Accent of bamboo

[Never Enough Money]

I just saw a table in Crate and Barrel that had accent elements made of bamboo.

I turns out that I have access to groves of bamboo in my home state of South Carolina.....

So how would one take green bamboo and prepare it for use in furniture?

I assume:

1. dry it.
2. cut is carefully 'cause it will crack.
3. use a oil finish because it just seems right....

BTW, I do not intend to use the bamboo for structural elements, just for accents -- although one could run a structural piece INSIDE of the bamboo. Hmmm.

What say y'all?

[Greg Millen]

It looks like there is a fair amount of info available, though I didn't really read much of it. Try:

[bridger]

first, there are about ten gazillion kinds of bamboo. the one you have there locally probably isn't the same one you saw at crate and barrel.

second, some of those bamboos are very very strong. the trick is attaching them together without weakening them at the joint.

third, some of the work should be done green. right as you cut it.

it's a fascinating material. have fun.

[Peter Wells]

I haven't used for furniture (except to pin joints), but bamboo is MURDER on woodworking tools. Use hacksaws etc and keep your good chisels away from it. Be careful when you split laths from it, the edges can give you a nasty cut.

It's great material for all sorts of uses.

only one p in my real address / un seul p dans ma véritable adresse

[Ba r r y]

Why not? Bamboo is strong stuff!

A bamboo high-end bicycle exists, I saw it with own four eyes last week at Interbike in Las Vegas.

We sell Calfee carbon fiber frames, he's for real.

Bamboo is also used to build scaffolding in some parts of the world.

Barry

[Never Enough Money]

Wow!

You are correct. Bamboo can be quite strong. Perhaps I'll reconsider.

Now that you mention it, I saw bamboo scaffolding in India in 1996. It was tied together!

[BlueDude]

In China, bamboo are use in almost everything: Chair Steamer Chop stick Spoon Bowl plate table bed flooring roof house mat cart wheel bridge Bow Arrow cannon baskets ... almost everything one can think of.

[BlueDude]

I almost forgot to include: FOOD! for both human and PANDA.

[Never Enough Money]

Good post, BlueDude.

[chinkc]

"?

Just adding a little to the above. Bamboo wood need to be "seasoned" to prevent fungus and insects eating it up. Bamboo has to be purched of its sugar content by soaking in water for a period of a few days. Chemicals are sometimes used, but over here in this region, we seldom use them. If there is no stream or ponds around, a tarpoline and few bricks should be adequate, just keep them wet

[Daniel]

As a side question: have any of you encountered bamboo formed into and available generally as planks? They make t+g flooring out of it, Black and Decker makes their WorkMate tops out of it; it must be available in plank form from somewhere...

[chinkc]

China do produce "planks" or floor panels out of it, which I think is about

[bridger]

thanks chinkc for your knowledge of things on that side of the pacific rim. where are you located?

[Ba r r y]

I've only seen it in the instances you mention.

What I get a kick out of is that the flooring is more expensive than solid oak. It's obviously cheap to obtain, when some other uses are considered. I doubt B&D would use it on Workmates if it actually was more expensive to them than clear, solid oak.

Barry

[Daniel H]

[Daniel H]

[chinkc]

Yes, I am in Singapore. This regioon, SE Asia and East Asia uses bamboo for pratically everything in the "good old days", Fishing rod, water buckets, spears, blowpipes, flutes, basket, twines, fish traps, cooking pots, Bows and arrows and the arrow heads.and as food . Bamboo hardened by heating in fire is almost as hard as steel and make good arrow and spear heads. ( bamboo (skin) is so hard that it can throw sparks when hit by a parang) A house may be pratically all made of bamboos, the pillars, the walls, the floors, the roof, the table and chairs and....(sorry, got carried away by the "good old days")