I need help with bamboo shafts please.

[Mick Smith]

I have just taken receipt of a shipment of 50 bamboo shafts from China. They worked out to cost about half the price of other shaft materials that are available. It wasn't the price that drew me to them though. I've been keen to try them for a while now.

My initial observation was that they're very thin, much thinner than I thought they would be. They're supposedly spined at 50-55lb yet they're thinner than 5/16 inch shafts at both ends. This presents a small problem for me. You see, I wanted to fit 160 grain points on them and they're only available in 11/32 inch dia. They will probably need the heavy points to shoot well, with my short 27 inch draw length, out of my 50lb bows. I have developed a good formula whereby my spruce and POC arrows shoot like a dream with this spine shaft and 160 grain points. So, at this stage, it looks like my plan to build up some bamboo arrows will be thwarted before I even start.

I suppose I could still make up a few with 125 grain field points just to see how they go. They will probably shoot alright from my modern 50lb Mohawk longbow, as it's shelf is cut to almost centre, but I doubt they will shoot well from my 50lb osage selfbow, and this is the bow I'm wanted them for in particular. I wanted a primitive looking arrow to go with the primitive bow.

I could just go ahead and fit 11/32'' 160 grain points to them, but they would be a nightmare to pull out of 3D targets. Another alternative might be to simply make my arrows longer, but I don't want to do this, as I use the arrow point against my index finger of my bow hand to tell me that I'm at full draw. I know from experience, I will start snap shooting without this simple feature.

Any suggestions?

[Stickbow Hunter]

Mick,

A couple of things to consider. If you check the shafts you will find that they are spined in the centre of the shaft and in the direction that the spine weight range is marked on them. If you use the thin end of the shaft they will spine a bit lighter and if using the thicker end they will spine slightly heavier. You did say they seemed thin both ends but there should be a little taper over the length of the shafts. If you use the thin end with lighter spine it may suit the 125 grain heads.

What I did to get the heavy weight heads I wanted with my bamboo shafts was to put a 5 degree taper on a field point (or blunt) and then attach my field point (broadhead) to that. I have done this for years but you can buy Woody Points (metal 5 degree tapered heads) now but I'm not sure if they are available in 5/16". You would have to experiment but using a combination of 70, 100 or 125 heads for example you could probably end up with the 160 grains you wanted up front. Which weight head you would need to taper would depend on how much weight comes off when tapering it. I used my linisher to taper the field points or blunts.

Jeff

[Mick Smith]

You're right Jeff, they do have a taper. It's only very slight, but I can understand that if I use the thinner end of the shaft, ie, cut off the thicker bit to achieve the desired overall length, I will have a slightly less spined shaft which might work with 125g field points. I will give this a go.

If it doesn't work, you might see some cheap bamboo shafts coming up for sale.

Thanks Jeff.

[Aeden]

You could try find someone in China who sells points that are the right size, there are a few sellers on Ebay I know of who make up arrows and can probably sell you the points you want - even if they don't have a page for them they can probably make one for you if you contact them. I used to have some of those Chinese bamboo arrows and they shoot really well, in my opinion definitely worth it over wood.

[Mick Smith]

I think 5/16'' points will fit okay. They might be slightly large, but near enough. I have a supply of 125 grain brass points which I intend to try. I might even make the arrows a bit longer than normal. They should shoot better that way. I could always bind some cotton onto the shaft to serve as a full draw indicator to stop me from falling back into bad snap shooting habits.

Now, I'm waiting for my new self nocking tool to arrive from the UK.

[Trad Bound]

Hi Mick
Dennis La V made reference to a chinese supplier(Ebay) a few months ago and as Dennis would he gave a very good overview on the arrows.
Have a search.
Cheers
TonyJ

[greybeard]

Mick,

With the bamboo shafts you have to re-enforce the ends with bamboo or wooden skewers approximately 3.2 mm diameter.

Replace the skewer at the point end with steel rod or bullet head nails cut to length to add the extra grains.

The following link may be helpful.

Daryl.

http://bambooarrows.com/building_a_bamb ... uing_plugs

[Mick Smith]

Thanks Tony. I'll check it out.

Thanks also Daryl. I was aware that I would be needing some thin dowels or bamboo skewers to glue into the both the nock end and the tip end of the shafts, but your idea of using a heavy bullet head nail in the point end is a beauty. It's sounds like a cheap and easy solution. Thanks for the link too.

I almost forgot what a friendly and helpful site Ozbow is.

[Trad Bound]

We try Good to see you back into the groove. TonyJ

[terryzac]

I stick nails in the end instead of skewers and it ups the point weight

Terry

[discord]

GrahameA mentioned on here the other day that JMC carries TopHat products. They do 40gr glue-on adaptors for wooden shafts to take screw-in points in 5/16, 11/32 and 23/64. Might be worth looking at...
http://www.tophatarchery.com/en/for-woo ... s/Adapter/

[Mick Smith]

John very kindly offered to send me some of the Top Hat adaptors for me to try out. I politely declined as I was looking for a primitive appearance with these arrows. They certainly would have worked okay though.

I ended up using some 3mm galvanised nails with the bullet head cut off, which were glued into the hollow centre of the bamboo shafts. The shortened nails weighed in at 60 grains. After tapering the shafts, I glued on some 100 grain brass points that I had on hand, giving me a total of 160 grains up front. I'm quite happy with the result.

[mac1]

Hi Mick
I've tried drilling wood shafts and gluing in nails to add weight up front works well, also has added bonus of strengthening tip to prevent shaft breaking at tip when hitting rocks etc.
mac

[perry]

I shot with a Fella at the North Albert Shoot that was Shooting the EBay Bamboo Shafts and had done for quite some time. I was discussing just this topic with him and he overcomes it very very simply. He drills a stepped hole with 2 drill Bits and then using a Tap cuts a Thread to suit Screw in Points. He then Glues them in place. I was amazed at how resistent to impact damage they were

Screw in Points are available in a Number of diametres and Weights so it should prove little bother. You could even use Screw in Broadhead adapters and Glue on Points. You may need to taper the back edge of the Broadhead Adapter to allow easy removal from Targets

I was given some Bamboo Shafts that I have been meaning to fit some Screw in Points. I should get to it tomorrow

regards Jacko