Bamboo pens

[papaturner]

Has anyone tried bamboo to turn a pen? I was cruising wally world and bought a bamboo cutting boa rd, one like for the kitchen, bought it went to my shop cut it into pen blanks. Didn`t look too bad. I`ll post a pic when I get the courage.

 

[rangair94]

there is a contest over at tps with bamboo.

 

[txcwboy]

I have a Bambo blank bought from CSA but havent turned it yet.

Dave

 

[DocRon]

I turned one recently. The cutting board I bought had a "toasted" center and yellow ends, and I used the toasted section. It turned nicely, tho I thought it was a litlle bland looking. There is a pic of it in my photo gallery on this forum. Good luck with it.
Doc Ron

 

[LEAP]

I got some pieces of 3/4" bamboo plywood cut so the inner layers are lengthwise and some cross cut to the blank. The lengthwise blanks are a little bland but show the seams or joints what ever you want to call them. The cross cut show the layers and end grain of the bamboo. Neither one is very exciting. If I run across any more bamboo plywood I'll try bias cutting it maybe that will add some spark to the blank.

 

[ctwxlvr]

I am one of the contestants in the bamboo pen over at tps, I have to say it is bland and will dull your tools faster than any hard wood.

 

[Boomer]

Ok you guys have mentioned tps. I am kind of slow but what is tps. Thanks



Dave/ Cedar Rapids Iowa

 

[PenWorks]

www.thepenshop.net another pen turning forum.
I have turned bamboo flooring I recieved from Bill J. it made a nice pen, very hard stuff. I would rather make a bamboo pen out of the natural shoot, they are much nicer looking.

 

[turned_for_good]

Boomer, TPS is www.thepenshop.net

The contest over at TPS is using bamboo in its natural form. The cutting board and blanks sold by CS are laminated bamboo which tends to look 1000X better than it does in its natural form.

 

[wicook]

I have turned a couple of bamboo pens using blanks cut from a cutting board from Wally World... Here's a cigar that turned out pretty well...and sold the first time I showed it to some potential customers:

 

[DFM]

I have a bamboo pen im my gallery, if you would like to view it.

 

[DocRon]

Originally posted by DFM
<br />I have a bamboo pen im my gallery, if you would like to view it.

Wow! What an interesting effect. That was obviously not a premade cutting board. Did you make the blank by gluing up individual pieces, or how?
Really neat!

 

[DFM]

Thanks DocRon, yes the pen consists of a whole bunch of small diameter bamboo - cut stacked and glued to form the blank.