Ok so Ive been making Bamboo Trekking Poles for awhile now and had a few friends wanting to know how I give my bamboo interesting designs in the color of the wood. So here is a video over-view of how I make a typical bamboo trekking pole from start to finish. I made this video for another website so please forgive the site logo at the beginning of the video.
I will be making a more detailed video on how to temper designs into the bamboo with extra features added to the trekking poles for multiple uses other than a Trekking Pole in the near future. Hope this gives you some ideas to make your own. These things are extremely light once they dry out and VERY strong. Id trust bamboo over those metal ones any day.

Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/C-fBfluSo2Y

Good job!

Nice!

Nice video. Thank you.

Thanks. Anybody else got some ideas to share? Im thinking about making a bamboo trekking pole that shoots a arrow bolt out of the bottom when the rubber tip is removed. Putting a trigger near the handle. Maybe use bungee cord as the ejector device. Not sure if I can get enough speed out of it to do any damage though. Im sure it will need at least 50lbs of force to kill something.

Pogo stick!

Concealed weaponry, especially of this type, would probably be frowned upon my most LEOs and rangers. Looks up your local laws on cane-swords, tube projectiles and the like.

If you're wanting to hunt, you'll do better by just trapping rather than trying to make a bungee/spring launcher with a blade.
Springloaded things tend to fire off an inopportune times, as well, unless they're heavily reinforced (which isn't light, either.)

If it were me (and I was not in CA where it's illegal) I'd use it as a blowgun with a paralytic rather than going for a kinetic kill.
Or put a base/hook on it for an atlatl.

And, in case you care, with an arrow/crossbow-bolt you don't need a lot of KE to make a kill on small game.

Or bore small holes for music or a pipe if you're into that kind of thing. :P

-mox

What bamboo are you using? I'm in Oregon and I grow black bamboo. Do you worry about water collecting in the top culm or do you seal it up? A ballhead on top of 3 poles would make a portable tripod . Have you ever broken a pole?

Curious what one of these weights? Obviously there is a big fluctuation based on how thick you use but ballpark?

I have three pieces of black bamboo. 1/2" OD, 61" long, 5.10 ounces. 3/4" OD, 60.5" long, 7.70 ounces. 1 1/4" OD, 61" long, 14.55 ounces.