Brillar
25th July 2007, 11:08 AM
Hello from Georgia
I have a nice stand of bamboo in my yard and my neighbor had some structural bamboo, about 4-5 inches in diameter, that I want to use to build a pergola. I harvested the structural about 2 years ago and it had been drying. I made a couple small projects with it but some of them split. I don't want my pergola to split :( so I need to know what to do to prevent that and also what to do to preserve the bamboo. I made a small bridge and used a marine varnish, but that didn't work too well. HELP
Mark Meckes
25th July 2007, 05:13 PM
Hi Brillar, and welculm!
Think of this subject as if you were asking a woodworker how to preserve tree lumber for outdoor use.
This is perhaps the most complex of subjects, with many factors involved, with an abundance of opinions and volumes of research still needed.
The first factor affecting the durability of bamboo would be location, as every place has a different climate, constantly changing weather and an assortment of organisms which affects the rate in which biodegradation takes place.
Also location and growing conditions affects the material characteristic properties of any given bamboo species.
This brings up the question ... What kind of bamboo do you have?
The 1000+ bamboo species are not the same, just like Pine is different to Oak, and even so, some Pine species are more weather resistant than other Pine speces.
So if we can figure out what kind of bamboo that you have, we might be able to say more about it.
If you would like help to identify your bamboo, start a New Thread topic in the forum: Bamboo ID? Ask Here (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=147)
It would be a great help to include photos with your post.
(At the bottom of the message text box see 'Manage Attachments' > Choose File > Upload > Make sure upload process has completed - photo filenames will be displayed)
The next factor relates to harvesting the bamboo.
As said, the quality of harvested bamboo may relate the growing conditions and condition of the grove as a whole.
Just as in a forest, the quality of tree/lumber is related to spacing and other factors in order that a tree will have optimum conditions to produce the best lumber. This is the same for bamboo.
What is different with bamboo is the optimum harvest age in order to provide the best structural material.
Check out some threads in this forum regarding Harvesting Bamboo / Grove Management (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=153)
Okay, now we have reached the point where we can discuss processing and treatment of the bamboo.
This forum (Bamboo Preservation and Treatments) has numerous threads on this subject as obviously this is of interest to many who wish to extend the life of their bamboo works.
There is still a great deal more to write about this subject.
And there needs to be much more sharing of experiences good and bad, and exchanging methods that we have found to solve the age old issue of treating and preserving our bamboo.
Cheers,
Mark