Bamboo

[CanadianScroller]

I just came into a new material. Bamboo flooring. It is like hardwood flooring but made of laminated bamboo strips. I only have two pieces each of three styles.
Natural finish, ebonized finish and vertical ebonized finish.
I am going to plane the bamboo down to .5 inches.
My first attempt will be candle sconces with chinese lettering cut out of them.
Has anyone else used bamboo and is there anything I should watch out for.

I can't speak to the laminates, but have used regular bamboo. Only really two things a little different about it.
- Its very hard
- it tends to want to splinter with the grain.
well actually one more, it's very slick and likes to slide around.

[SharonW0111]

I've tried it but it was the real bambo poles themselves.
I was going to make a picture frame-type border on my chimp puzzle and got some out of the field -needles to say it is fun to play with but won't cut straight on a scroll saw and I'm not going to try on my table saw to split it lengthwise - but it does cut with a heavy table saw . It has a wax coating on it that can be sanded with a dremel to remove beautiful wood underneath or let dry and and it sands easier -- but green or dried it is funn to play with -
Sharon

[oaklysawyer]

For Carl. Never heard of it. How thick are the laminations. Got a picture to show?
Fred

[CanadianScroller]

I just looked at the bamboo and found it was 9/16" by 4", if you include the tongue.
Each piece is 38" long.
It looks like the laminations were 1/4. with the top surface finished down to 1/8 or so.
If it works it will be an interesting use of grass

[wwalker47]

Never used it to saw with, but watch out for splinters. They are very sharp and will puncture very badly and will hurt.

Good luck,

-Bill

[CanadianScroller]

Well I finally made a few projects up from the bamboo.
It was a pleasure to cut. I didnt go through as many blades as I thought I would.
The sawdust was very fine. There was some splintering on the underside as the blade got dull. It didnt matter what kind of blade I used.
The prefinished flooring has grooves on the underside, it would have been best to run it through the thickness planer first.
Bamboo sands well. I did get a little splintering when I used a plane on the edges. I am not sure but I think the fibers in the bamboo grow in a wavy pattern something like fiddle back maple.

I will use bamboo again if the project calls for it. i.e. an Oriental Motif.
Besides I still have 4 more boards to use!

[Neal Moore]

Hey Carl....where did you find the pre-finished flooring? I'm going to re-do our kitchen and dining room floors and really like the looks of the bamboo. How does the price compare to oak?

[oaklysawyer]

Thanks for the picture . Looks like a interesting alternative for some scroll sawed projects.
Fred

[CanadianScroller]

Most flooring places carry Bamboo now, the price here is a little higher than hardwood, I guess because it is trendy. The bamboo is not as hard a finish as hardwood. I have a friend who used it and she says it does scratch and dimple a little.

I do enjoy working with it and Duster wants to try a project with it now too. I am not sure if you can buy flooring by the board or if you need to purchase full cases. It is running around $4 a square foot.