The Bamboo Thread - resurrected

[pantheraba]

For those that love bamboo or are just curious about it...here is a thread. We had one before, time to start again.

Here is some Moso bamboo (timber bamboo) that I am growing at my father's...about 8 years old, I think. It has finally gotten some significant size, diameter and height.

The first picture is the Moso from afar. Then you see my grandson, Hayden, climbing a rope ladder I set up for him. The last picture is the grove at the other end of the 2 acre field (not Moso, just regular boo).

Lots more pictures at: http://garylayton.smugmug.com/Hayde...-Pops/24452452_WHXv29#!i=1994554966&k=HvQxJg9

 

[gf beranek]

Right on, Gray!! I hear some of those clums can get a foot in diameter by over 100 feet tall!! Wow.

What the heck are you going to do with it?

 

[treesmith]

Bamboo! What fun! I just got through helping my 7-year-old build a teepee out of some bamboo poles I cut over at my dad's. She's having a blast right now.

Back in 1990, we had to cut a patch of bamboo while doing line clearance. I put on a pair of hooks and climbed up a stick of it that was at least 6" in diameter, just to say I'd done it. I can tell you one thing, chipping that stuff in one of those old chuck-n-ducks is killer for sure. We were chipping bamboo that was up to 4" diameter, over 30' long. You could barely let go of it as it hit the drum. It literally shot through, unbelievably fast.

 

[woodworkingboy]

The Kyoto area has some very cool places. Some old magnificent gardens. Bamboo fence, the gardener dudes don't mess around.

 

[flushcut]

That's awesome I wish bamboo would grow here.

 

[pantheraba]

Right on, Gary!! I hear some of those culms can get a foot in diameter by over 100 feet tall!! Wow.

What the heck are you going to do with it?

Hahaha...what am I going to do with it? Probably same thing my good friend, Ricky, told me once...I asked him what he was going to do with ANOTHER firearm he was buying...had about 10 already...he said, "possess it!!"

For real, though...I"ll let our Scout troop use some for building projects...we have made some really nice towers from bamboo before...with a zip line and all. I made my kids a platform years back and we pitched a tent on it for camping in the back yard...I'll try to find that picture.

When I planted it the culm was about 1-1.5 inch diameter...I was told it would get to oatmeal canister size and 80 feet or so...some are at least 70 feet right now. The Moso is very cool stuff. Those big pieces are brand new in that picture...about 7 months old. That is why they are still so green...beautiful stuff when new. In the spring when the new culms appear it is amazing to see how much they grow in just a few days...sometimes several FEET.

I have cooked rice in it before, split it longways to make troughs to eat spaghetti from, used it for a balance beam. You can do lots of interesting stuff with bamboo.

Scott...cool about building the teepee...building memories, too. Pictures if you can.

Interesting about chipping it...I'll try that sometime, too, once ours is working. It never occurred to me to spike up a pole...don't count on your lanyard doing much grabbing if you kick out...way too smooth.

Wonderful picture, Jay....looks like a very serene place.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'd love to have just one, growing. Is that possible?

 

[pantheraba]

That's awesome I wish bamboo would grow here.

There is a good chance it will...some species grow in the Himalaya Mountains.

There is a LOT of info here...have fun...maybe you can grow some, too.

http://www.bamboo.org/GeneralInfoPages/BarnhartIntro.html



and here is info on bamboo in snow:

http://www.bamboobob.com/?p=16

 

[pantheraba]

I'd love to have just one, growing. Is that possible?

I think so...I had some growing for several years in the back yard in a muck bucket..about a ten gallon bucket...there were 5-6 plants in it, maybe 6 feet tall. I had planted it in the yard at first but later that day got scared it would spread too much and replanted in the muck bucket. I had a few holes in the bottom sides for drainage...was a bit afraid the roots would spread from it but they did not. The plants eventually died...but culms generally only live 5-10 years so a captive population like that (and we didn't pay close attention to it) wouldn't be expected to do very well without proper thinning and care.

I should think you could pot a culm and give it a go...good experiment.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Can you send me a "cutting" of one of those big fat bastids?

Does it work like that?

 

[pantheraba]

haha...I'll see if I can cipher how to isolate and dig a small starting plant in the winter...I think that is the best time. I'll do some reading on it and let you know...the new plants come from the roots that spread during the cool/cold weather and early spring. I'll see how I am supposed to do it.

Be glad to.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Sweet.

 

[canadianclimber]

Probably not what the thread is about but worth taking a look.

There are a few bike companies using bamboo now.

http://www.calfeedesign.com/products/bamboo/

 

[pantheraba]

Heck, yeah...exactly what the thread is about...what can be done and is done with bamboo. Good find, very cool work.

I'll have to find the palanquin we made once.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Holy shit!

 

[canadianclimber]

A number of companies are making them now. Also trying to show developing countries the process of building the bike from scratch. Renewable and cheaper then aluminum/carbon/steel

http://bamboobikestudio.useful-arts.com/kits/

 

[treesmith]

I'd love to have just one, growing. Is that possible?

I told my dad I was going to start me a patch and he asked, "Why? The stuff is taking over here as it is..." It is very invasive, and spreads like kudzu, if that means anything to you. It got across a road that runs around my dad's yard (down to his uncle's pasture) and is now spreading down into the woods. It can turn into a nightmare if left unchecked. A bucket or contained bed of some sort should be fine though, but it might not stay a single plant. It seems very prolific. (At least the common bamboo we have, not sure about the bigger variety).

 

[pantheraba]

I had forgotten we once made a trebuchet from bamboo in Scouts...we threw a small pumpkin about 150 yards after we learned how to aim/release it. But the learning curve to successful launching was a bit interesting. We learned with water balloons...at first we threw a water balloon about 200 feet straight up and it crashed onto a lady scout leader's tent...and then did it again...twice in a row!!! We were consistently off target at first as we learned to control it. She retaliated by dousing our scouts with a 5 gallon bucket of water...poor sport she was, but pretty funny to those of us that got to watch her flipping out!!!

When we got real good, we filled soda cans with sand, taped them tight and shot them into a pine forest. I hid behind a target tree and watched the missile bust off a pine limb about 3 inches thick and 30 feet up...that will get your attention. Look closely at the sky picture and you can see the pumpkin flying over a tree. That is my son, Alex, in the last picture, on the right with the RimPac t-shirt...about ten years ago.

The bamboo trebuchet was a cool toy. I still have the "makings" for the next one (pouch, sling lines, trigger mechanism)....

 

[pantheraba]

There are some "clumping" bamboos that don't spread.

 

[MasterBlaster]

That is so cool!

 

[pantheraba]

Here is my grandson (in blue shirt, not tie dyed) and two cousins playing in the Moso a few months ago, probably May, when the culms were just growing up. You can see the new "socks" (my word) or sheathes at the base of the new culms where they just grew.

 

[maggies dad]

This what I did with it back a few years ago.
Sure does make a super strong shooting bow with a cool look. This is what we called dirty bamboo. We would get the rounds and then process it into laminates. That is one nasty job!

 

[pantheraba]

A friend bought a boo bow...very beautiful bow..I never got to shoot it.

Excellent work on your part.

 

[maggies dad]

I cant take credit for the whole thing, some friends of mine build custom bows, and I worked for them for quite a while. I sure did learn alot, but have along way to go. We were building about 4 custom bows and about 12-15 stock bows a week. I have no ideal what kind of bamboo it is, but when we were processing it we would find initals carved into it all the time. We asked the man we got it from and he said that the kids in Japan-- I think it was Japan, would go into the bamboo groves and mark it kind of like gangs mark there territory . Dont know if it is true but it makes a great story.

 

[stig]

We can't grow any of the bigger varieties here.

One sort Thamnacalamus spathaceus was the most widely planted. They had all been cloned from plants imported from China in 1927, so they were basically the same plant.
So when they finally decided to flower in the early nineties, all of them flowered, then died, at once.
No more yellow bamboo in Denmark!