I sadly didn't take any pictures while I was making the pack, I did most of it at work and they don't allow cameras in my building. But, that being said I might have some sketches I can track down later. (I'm at work right now)Basically the way I attached the bamboo was by sewing on 3" webbing onto the back panel making a channel to slide it into. I did this on the top of the back panel and on the back of the hip belt, which is removable. The Lumbar pad is sewn into the base of the pack and flips over the hip belt to velcro it in place. I hope that makes sense.
On the inside I sewed channels into the sides of the back panel to slide a bamboo arch into, and I sewed on a flap at the top to tuck the top of the bamboo into. Basically the rest of the pack is just two side panels, a front panel and a roll down top. For the top I hemmed in some plastic to give it a little bit of form, the plastic was a thicker version of the stuff used to bind stacks of news papers together.
For the shoulder straps I saw a bag online, that had the shoulders go up and around to pad you're back, so I gave that a try instead of sewing them into the top of the bag. I really like the way it turned out, I velcro'd them on the back panel and they don't move around or make noise once the packs on, to much friction. It also made it an easy way for me to protect my back from the bamboo. I sewed on 3" webbing channels for the velcro to be attached to and they are a path for the bamboo to go through too so the shoulder pads are always over the bamboo. I have webbing coming off the shoulder pads to attach under the hip belt so I can adjust for torso height.
bamboo turns out to be really easy to work with, using an axe and a hammer you can easily and accurately split it. I did not resin my bamboo, reasoning being that I think it will last long enough on its own. If I ever need to replace it, which I don't think will be for at least a few years, its easy to replace. I fired hardened the bamboo with my camp stove, and also that's how I was able to make an arch for the inner part of my bag. I cut the bamboo in half twice so I had a much thinner piece of bamboo, and then marked with a sharpie the section I need to bend into a someone 90 degree curve. I then put it over the fire and started applying pressure, after a certain point it starts to give and can be manipulated to a certain point. I basically made an inverted U.
As I said earlier the designing took me like 3 months. I went to REI repeatedly and just look at bags and how they were sewn together, I scoured these forums looking at like every backpack post, and looked all over the web for anything I could find on making your own backpack. This was my first experience with designing a backpack so I really had little idea what I wanted. I quickly figured out what kind of features I wanted on my backpack, and I tailored it towards the NOLS trip I was making it for, so size was a predetermined thing, it had to be big enough for them to let me use it on the course. But, I had no idea how people sewed the backpacks together and so looking at forums and REI gave me a good look into that part, plus various sewing websites to learn different techniques for sewing. Previously I had only down a few hammocks so I could hem that was about it. I made one prototype of the main bag just to see if I would be able to make the curved bottom instead of having a square pack and sewing on a bottom panel. The front piece attached to the sides and the back panel, so it acts at the bottom also. Well I have to do some work right now, thank you for commenting! Hope I made sense and answered some of the questions you may have had.
This is a picture of it while I was using it on the trip. It is not an ultralight pack since I needed to be able to carry 60lbs in it for the trip, so its around 110 or more liters. It weighs, if i remember correctly, 4lbs 5oz. Which I call a success seeing as how most bags in that size I look at online were about 5-6bls. I used xpac for most of the pack, and some ballistic material I had laying around for the back panel. I also used bamboo for the frame, I have two vertical pieces on the outside and an arch on the inside. Well It wont let me do anymore pictures, umm so I guess I will add more later. Thank you all for your help, So much good information on the forum, thank you!
Sweet So it let me upload more than one now, those are pretty much all the pictures that exist at the moment. The Pack held up very well on the 23 day trip. I had a buckle break, but that was about it. There are some minor changes I will make. I have a semester course with NOLS coming up in September, I want to add a brain and maybe redo the pockets, those were a last minute add on, not much thought went into them. I'm also about to start a sleeping bag for the course, I think I have most of it planned just need to decide on materials and maybe do a small prototype.
