Bamboo as Firewood?

[TheDrop]

I've read *some* information on how bamboo can be used as firewood but cannot seem to find information on how one would prepare it. Does anybody have any experience with this? Also - what would be the pros and cons of using it in a traditional fireplace. I've heard that it creates a lot of ash.

New here by the way - this is an amazing site for bamboo research. Can't wait to hear your helpful replies.

[CaroleMeckes]

Welculm to the Bamboo Forums.

I don't recommend burning bamboo inside a fireplace inside a home.

Here is a "related thread" about bamboo and fire:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1273

It does not exactly address your question, but gives you an idea of what could happen...

Carole

[Madake]

We live on a mountain covered in moso bamboo. I have been longing to burn it as firewood, but all of my neighbors say that it will destroy my stove.
One of them says that the ashes are acidic instead of alkali and that is why they would destroy the cast iron.
Another says that the bamboo will burn too hot and damage the stove that way.
They don't have any proof, but I don't want to destroy a new woodstove to prove them right or wrong.

Does anyone have any good ideas about testing this? Or are any of you scientists who can do test this properly?
If I could find some litmus paper I could test some ash (but I have no idea where to get any here in Japan).
Do you think I could also test the heat content per Kg by boiling water? I could see how long it took to boil 1L of water by 1 Kg of bamboo and then by 1Kg. of wood. After the fire is burned out, then I could measure how much water is left.

Of course any bamboo burned would be either split or internodal. (I think that is the right term, isn't it? cut between the nodes, so there are no enclosed chambers?)

Hmm... I feel an experiment coming on. Maybe I'll cross post this on the Hypography forum....

[MartinBambooEspino]

Man, whatz the fuss, I have NO probz using bamboo in my fireplace. I use them as firestarters, NO probz, just put them way in the back of the fireplace. Since I make instruments, I have pieces and broken parts and just keep them in big trash can,,,,,man, I recycle bigtime. When I wanna start a fire I use a small fire, then throw the pieces on the fire and whammo, fire, then I throw on the wood and I don't have to use all those chemical firestarters and junk like that. So, yeah I really my junk bamboo for firewood and it burns white hot and retains lots of heat...I use it in my outside burner/heater. Anywayz, just letting ya'll know what I do here in the hood.
Peace, Martin
www.myspace.com/bamboogourdtribe
www.myspace.com/mexika
www.martinespino.com

[Bamboohead]

Here, at home, we use bamboo scraps for firewood in our woodburning stove (actually an old coal burning stove converted, made 1912) in the shop and have occasionally used it as a firestarter in the woodstove inside the house. Yes, definitely, cut the bamboo nodes off and burn seperately. They will cause a noise explosion that may scare the daylights out of you. The husband is a Blacksmith and uses coal and gas forge. He will sometimes use scrap bamboo to start his coal fire or add to coal fire to save on coal. We are big recyclers around here, at least try to be. He also makes "charcoal" in a contraption he made. We will fill it slap full of bamboo to make charcoal, works great! (Done outdoors of course).

[naga]

Here in Nagaland, we have successfully launched Bamboo charcoal Briquettes which is an excellent alternative to actual firewood. With Deforestation Problem, the State Government has taken the initiative to launch Bamboo Charcoal into the market and even the local populace are reciprocating to the idea of using bamboo charcoal Briquettes as a viable alternative. I shall post the pictures once I become familiar with the Forum's layout.

[alex.landefeld]

naga,

thank you for the post! via wikipedia, I now know more of an Indian state I hadn't heard of ... and about a use for bamboo that I hadn't thought of. I'm now reading wikipedia's entry on bamboo charcoal....

Living in Western Pennsylvania, USA, where there is much hardwood ... I've been thinking of the potential for bamboo as a general coal substitute. In the US, like China and other industrialized nations, coal is a huge source of power for electricity generation. But it's use is fraught with environmental issues - the act of mining it and burning it being the principal source of the problems. It obviously would take an enormous amount of bamboo...but why not use an annually renewable plant as a coal substitute world-wide? Something to think about... :-)

I've been cutting up my old deteriorated bamboo to serve as outside firewood, cutting through the internodes to minimize the amount of trapped air. I haven't actually burned any ... but am building up knowledge from these forums regarding near-future experimentation.

..alex.

[naga]

naga,

...but why not use an annually renewable plant as a coal substitute world-wide? Something to think about... :-)



Hi Alex,
if it might interest you, you can do some more researches on bamboo charcoal. Here in Nagaland we were fortunate enough to exchange technologies with Japan and China. Charcoal workshop were conducted. and in a nutshell, the Indian Kiln is domical and fired for 1 day, The Chinese Kiln is more rectilinear and fired for 4-5 days..finally the Japanese Miura kiln is made with rammed earth and the quality of charcoal from this kiln is Best. But kindly check on the net for more information.

Regards

[alex.landefeld]

Here're some pics of burning bamboo. I've a bunch of p. vivax that have gotten beyond being lawn sculptures and are looking for a higher calling. I cut all culms in the internodes so that burning provides no surprises...though my spouse suggested that storing open-end cut culms will attract nest-building yellow-jackets, etc. The colonial-style cressett is a perfect testing site for burning this quick and hot-burning substance.

I think from observation that this burns hotter than normal wood...but also far more quickly, so you need more to burn longer.

The burning/photos occurred this evening, 20080502.

..alex.