Bamboo

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glycerine

glycerine

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I moved to a new house a few weeks ago and have access to a good bit of bamboo. I'd love to use it for pens and other things as well.
For those of you who work with bamboo, what's the best way to dry it, glue it, etc. and what kinds of projects are you using it for besides pens...?
 
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toddlajoie

toddlajoie

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I've installed about 1200 sf of bamboo hardwood (ok, not really hardWOOD) flooring in our house, and I've bought a few Bamboo blanks from CSUSA, but have not tried turning them. I've had plans to try gluing up some of the leftover flooring into something I could turn, but haven't gotten around to it yet...
 
bruce119

bruce119

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What type of Bamboo do you have. There are over 400 different species of Bamboo. Bamboo can be be found just about any where in the world. Some is very small and thin some is very tall and thick. I live in Florida and bamboo is all over the place. I have made pens from thin bamboo just get the rite O.D. and the hole is already inside. can be a little tricky that way it can crack don't use a glue that expands. I would use epoxy. Then the bamboo that is tall with thick walls over 1/2" you can cut into blanks (Dead & Dry) and it turns very well. I like cutting the thick stuff on the knuckle you get just a little figure. Bamboo tends to be a bit bland but it does take a very nice burn.

In short the only 2 types I found useful are the small with O.D. just the rite size for the pen and very little turning a natural look. OR very large with a wall thickness 1/2" or more to make blanks.

What type do you have???

.
 
glycerine

glycerine

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bruce119 said:
What type of Bamboo do you have. There are over 400 different species of Bamboo. Bamboo can be be found just about any where in the world. Some is very small and thin some is very tall and thick. I live in Florida and bamboo is all over the place. I have made pens from thin bamboo just get the rite O.D. and the hole is already inside. can be a little tricky that way it can crack don't use a glue that expands. I would use epoxy. Then the bamboo that is tall with thick walls over 1/2" you can cut into blanks (Dead & Dry) and it turns very well. I like cutting the thick stuff on the knuckle you get just a little figure. Bamboo tends to be a bit bland but it does take a very nice burn.

In short the only 2 types I found useful are the small with O.D. just the rite size for the pen and very little turning a natural look. OR very large with a wall thickness 1/2" or more to make blanks.

What type do you have???

.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what type it is!! I always thought bamboo was bamboo. It is very tall (I'd say around 25-30 feet for the tallest ones) and I'd say alot of it has a diameter of 2 inches, maybe 3 for the larger ones, but the walls are no that thick, maybe 1/4 at most. There's just alot of it growing around the house and I figured I could do something useful with it... besides playing Gilligan's Island...
 
G

gmreeves

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I started building bamboo fly rods well before this pen turning addiction and I have wanted to make a bamboo pen for a while. I know that you can buy the blanks from some of the suppliers but have yet to do so. I think that they would have to be stabilized because bamboo splinters very easily.
 
wolftat

wolftat

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Bamboo is great for making small sharp sticks that are installed under someones finger nails to extract what you want to hear from them.
 
jlg2x

jlg2x

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glycerine said:
There's just alot of it growing around the house and I figured I could do something useful with it... besides playing Gilligan's Island...
Click to expand...

Why not, this is so cool!:biggrin:

gillians-island-mobile.jpg

They could build this, but they couldn't fix the boat to get off the island?:confused:
 
glycerine

glycerine

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chriselle said:
Lots-o-bamboo around here..I live in a grove as a matter of fact. In the next few weeks it's takenoko (bamboo shoot) digging season....delicious.
You could make pens I guess. They make enough other things with it.

http://www.kougei.or.jp/english/bamboo.html

I don't think it would turn worth a darn though.
Click to expand...

Wow, I was thinking I start simple! None of that looks simple. Thanks for the link.
Do you have any advice on drying? I have lots of green bamboo that was damaged and bent over onto the roof because of the snow and wind we had a while back. I cut it down and then cut it into 7 foot sections and have them standing vertically in the garage against the walls. Will this be good enough to dry/cure them?
 
chriselle

chriselle

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Ito City, Shizuoka, Japan
glycerine said:
Wow, I was thinking I start simple! None of that looks simple. Thanks for the link.
Do you have any advice on drying? I have lots of green bamboo that was damaged and bent over onto the roof because of the snow and wind we had a while back. I cut it down and then cut it into 7 foot sections and have them standing vertically in the garage against the walls. Will this be good enough to dry/cure them?
Click to expand...

Your guess is as good as mine but from what I've seen you have to wait for it to turn yellow from the natural green and that can take quite a while. That said I've seen a lot of artwork using green bamboo so...:question:
 
F

fishlux

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I've turned slimlines out of bamboo flooring. Since it's already plastic impregnated, finishing is a snap. They come out nice.
 
Rfturner

Rfturner

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Santa Maria, CA
I have bought two Bamboo cutting boards ans cut them into blanks on my bandsaw. they are already dried and ready to go. I buy them from places like Ross or TJ Maxx, You could probably use the smaller shoots as well
 
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