Has anyone turned bamboo?

Would depend on what craft your outputting. Basket weaving uses the outer shell for weaving and strips the inner softer wood away. Almost any will work with weaving if aged bamboo is used, and using a preservative on a single piece basic has a decent life span The problem with using bamboo grown in US is the inability to kill bamboo borers and other pests in the curing process. The method of curing bamboo that works is not permitted to be done in US due to toxicity. I bought a package of bamboo utensils at a shop in NYC chinatown. The package was sealed and had an air bubble in it. After leaving the package on a shelf by the window for a few weeks. I noticed tiny holes in the utensils. With further inspection I noticed bamboo borers and the package was still sealed with air pressure. If you think I do not know what I am talking about put a white sheet of paper under a bamboo item let it sit for two months shake the item over the paper before removing it. Examine the remains, if you see an excessive amount of yellow dust examine the item for small holes.

Thank you, Pierre, for the info on bambo species. I don't think my local climate is going to work out - the only bamboo I've seen around here is skinny stuff, not really turn-worthy.

But your comment on curing bamboo raises a question. If overseas methods are not allowed here due to toxicity, should we be worried about imported bamboo eating and cooking utensils? What's in the stuff that's so toxic?

Nemo

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Not Pierre. Heading to Lime Rock for the next 3 days so I will pass through your area. The only bamboo that I have seen are P japonica & ph bissitti and yellow groove Ph aureosulcata. You need to check Farley's "Book of Bamboo" for the actual process but I think it involved a bromide compound. Not many people eat on bamboo, and if you pay any attention to what china will put in a product take cadmium in children's jewelry you would be inspecting things from china in more detail.

koikeeper

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Give credit to "downhill" who is infinitely more knowledgeable than myself!

Apparently bamboo can take a lot of heat w/o damage, I have myself boiled some pieces without damage. These pieces were for my grand children to play with so I wanted to make sure they were absolutely clean.

Now I do not know if the utensils mentioned by downhill were "boilable" but if yes surely this would have made the critters inside very uncomfortable!

I assume that the utensils in question were not submitted to any prior toxic treatment of course since the borers did survived the trip to the US.

Thanks for the info.

I have taken a second look at my various bamboo plots and I have discovered that in addition to phyllostachis aureosulcata I have also some (not much) phyllostachis vivax (walls are much thicker, some yellow stripes on the culms and no grooves).

I do not know how this came about, whoever gave me my original specimens must have included the two varieties.

My vivax and aureosulcata are doing reasonnable OK considering the area (Putnam County, NY), my largest culms are about 32 mm in diameter now (one and a quarter inch) and increasing a little each year.

There is a high mortality among the young shoots in the spring (about

I think that 2 inches in diameter is the most that I can expect and maybe

"JimR" wrote

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What is the internode distance of your bamboo and the wall thickness of the culm at mid height?

What do you do with the culms that you have cut?

Now that many of my culms have reached a "decent" diameter (1.25 inch do not laugh!) I plan to use some of them for a kind of simple decorative mini- fence which I have seen described in a book about japanese gardens and similar things.

I have noticed that birds like to take refuge in my little groves but they do not nest there... I have also noticed the leaf litter (!) but I rake it and use it as mulch.

Thank you for your suggestion,

Mostly I've just cut to keep the grove under control, trimmed off the side growth, and stored the lengths temporarily until I have time to do something with them. I've got plans to put a bamboo fence around the well area, perhaps use some of the material to make a low fence along the driveway, and perhaps figure out some way to make a hammock stand. I've also thought about making salt / pepper holders, decorating the mailbox post at street side, wind chimes, and bird feeders. That's after we finish the current spring housecleaning and clean-up, which we schedule for once a year. (The current work is the one scheduled for the spring of 2004. . .)

Of course I also plan on winning the lottery, and with my track record of to-do items I'll probably get started on the bamboo work at about the same time the lottery comes in --

For small items, you can kill any pests by putting them in the freezer for a couple of days. On my list of projects are chopstick rests and perhaps corn holders, as well as the things I listed in a separate posting. I don't know what I"ll use for a finish - depending on the color I want, it might be lacquer, or if a natural finish, walnut oil.

I just came across an interesting web page,