Barrel Tapered Heat tempered planed bamboo

Barrel tapered bamboo backing means that the bamboo is thicker in the center and tapers to a thinner dimension toward the tips of the bamboo. This can be advantageous to the bow builder if he is wanting every thing to be pre tapered in thickness before gluing. This will help the tillering process to be easier considering bamboo does not grow flat and has a few thick spots as well as thin spots. Tapering does not rid the bamboo of these spots but does make things much easier to tiller. If used in conjunction with our Barrel tapered fastflax bamboo core as a center core and a wood belly core  OR a floor tillered hickory stave this combination is practically tillered before you ever start.

All of our planed bamboo backing strips are heat tempered by cooking them in a convection environment. This allows the bamboo to be evenly tempered throughout the full length and full width of the bamboo. This ensures maximum performance and minimum shrinking.

Approx.. Most are 1 1/2  wide after plaining flat by 70-72" long.  Belly side of bamboo is planed flat and Barrel tapered , ready to be glued onto your bow.  .  Bamboo has many times the tensile strength than a hickory backing does.  Adds plenty of insurance and beauty. Tapered Bamboo will be wider in the center ( about 1 1/2" wide) and will be narrower at the tips because the bamboo will naturally taper in width after thinning the tips. Usually the tips end up about 1" wide after tapering the thickness.  Sometimes it is not 1 1 /2" wide all the way to the tips because the bamboo has a mildly rounded backside. Helpful hint : Use a hacksaw or toothing plane to groove the flat side before gluing. This will give the glue something to GRAB .