WOODSENSE

This fast-growing plant isn’t technically a , but it shares many of wood’s finer qualities, such as hardness and stainability. It also grows lightning fast, has thousands of applications, and has a long history as one of the planet’s most revered building materials. By Sarah Brady and Udo Schmidt

MAGICAL Suddenly, bamboo is all the rage in North America. You have seen it your whole life, quiet and unnoticed, in common items such as fishing poles, garden stakes, tiki torches and wind chimes. Over the past few years, you’ve probably started seeing a fair number of bamboo floors and staircases, blinds and floor mats; perhaps fences; even cutting boards and cooking utensils. Why the recent growth spurt in bamboo’s popularity? One explanation is that bamboo is considered more environ- mentally friendly than wood. With its high rate of photosynthesis, bamboo can regenerate its mass many times faster than traditional hardwoods, and doesn’t require replanting once it’s harvested. Because it is a readily renewable resource that looks a lot like wood, some consumers have begun choosing it over wood products. Some craftsmen have found the use of bamboo in their projects to be a selling point. Max Hunter of Western Dovetail offers his dove- tailed drawers in bamboo, even though they cost slightly more than the same drawers made with maple. High-end furniture makers offer “eco-friendly” bamboo tables and chairs that cost thousands of dol- lars, touting bamboo as a responsible and rapidly renewable – not to mention strong and flexible – resource. But perhaps it’s not all just environmental hype. Bamboo is also very straight and dimensionally stable, available in a variety of sizes and colors. It can be finished with almost any type of product. For these reasons and others, the company Green Building Supply calls bamboo “a woodworker’s dream.” Immense forests of the hollow, woody grass (yes, it’s a grass) thrive on the opposite side of the planet. The Chinese call it “the friend of the people,” and the first known reference to its use by humans NICHOLAS ROEMMELT

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is found in the I Ching, a sacred poles can be purchased or grown, ferent ways to produce horizontal Chinese text 4,800 years old. Long dried and pest-proofed for use in (sometimes called flat) and vertical stalks of bamboo, properly called projects. But far more similar to orientation. See the illustration culms, serve as everything from working with wood is working with and photos on the following page scaffolding to dinnerware all across engineered bamboo , which for details. Either way, the nodes Asia. Bamboo shoots are used ex- can be thought of as a high-grade, are visible and the grain is rigidly tensively in cooking. In rural areas very hard, laminated plywood. straight, but horizontal orientation of China, bridges are often built of Flooring, stair treads, , looks more obviously like bamboo. bamboo. Its modern and historical and plywood sheets are a few of the It is also common to see thicker uses are endless and fascinating, forms of bamboo lumber available bamboo plywood with a vertical including buildings, musical in- in the U.S. Most are manufactured solid core between two horizontal struments, gas pipelines, basketry, in China from moso bamboo, a layers. Some craftsmen use the ends furniture and . species that grows up to 65' tall of this material decoratively, rather Yes, the east has taken advantage and 7" in diameter. It is ready for than covering it up with edge band- of bamboo’s strength and abun- harvest in about five years, develop- ing. Bamboo veneer with a paper dance for millennia, but only in the ing a thick, woody wall. backing is also available. last couple of decades has bamboo To make bamboo lumber, these There are even “end grain” gained the respect it deserves as a culms are split into long strands of boards available, which are said building material in the western relatively equal size. The strands to wear well as flooring and make hemisphere. are treated for protection against good cutting boards. termites and powder beetles A newer product on the market Engineered lumber — a necessity since pests love is oriented strand plywood and the starchy interior of the culm flooring, which is made of strands Generally, there are two ways walls. The strands are squared off of shredded bamboo and adhe- craftsmen can work with bamboo, and shortened, kiln-dried, then sive, highly compressed to form a and those two ways are as different laminated side-by-side. The strips very dense laminate. This type of as night and day. Intact bamboo are commonly laminated two dif- bamboo lumber looks the most like

THE MANY FACES OF BAMBOO Not just great panda food: Bamboo has been used in a multitude of ways in all corners of the globe. 1. bamboo and wood kitchen utensils in a bam- 2 boo-culm container 2. carved bamboo dominoes 3. bamboo flutes for sale 4., 5., 6. & 8. AVAILABLE AT 4., WIKIMEDIA 5., COMMONS 6. AT UNDER & 8. AVAILABLE in Mexico 4. bamboo scaffolding on a modern building site in Bangalore, India 5. bamboo shoots in a Japanese grocery store 6. bamboo furniture in Columbia 7. bamboo bridge over a mountain stream in rural China 8. bamboo-frame bicycle, made in the 1 3 4 U.S. in 1892

5 6 7 8 1. BRETT RABIDEAU 2. BUCYS VAIDAS 3. JIM MIRES 7. YING CHEN PUBLIC DOMAIN COMMONS AND LICENSES CREATIVE BY CHRIS USERS 73, HARIETTA171, SHAUNM, & MOHYLEK (RESPECTIVELY)

62 WOODCRAFT MAGAZINE | 03.07 HOW BAMBOO LUMBER IS MADE Large culms of bamboo, most often the moso species, are harvested by hand when they reach the optimal age, about 5 years. They are hollow with a woody wall, as shown at left. The cross section shows how strips of the woody material are cut from the wall of the culm. After they are treated for bugs and kiln-dried to about 10 percent moisture content, they are milled into uniform rectangular strips. The strips are laminated together horizontally or vertically, resulting in two very different looks on the face of the board. The horizontal example shown here has been heat-treated to a rich honey color, a process called carbonation or caramelization. The vertical example, with its tighter, narrower “grain,” is shown in moso bamboo’s natural blonde color.

B

radial

cross section horizontal (flat) vertical

a board of wood. with the products for seven years. bamboo as you would any hard- Plyboo, a California manu- Because it’s very hard, , including the finish. “I have facturer of bamboo flooring and bamboo dulls blades and bits yet to hear of a finish that will not plywood, also sells a “neopolitan” more quickly than wood. Miller take,” Miller says, although he does version with contrasting light and also suggests pre-drilling screw not recommend straight polyure- dark browns. It looks a bit like solid holes, and cautions against taking thane. “Waterborne polys over a zebrawood. too big a bite at once with a router, sanding sealer work well, lacquers Dried, processed moso bamboo because the material could chip. and oil-based polys like Seal-a- is a light blonde color. Manufac- Otherwise, treat engineered Cell work well. The mostsuccessful turers also apply heat to bamboo, which turns it a rich amber. This is called carbonizing, also known as Carbonized bamboo caramelizing. Most suppliers offer chair and blanket chest both colors along with a choice of from California-based EcoDesignz. Both display vertical and horizontal orienta- horizontal grain orientation tion. Some also offer finished and with its wider bamboo strips unfinished versions. and obvious nodes. Working with bamboo boards

Anything that can be done with hardwood can be done with engineered bamboo, says Chris Miller of Northwest Bamboo, who has been importing and building

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But that pro can be a con, too. Anatomy CHEW ON THIS ... Most sheets of bamboo are only of a bamboo culm available in large sizes and can be • Panda bears eat 40 lbs. of pricey. I found that a 4' x 8' sheet cost $150-$180. Some sheets are bamboo every day, chowing available with a plywood core and down for 12 to 16 hours. branch cost slightly less. For his small su- shi tray project on page 32 of this • “Lucky bamboo” might be issue, Ralph Bagnall purchased a lucky, but it’s not bamboo! It’s node single stair riser. a member of the dracaena Many woodworkers have, quite family. That’s why those curly reasonably, wondered why the cost house plants called lucky of bamboo products is so high bamboo don’t grow as quickly wall when bamboo is reported to be so as the real thing. plentiful. The answer lies par- tially in the quality of the material • There are probably at least internode – birch plywood, for example, is 1,600 species of bamboo. not nearly as hard or durable as engineered bamboo, even though diaphragm bamboo is more plentiful than or septum birch. But Miller says it’s also a matter of supply and demand. “It’s still a new exotic. There are only five or six companies that bring it in, and there’s a limited supply.”

stains we have found, when chang- Bamboo culms ing colors, are tung oil stains. They Colorful cousins: red, golden provide a good even color and Most bamboo that grows in North and black bamboo varieties penetration,” he said. Bamboo America was imported from Asia reacts to staining somewhat dif- sometime in the past 200 years. ferently from wood, so test a scrap Only three species are native. A • The first commercially piece first. number of nurseries sell com- manufactured lightbulb, Two other advantages of bam- mon and rare species of the plants, designed by Thomas Edison, boo lumber should be pointed out. which are planted for landscaping had a bamboo filament. For one, it is relatively lightweight or for cultivation as a building ma- for its hardness. This hardness is terial. “Running” types of bamboo, • The Chinese used bamboo due to a high density of silica, a as opposed to “clumping,” can be as a structural material in natural chemical compound found invasive because they have a long airplanes flown in World War II. in some plants, but also in sand rhizome, or root system, which and quartz. The silica gives bam- travels underground. Fresh shoots • Bamboo flowers very boo its structure and its strength, can emerge from the rhizome many infrequently – some species but it’s also what plays havoc with feet from the existing culms. This only once every 120 years your sawblades and knives. behavior is similar to that of willow – and dies immediately Finally, bamboo can be nice trees and some kinds of ferns. afterward. to work with if you would rather Since bamboo grows quite well not glue up multiple boards of – rampantly, even – in many areas • More than 1 billion people hardwood for a large project. of North America, some of you worldwide live in a bamboo You’d be hard pressed to find other probably have access to large stands house. sheet materials that look as good of fresh bamboo. These groves as bamboo lumber. might or might not be considered

64 WOODCRAFT MAGAZINE | 03.07 baskets). Some say that winter is the Bamboo culms can also be fin- best time to harvest culms, while ished with some dyes, stains and others advise spring is better, just sealers. It can easily be bent using after the plant has dedicated most heat, and holds its bent position of its starch resources to new shoots. well when cooled. A low level of starch helps with Bamboo poses a special prob- the first chore you face after sawing lem for woodworkers because down the tall culms with a sharp of their varying widths and wall saw, as close to the ground as pos- thicknesses. To work with them, A six-way splitter in action. Culms sible. Older bamboo is a favorite you must be willing to measure can also be split with a knife or food of powder post beetles and as you go and appreciate their machete and a mallet. termites, so you must simultane- occasional flaws. Joinery can be ously dry the bamboo and treat it especially tricky. It’s too complex a nuisance; if you know someone for bugs. Leaving the poles to dry a topic to cover here, but let it who has bamboo on his or her upright, with their leaves still at- suffice to say there are hundreds of property, you are probably wel- tached to pull out the starch, is one ways to join two or more bamboo come to all of it you can clear away. option, but you might have to use a poles at any angle imaginable. Since I’ve already told you about chemical bug treatment. Some soak Craftsmen use whole culms for the popularity and value of engi- bamboo in water for 90 days before projects, but they also split and/or neered bamboo lumber, you might drying for two weeks, and some flatten culms to weave together or have dollar signs in your eyes. use heat to quickly dry and debug to make textured surfaces. A miter Well, not so fast. Taking bamboo fresh bamboo. Some recommend box, a very sharp knife and a fine- from its natural state to processed knocking out the diaphragms, or toothed backsaw are essentials if lumber requires expensive, special- thin discs, at each node with a long you embark on a project. ized, large machinery. In fact, most implement to prevent air from — Sarah Brady and Udo Schmidt U.S. companies who supply bam- expanding inside the internode are contributing editors to Wood- boo lumber for flooring or furni- (see drawing, previous page) and craft Magazine. ture import the fully manufactured cracking the culm. Others say this product from China. weakens the structural integrity of Resources But for woodworkers, free ac- any culm that will be used to sup- cess to a bamboo grove can still port weight. Complete instructions for harvest- be a boon. There are many ways You can also purchase dried ing and using bamboo culms, with to incorporate bamboo into your and treated poles in a vast array of 30 projects: The Craft and Art of projects, and its natural beauty and sizes and colors. The rarer species Bamboo by Carol Stangler. unique characteristics make it a and larger poles can be pricey. craftandartofbamboo.com pleasurable challenge to work with. You can carbonize your bam- boo culms, turning them a deep Bamboo flooring, stair treads and DIY bamboo basics amber color, over a hot fire, turn- plywood: Northwest Bamboo. ing and wiping them constantly. nwbamboo.com Saying there is only one way to build with bamboo is like say- Lectures, resources, periodicals and ing there is only one way to cook. 1,400 members: American Bamboo There are some common principles Society. americanbamboo.org developed over thousands of years, but beyond these much is a matter More history, usage and fascinating of opinion. facts: The Book of Bamboo by David Most agree that bamboo must Farrelly. reach at least 3 years of age before it can be used in building projects Lively discussion forum covering (a year or two earlier, it is good for A bamboo fence can be durable, design, tools, cultivation, events splitting into strips for weaving attractive and affordable to build. and more: bamboocraft.net SPLITTER PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK MECKES

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