cutting bamboo

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naturephotographer

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Jul 5, 2001
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Aberdeen, WA USA
A customer brought in a piece of bamboo about 1 1/2" in diameter. She wants me to cut it into two 22" pieces and cut a channel lengthwise so she can insert a scroll type wall hanging into them. Are there any tricks to cutting bamboo or any precautions to take so I don't destroy the stuff? Thanks.
 
WOW! a bamboo site, who knew?



I helped my son-in-law build a bamboo display structure for a trade show. Easy enough to cross cut. The ripping of the slot would be a little trickery, as it won't be exactly parallel to the fence. (By the way if you ever have to take the little dividers out of the inside, we found that a heavy rebar could be pounded thru them.
 
dont know why things like that surprise me sooooo, BUT who knew there was such interest/traffic in bamboo???????? absolutely super!:icon19:
 
I put in hardened bamboo floors in part of my house, and cutting it was not a great challenge. It does splinter a bit on the exit cut when you cut cross grain, but wrapping the bamboo with masking tale should help alleviate that.

Ripping a straight cut can be accomplished by attaching the bamboo to a straight board and using that against the fence. Screwing through the guide board into the side of the bamboo in a couple places will keep it in place. Use washers or shims to adjust for any tapering of the bamboo. Use as shallow a cut as possible with the table saw and remove the nodes with a paddle bit on an extension if needed.
 
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