bending bamboo plywood

[marrcarr]

does anyone have any experience bending bamboo plywood? i'm looking to bend pieces with a thicknesses from 1/8 inch - 1/4 inch into a 3-4 inch radius s-shaped curve. does steambending work or can i just soak it and then clamp it on a form? is laminate building the way to go? i'm designing some lighting pieces and i've never worked with bamboo ply before. there's a company that has created furniture with similar curves that my designs have, called adapt designs (http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/06/20/adapt-designs-spring-chair/) i'm looking for similar elegant curves for my lighting designs. any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Mark Meckes]

Here's a link to the Adapt Design's bentwood bamboo (http://www.landliving.com/articles/0000000418.aspx) pics at the www.landliving.com Modern Lifestyle and Design website. (Type `bamboo' in their Search to see some other interesting bamboo projects)
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Hi,
The pieces shown by Adapt Design look like strips of laminated bamboo, similar to what is used in bamboo flooring manufacture.

How is your bamboo plywood fabricated?

Do you have a picture of it?

I'm wondering if the Adapt Design pieces are manufactured in China and bent at the factory during the process of glueing the pieces together.
I have seen a bamboo flooring slide show in which the pieces are all glued and assembled by hand before being pressed into boards.

My question is ...
Is it easier to bend the bamboo board during the process of laminating the pieces together, or is it just as easy to bend the board after it has already been processed by steam, heat and pressure?

How does `regular' plywood stand up to bending?
Are there certain types of plywood that are easier to bend?

Most laminated bamboo flooring currently in production is made from Moso (Phyllostachys edulis (aka P. pubescens) grown in China.

But there are other types of `plyboos' and I'm not sure what bamboo species they are made from or how they respond to bending.

Mark

[fry-87]

did you bend it? how did tou do it???