Bamboo Table Leg Construction

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Mark Mortimer, and thanks for telling us about your work with bamboo (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=398) in Argentina!
I checked out your Web site, and you do some fine and exacting work.
The coffee table leg construction details showed this.
http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/data/525/thumbs/31DSCN1372.jpg
Small Table (http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=254)

What did you use to wrap around the leg posts?
I assume this is to help prevent cracking, as a table leg can be put through a lot of stress.
I would also think a metal/brass banding screwed in place, or tightly wrapped wire would look very attractive too, and give added structural strength.
I have been tinkering with bamboo for a lot of years, and have never made any furniture...maybe one day I'll try...I think a certain `frame of mind' is required.

Mark

[Mark Mortimer]

Mark,
Thank you for your kind words.
To wrap around the legs, and in other high stress areas in any other object, I use "lupolino" to bind it. Lupolino is a nylon string which comes waxed or not. It is made up of many finer fibres, but it comes tightly bound. It is actually made for the shoe industry and is what they use for the stitching. It comes in various colours and thicknesses.
I use the traditional shakuhachi binding knot, and can exert a great deal of force with it.
I have even managed to close cracks with it.
I've been looking for a less labour intensive method, because I sometimes have to do lots of them.
Wouldn't the metal/brass banding create weakness
points where it is screwed in?
I've been looking for aesthetically pleasing jubilee clips but to no avail. any other ideas anyone?
Regards, Mark.

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Mark,
It's been a while and I still haven't made my first piece of bamboo furniture!
Oh well, if i ever do, I'll be looking for some kinda bracketing fixture that both secures the bamboo leg and attaches it to the table top... yeah, looking for an the easy way.
Making a table using just bamboo and joinery techniques, that is not sqewed and wobbly requires more skill then I have!
Though I guess not every table needs to put up with the same traffic as our dinner table or workbench.

Mark

[bamboomike]

Mark
I have found a woodworkers way to connect legs to table tops.

I used 4" diameter bamboo legs and they were about 3" on the inside.

Next turn a cylinder on the lathe about 3" by 2'.

I cut these into 2-3" pieces and belt sanded them to custom fit in the end of each leg, flush with the top and then used poly urethane glue to secure them in place. After drying use a good 1" dow rod and cut to 3". Drill a one inch hole in the top of the leg where you have filled in with wood from above. Drill also into the table to half way. After custom checking each fit glue together with poly urethane glue and it will take a lot of weight. I used this to make a split level corner table of black walnut and bamboo. I finished by using small bamboo braces near the bottom and pegging then with split bamboo pieces.

Turned out nice and I have pic if interested.

Mike

[mike jansen]

i used carriage bolts thru my 2x6 table frame and thru the 5 1/2" bamboo legs and ill drill a couple of L bracketss 5" down the legg..out of site.
Then i wrap the 2x6 frame with precut strips of 2 " bamboo .
on top of the table i lay some matting like the typr you can up and sit on the beach with. Over the matt i lay a 4x9 sheet of glass..

[asnor69]

It is nice to find some technical data on working with bamboo. The way I did it is filling the end of the bamboo table planks with wood. Sand the end to make a tight fit on the legs inside walls. Then I drilled a hole straight from the outer sides through the plank inside the table legs. I screwed a 4" or 5" screw into the drilled hole and screw it to a "drop in anchor" (as they called it here, in Malaysia) at the other end. Then, screw another sharp-ended 3" screw into the wall at the end of the plank. The screw should go right through the wood at the end of the plank inside the plank's wall. This method is very popular with people working with metal. The nut that they welded at the end of a cylindrical pole is substituted with the wood placed inside the end of the plank.