) should be at least twice as long as the shooters draw length. If you are going to pull a bow to your full draw length it needs to be at least 64 inches nock to nock. Many native shooters don't use the English method of drawing to an anchor point like we do. Many Native Americans drew the arrow to the center of the sternum, actually pushing the bow out at the same time as pulling the string back. Hence a shorter draw length and a shorter bow. I have read that the average native American bow was around 52" with some being much shorter.
I don't know the name either but it's the same that grows from I'd say NC to Texas. It's the only kind I've seen indigenous to the south. That said I'm also not an horticulturists so I could be wrong fellas
I'm curious you said the shorter the bow the more power I think. I know HH used a 200lb longbow. I know it wasn't made out of bamboo so is the material the reason you can get more power out of a longbow if you made it out of bamboo? Was thinking bout making a longbow and laminating it with a couple more pieces and trying it. What you think
Thanks
Ricky,
Bamboo makes an excellent backing for longbows. It does not increase the poundage by much but it helps keep splinters from raising on the back which could lead to limb failure.
I like quick survival skills that can come in handy at any given time while in the wild. Building a bamboo survival bow in half hour is one of such skills. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate your efforts. Check out the best survival bow designs here: http://survival-mastery.com/reviews/best-survival-bow.html
Ricky, the reason why a shorter bow will have greater draw weight is that any spring will lose flexibility proportional to its length. Flex a stick then bring your hands closer together and see how much stiffer it is.
The material used is not so important as the overall effort to flex the bow. The thicker the stock material, the greater the draw weight for any given wood.
The bamboo bow Hank made is great. I do doubt that reversing the bamboo [with outside of bamboo at backing] will weaken the bow. I've seen many made opposite to Hank's which have been very serviceable. In reality, most native bows were primative but effective. The making of good arrows was and remains the major drawback in bow
hunting for survival.
Rob
Just another thought. The fixation of both professional and amateur bowyers to achieve perfect symmetry in both upper and lower limbs cannot be attributed to anything but aesthetics. Please take a look at Japanese bows [Yumi] to see that the top limb is almost twice as long as the bottom and they shoot with remarkable accuracy. This shows that, in survival situations, there would be no need to use two pieces reversed to achieve a working bow. In fact, I have used round green bamboo with simple string notches cut in and spider-wire type braided fishing line for a string [multiple strands] to shoot [admittedly shop bought] arrows as accurate as my fiberglass Ben Pearson 42" 50 lb recurve bow at 40 feet.
Aside from a few muzzleloader blasts here and there I often feel as though I’m the only one brave enough (or foolish enough) to be out there some days. Compound Bows for women
Nice, i will try it. Thanks
planetlagu
Really liked your design and instructions for their simplicity. I'm about to try and make one from bamboo. Just wondering about the handle section - I imagine one could also achieve a 'handle' by leaving some length of the bamboo un-split around the centre of the bow. So sort of scoop out the two splits starting from a few inches either side of the centre. If the bamboo diameter is slightly large, you could also shave some flesh off the sides to shape a better grip. Do you see any advantage / disadvantage to that approach? Thanks!
Wow, amazing. I will try it at home. Thanks for post.
metrolagu
thanks for your post
- planetzlagu.co
Please elaborate or show how do you split the ends
Perfecto..if this food you make it like a master chef 3000 IQ maybe more but thanks..
First, i think that is weird for me, but after all im very apreciated of your mine. good job sir. stafaband
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I have a draw length of 28 inches and i am about 155 cm tall(5 ft). I want my bow to be as powerful as possible. How would I do that? Can you suggest the best bow length for me? And should I back my bow?
sorry not 28 its 24
Cool
You don't have to use just bamboo to make one of these bows. You can also use river cane. River cane be found in the wild of in south-central and southeastern United States as far west as Oklahoma and Texas and as far north as New York. It looks like bamboo but it is much smoother. Also the node sections on the out side dont stick out as much as bamboo so you don't have to smoth them down much.
As far as using green vs dry bamboo, wherever you find your green bamboo, there will probably be some dead, dry canes there in the bamboo jungle. I've made a few bows from very dry bamboo and it works very well.
As far as gluing two strips of bamboo together for more strength, you wouldn't want to use glue, you would need to lash the pieces together with hemp or jute or whatever material you have.
Right now, I'm working on a bamboo bow about 56 inches long and instead of making a separate wood handle, I'm leaving the center of the cane intact as the handle.
I just saw the comment about using river cane instead of bamboo. The most common river cane I'm familiar with is arundo donax. Yes, it's smoother than bamboo and similar in appearance but much different otherwise. It has very thin walls and doesn't have enough strength for a suitable bow. It will split like bamboo but those split sections will break easily unlike bamboo. Arundo donax is very lightweight. I've really tried to use it for a bow but it just doesn't work out. The only way I've seen it made into a bow is by bundling/lashing several unsplit canes together. This is a very awkward and crude way to make a bow.
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