Has anyone worked with or had an interest in working with timber bamboo? Not the bamboo plywood that’s available …. I mean actually taking a “log” of real timber bamboo and working up pieces from scratch? I’ve seen some pretty lovely turned objects from it but considering timber bamboo can grow to 10 or 12 or perhaps larger diameters my interest is piqued at the thought of trying to resaw slabs to make …. something (grin)
Just curious.
………..
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
Replies
Hey Dennis,
Last week, I bought a "short" eight foot section of 5" dia. Moso bamboo, from Bamboo Hardwoods on Diagonal and 4th in downtown Seattle. They have an impressive selection of bamboo and bamboo products.
I ended up ripping the stave (log?) on my bandsaw into six useful pieces. I also had to knock the node septa out with a hammer before I could rip the slabs.
Bamboo has the highest tensile strength in the vegetable kingdom so I'm using is to back some hickory longbows.
Tom
Hello. I don't want to steal this thread but I am very interested in making a bow myself. Any chance you could Email me back and give me any details? Thank you Peter.
Hi Peter,I'm just a novice bowyer myself so I hesitate to give advice, except to suggest that you check out the Primitive Archer website.http://www.primitivearcher.comThey have a very active and supportive community that encourages first time bow builders.Good luck,
Tom
Greets, Tom -How big (diameter) was the culm, stave, log (whatever) you got? I've been to Bamboo hardwoods a couple times and yes, they have a pretty good stock of material. I have this crazy idea for planting some timber bamboo here on my property to 'grow my own'. Five years and you'll have harvestable material from some of the varieties. Plus there are clumping varieties that won't take over half the county .... nice since I have timber company property next to mine up here! (grin).I've done a little with some end product, bamboo plywood and manufactured flooring, but I'm intrigued with the idea of working with it directly. Since it's a grass as plant stuff, I'm wondering if it takes a different or some special approach to seasoning it from fresh cut to workable material.The bow sounds interesting. What type of glue did you use to withstand the tremendous shear force within the section of the bow?...........
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
Hi Dennis,Culm. That's the word I should have used, thank you.It was 5" in diameter, the wall thickness was about 3/8-7/16" .The glue I used was URAC, which I believe is some type of modified urea formaldehyde. This is the first time I've tried a glue up of this nature ( a free bend, with considerable bending as well as clamping pressure needed), and I have found a couple of voids that might very well lead to failure. I have another one roughed out and ready to glue up with a slightly different clamping scheme, after I get this one bending.The culm was very wet inside. In fact, there was some mildew growing in the cell on the end. I think I caught it just in time. I have heard that one of the problems with using bamboo in the round is getting it dry. Most bowyers use a hot box to dry down their stock before glue up.Tom
Tom -I was sure I saw some canes/culms there at Bamboo Hardwoods with walls a good deal thicker than that. The stalks were perhaps 6" in diameter and the center cavity was only about an inch across. I could be mistaken, though.Bamboo appears to be pretty susceptible to mildew, perhaps because it's a grass and not a true wood?? I had a couple pieces of unfinished bamboo plywood in the shop that started to mildew just from the humidity in the air.Are you using both a male and female form for the bending? Is this a recurve bow?Don't know a lot about glues, Tom, but isn't the UF stuff pretty brittle once it's cured?...........
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
Hi DenninsThe thick walled bamboo that I saw was pretty small diameter, but the walls were so thick that the center void is less that 1/8".The bows that I'm making are free bends. In other words, the wood is allowed to take it own curve between end points, as opposed to being forced into a predetermined shape. This method makes for challenging glue ups, but it does mean that the limbs are more likely to have similar dynamics.I agree, the UF glues are brittle, and the URAC squeeze out seems that way too, but it's the glue of choice amongst many prominent bowyers, so that's why I'm using it.Tom
I have 10 varieties of bamboo on my property but none of them are big enough to make lumber. I have thought about making toothpicks (bamboo makes the best toothpicks) I have wondered about the manufactured flooring that is a solid lamination of strips and it would seem that it would be just like any wood laminate and would definitely make a bold design statement in the right piece of furniture. One problem I have heard is that in heavy wear conditions the bamboo can get stringy pieces coming off.
The best thing about bamboo for "lumber" is that it grows in about 4 years instead of 40 and is definitely a renewable resource. Check with the American Bamboo Society on the web for endless resources.
i just put in bamboo flooring from bamboo hardwoods.
I DO NOT RECOMEND IT!!
The finish is very soft. and if you drop something the bamboo kind of crumbles.
Do you mean the finish or the bamboo? I can't believe dropping something on bamboo would just make it crumble...Can you give more details? I've always thought that bamboo is harder than most any hardwood I can get my hands on...
Tuf -I read the specs on bamboo as well and I'm really dissapointed at how easily it gets dented and dinged up. But then, I've seen Brazilian cherry floors that look worse than ours. The finish (on this stuff I have) is .... the best I can describe it .... like crystalized saran wrap. About that thick. The actul bamboo content is almost negligible compared to the backing on this so-called engineered material. As I mentioned in the other reply, we're installing solid bamboo flooring in the rest of the house (upstairs w/o in-floor radiant heating). This material is from a different source and appears thus far to be much better finished as well as denser base stock. There's bamboo and there's bamboo. Not unlike there's maple and there's cottonwood (grin)...........
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
Dennis,
what is the "brand" of the solid you went with?
jeremiah
I was afraid someone would ask that, Jeremia. I'll have to look up the paperwork - it's been a while since I bought it. Found it on line and on sale. Will take a while to find the information but I'll look............
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
Turnstyler -I'm not sure if this was the place where we bought ours but it looks similar. Their price is about what we paid:http://www.fastfloors.com/catalog/search2.asp?floortypeid=184I must stress, however, that we don't have this stuff laid so I'm not trying to make a claim that it's more durable than the stuff at Bamboo Hardwoods. But the finish ~does~ appear heavier, it's a solid bamboo product (glued-up strips to be sure but solid all the way through - not laminated) and the edges are eased to make installation a little more newbie-friendly. OK, so they get filled with dirt over the years ... we don't wear shoes in the house. (grin)...........
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
Turnstyler -Agreed .... I used their 'engineered' material over a radiant heated floor at their suggestion. It's held up so far with regard to the radiant heat situation, that is hasn't turned into a bunch of potato chips, but as you said, the finish is the pits. Plus it's milled without the micro chamfer that most prefinished flooring has. Now I understand why they put the chamfer on most of it. Practically impossible to install without dinging up the edge.For the other rooms with hardwood floors we found some solid (not 'engineered' bamboo flooring at a considerable cost savings and with a finish that appears a good deal better............
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
jbark -I'm not talking about the garden variety of bamboo. The timber stuff grows 70ft, 80 and higher. Culms can be from 6 to almost 12" in diameter. The center cavity (don't know the proper term, is very, very small. In other words, the timer stuff has a very thick wall. I gather from seeing the plywood and flooring products made from it one has to rip it in rather thin strips and laminate them together. Although with the wall thicknesses I've see in actual bamboo at Bamboo Hardwoods it looks like one could get strips as wide as 2 or 3 inches and as thick as perhaps 1/2". Dunno .... that's why I'm asking.That said, you can use the smaller stuff like you have to 'weave' screens and such as in fences. Is yours a running bamboo or clumping?...........
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
Dennis,
This is a timely post! I have lately been curious about bamboo also.
I make and sell detailed cutting boards and chess boards. Recently, I've been seeing a lot of bamboo cutting boards being sold in high-end kitchen-supply stores. Maybe I've been missing something all along, but I had never seen this until just the last few months.
The boards I picked up felt very solid and heavy. However, from an esthetic point of view, I don't think bamboo would make a very interesting wood for my boards -- kind of bland. But maybe there are some varieties I haven't seen? But I'd be curious to test its strength.
From an environmental point of view (something I always consider) bamboo seems like a good idea.
Matthew -What little I've done with bamboo, and admittedly it's very, very little, my first reaction to a cutting board made from it would be that it seems way too 'stringy' for such a thing. Meaning if the fibers were running lengthwise on the board, constant cutting across the fibers would seem to want to sever these fibers and they might start lifting and fraying. End grain would be more disastrous (from my perspective) given the perceived porosity of the end grain. But then, don't know.Most all bamboo 'lumber' I've seen has been in the form of plywood or flooring. What they call 'horizontal' grain flooring and plywood has strips about 3/4" wide on the face of the material with the strips 1/8" or so thick. The 'solid' stuff, up to 3/4" thick for plywood, is likewise built up from strips that are in this case about 1/8" wide. Thus it appears that the bamboo stalks or canes are ripped into 1/8 x 3/4 strips and that seems to be the maximum size that a cane will yield. I know I've seen canes that would/could yield larger cross sectional pieces than this but don't know why they're not manufactured any larger. The next trip South to Seattle I may just pop for one of the larger canes and try re-sawing it myself to find out.The 'blandness' of bamboo is, in my case, what attracts me to it. Very straight "grained" and for the most part evenly colored. It's extremely tough and pliable. Most of the reference material I've read claims it's harder than red oak and equals rock maple in some varieties. But there are different varieties with different physical characteristics so you'd want to research that yourself to find one that's suitable for the kinds of cutting boards you make, Matthew.Good luck ................
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
This is a timely post! I have lately been curious about bamboo also...
Me too! I have a grandbaby from China (She is a sweetheart).. This month my daughter and I go back for her sister (They will not be related.. Just another girl for her to play with) ..
I wanted to build two doll houses out of bamboo but no real sources here in Chicago.. We got nothin' but people! And not sure what to get..
I will be away for about a month.. If you have a good source for bamboo that could be cut up for making this kind of thing..
E-MAIL me at [email protected].. I'll get it next month Thanks in advance..
it's will_george.. You can't see the underscore in the link
Edited 2/4/2005 2:32 pm ET by Will George
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