Just curious. I see it sold as flooring. It looks a bit too plastic but maybe that's just the finish the factory applies. Wonder if anyone is using it for cabinetry and wonder if it is available in anything for flooring widths.
The top of my cheesy, Chinese-made B&D Workmate is bamboo.
I have seen a bunch of cutting boards made out of it.
On 25 Jan 2007 00:27:34 -0800, "scott" wrote: My mom recently bought some towels (damn nice towels by the way) made out of a bamboo mix. Stuff is really a jack of all trades (sorry JOAT).
Dave Hall
We have had 'engineered' bamboo flooring installed for about 3 months. If I had it to do over, I would choose about anything else. Our dogs have scratched it by just walking on it. Don't drop anything hard on it, it dings just fine. Don't use water (damp mop) to clean it, it cups. Appliances must have a board under them before they can be moved without major scarring of the floor. The compression rating is at the very low end of the usual flooring woods, and meets the ASTM test while a specified steel ball is allowed to penetrate into the material up to .222 inches!
Obviously your mileage has varied.
Tin Woodsmn
I bought a sheet set recently for the guest room made from birch fibers, feels real close to silk. Of course I did not read the laundry instructions, (gentle cycle, air fluff dry) well I do the laundry generally on one setting, grumble now I have to flip the switches.
Mark (sixoneeight) = 618
"We have had 'engineered' bamboo flooring installed for about 3 months. If I had it to do over, I would choose about anything else"
I have seen a number of posts that it is not holding up well and is falling out of favor for flooring in particular. No experience with it myself.
Walt Conner
Like everything else I've seen crap bamboo flooring and hi-grade bamboo flooring. The more "processed" bamboo the softer, but many US people prefer the carbonized which is softer. But you can get bamboo thats pretty damn hard and the least hydroscopic.... it just cost more.
Wicker?
Thu, Jan 25, 2007, 9:40am snipped-for-privacy@cs.com (Dave=A0Hall) doth defame me with: My mom recently bought some towels (damn nice towels by the way) made out of a bamboo mix. Stuff is really a jack of all trades (sorry JOAT).
The Woodworking GOds thought it a bit funny, so you et a pass - this time. I've got some plates and bowles ut of pressd bamboo, had 'em for 30+ years.
Actually bamboo is quite versitile. If you don't know much abou it, then it's worth googling and reading a bit on it. It's used for scaffolding, water wheels (lifting wter for irrigation), water pipes, fishing poles of course (cane, a relative of bamboo, used over here), buckets, cups, punji sticks, blutes, building material, road material, etc., etc. Like I said, worth a read.
JOAT Bugrit. Millennium hand AND shrimp.
Item number one, it is not wood, its a grass. It is also hollow, so to get a usable piece for cabinetry you would have to do what the flooring folks do, cut it lengthwise, hollow the pith out of it, soak it and press it flat. Seems a lot of work for something that will only be, at the most, a half inch thick.
Deb
messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
installed for about 3 months. If I
Tim,
Sorry but it is understandable that you had bad results with "engineered" bamboo, as the filler is no doubt something softer than bamboo, and that doesn't support the bamboo. Also, as one poster noted, quality varies. The flooring is fairly inexpensive, I wonder why you were so cheap and didn't get the solid stuff? Most is 5/8" solid bamboo. Its not for everyone, but for the price and environmentally (grows fast w/o replanting...its grass!) it makes a lot of sense. YMMV
There are many brands, but I like the bamboard brand (which is not the cheapest BTW). Their flooring is so hard its rated "light industrial" and thousands of square feet are installed at DFW airport terminal where it gets a lot more punishment than you could likely dish out.
Scott
The solid bamboo IS harder than oak and hard maple.
Bamboo flooring is split, flattened, and laminated, IIRC.
I have the non-solid laminated crap (vertical grain) click together flooring. Love the look but an earlier poster is right, the hardness of the top layer is meaningless given the soft plies underneath. And the lifting due to expansion (and yes, I left about 1/2" gap around the perimeter of the room) is annoying. And the pieces, though left in the room for three weeks to acclimate, seem to have a permanent crown in each.
At least it was cheap ;).
Ya pays yer money and ya takes ya chances -
D'ohBoy
I would put it down again, but solid stuff.
D'ohboy
The solid bamboo IS harder than oak and hard maple.
Bamboo flooring is split, flattened, and laminated, IIRC.
I have the non-solid laminated crap (vertical grain) click together flooring. Love the look but an earlier poster is right, the hardness of the top layer is meaningless given the soft plies underneath. And the lifting due to expansion (and yes, I left about 1/2" gap around the perimeter of the room) is annoying. And the pieces, though left in the room for three weeks to acclimate, seem to have a permanent crown in each.
At least it was cheap ;).
Ya pays yer money and ya takes ya chances -
D'ohBoy
I would put it down again, but solid stuff.
D'ohboy
The homes section of the local newspaper recently recommended against bamboo flooring for exactly the reasons lists by this poster. It damages too easily.
Brian Elfert
There was just a radio article aired in my area about the general disappointment of many people who've purchased bamboo flooring.
There are no standard for rating bamboo as there are for hardwoods. Bamboo can be softer than fir or harder than oak depending on when it is harvested. It gains it's maximum hardness after it is about five to six years old. Bamboo used for flooring is often harvested at the three year mark by some manufactures.
It has also been speculated that the Janka hardness of bamboo stated by the flooring manufactures is the measure of the hardness at a knuckle which is the hardness part of the plant.
bamboo ain't that any cheaper than anything else. And until I see some proof that it has some benefit for a project, I'll use my tried and true.
Hell, pine's cheap, they grow it on farms so it's renewable and you expect it to be soft... and it's cheap cheap cheap.
Piss on bamboo... and the Panda bears we're killing by using all their food for our floors.
Do everyone a favor, get a breast augmentation.
-Jason
There are many different species of bamboo. We have in our family some bamboo poles that were used as cores for rolled up rugs - these are around 40 years old and as strong and hard as metal pipe. I have bamboo windbreaks around my house and farm and *that* stuff, after you harvest and dry it, displays the strength of crumbly weet-a-bix after about 3-5 years, it just disintegrates, even when kept dry, indoors and out of the sun.
I was amazed when I visited Singapore 20odd years ago how those guys were building scaffolding out of bamboo poles, merely lashed together, all the way up the side of high-rise buildings (10-20 floors)!
I've also seen cured bamboo that was tough & durable, yet incredibly flexible when dry (remember spliced bamboo fishing poles, anyone?)
I expect one would really have to learn about the different species, their characteristics and durability before going out and buying the stuff for furniture making or flooring. I'd be extremely cautious after experiencing the failure characteristics of the stuff I grow on this place.
-P.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.