Bamboo-Backed Bamboo Bows

Bamboo-backed bamboo bows are one of my specialties. These bows are constructed of bamboo cores backed by a thin layer of exterior bamboo with exposed nodes. When glued into a reflex-deflex design, these bows make very fast, silent, smooth-shooting machines. They are extremely resilient and tough. Here are some of my favorites.

My first BBO

Bamboo-backed osage orange. This is the fastest combination of materials that I have ever come up with. Following Dean Torges and others, I glued a thin lamination of bamboo to the back of a core of osage orange (bowdark or mock orange or hedgeapple wood). The shape is called "reflex-deflex," indicating the double curve shape of the bow. This particular bow is very fast. I would tell you how fast, but that information is classified!

Bamboo-backed Osage Bow

Bamboo-backed Osage Bow in a Reflex-deflex Design

This bow belongs to a young lady who recently won an archery tournament with it. She purchased it from me in the spring of 2011 and obviously learned to shoot it very well. I am especially proud of the checkerboard woodwork design on the handle and the tips. The woods are black walnut, bloodwood and maple on the handle and tips.