With carbon tow I mainly wrap the carbon around in whatever way is convenient. However, I think that the carbon fiber needs to have tow going perpendicular to it to hold the strands together. So I will cut a few shorter pieces and put them on two different poles in a way that would normally be hard to wrap. It's sort of difficult to explain . . . I will try to get pictures later if I can.

The Calfee bamboo bikes have hemp lugs. It looks like he just wraps it around and then sands them down a lot.

http://www.calfeedesign.com/bamboo.htm