As stated earlier I'm not going to delve into the entire process of straightening bamboo. There are a lot of good tutorials on youtube and some of the primative archery sites that delve into the subject much more precisely that what I may be able to show you.
If you have any questions please feel free to post or send me a PM and I'll do the best to answer.
I use a heat gun although any good heat source will work. Also I use a pair of gloves to keep from burning my fingers on the hot bamboo and a sanding block to bend the nodes and internodes. Same sanding block is used for knocking off the heaviest part of the node after getting them semi straight. My final straightening comes after the entire shaft is sanded and just before I'm ready to install the dowels into the shaft for nock and tip reinforcement.
First thing I do is study the internodes of the shaft deciding on how much work they will take to straighten. As I straighten each one individually I lay it against the workbench and work it until it is fairly lined up with the edge of the table bench. I proceed through each one until all internodes are straight and then proceed to straighten each section at the node itself.
Once I see that the shaft is close to straight I then sand the heaviest portion of the node to e somewhat level with the rest of the shaft using 80 grit sandpaper.
I then, wearing gloves, sand the remainder of the shaft removing the skin until I can actually see the grain of the bamboo. Will try to get a closeup pick of the finish sanded shaft up tomorrow night and then proceed to inserting the dowels.
