Binding Bamboo:Materials and Methods

[Mark Meckes]

Hello Mark,
Thanks for this info! (Table Leg Construction) (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=399)
----- Mark Mortimer wrote
"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."
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I geuss `Lupolino' is a brand name for this string.
I will search for a local source.
One string I have used for some projects is a material called `synthetic rawhide'. I have only found it in a tan color, and it is a waxed synthetic fiber that is about 3mm wide by about .5mm thick.
It is extremely strong and durable.

Here's a picture of a bamboo 'Frog raft' that I lashed with synthetic rawhide.
http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/data/3040/thumbs/1MVC-056F.JPG see larger pic (http://www.bamboocraft.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=540)
It has survived many years in my pond. Occasionally the raft would stay partially submerged (due to constant use by the frogs?), so I would `beach it' to dry out, then put it back in the pond.

One problem using string to bind bamboo, is that because bamboo can have a slight taper, the binding may have a tendancy to slip, and a groove or slot or V shape nicks might have to be employed on some projects
to avoid this.

[bamboocharlie]

Dear Mark Mortimer,
We have a thread manufactured in blue mt. alabama,
U.S.A. which is a beeswaxed nylon linen mix called nyltex. (also used in the shoe industry)
It comes in brown, black, and white.
Do you think it is the same as your "lupolino"?
Charlie

[bambooda]

mark meckes wrote:
One problem using string to bind bamboo, is that because bamboo can have a slight taper, the binding may have a tendancy to slip, and a groove or slot or V shape nicks might have to be employed on some projects to avoid this.
---------------------------
Hello Mark,
I usually use natural fibers in my lashings and bindings, but I have used synthetics on occasion and what I have found is when some of my work goes to areas of extremely dry environments (East Coast - Indoors - Winter - Forced air heating) there is shrinkage of the diameter of the bamboo (negligible for length) and the bindings will loosen.
What I have done since is to use a very thin Cyanoacetate glue (similar to super glue - comes in four grades).
The thin grade will immediately soak or migrate into the fibers and between the bindings and the bamboo and sets within seconds.
I use this glue at the tucks or knots at the beginning and end of the binding and at perhaps six points of the circumference of the first couple of wraps and the last couple of wraps.
This has been sufficient to keep the bindings from coming loose or sliding.
I have also brushed in lacquer to saturate the wraps and this works also, but changes the organic character of the material and takes more time.

-Cal

[Angel]

Hello Mark I, Mark II and group
> I guess `Lupolino' is a brand name for this string. I
> will search for a local source.
Hello Bamboocharlie!! I think it is the same thread.

Yes. I'd seen this kind of strings at the Caning Shop, in Berkeley, SF, but no remember the brand. http://www.caning.com
Also I bought there a flat one.
I use to use the waxed lupolino in my bamboo saxophones to attach the key at the bottom of the instrument.
I treat it with lacquer to avoid sliping.
("lupolino" comes from lino, means flax or linen, used before the nylon strings).
Traditional shakuhachi bindings are done into a grooved ring in the bamboo.

Angel

[Mark Mortimer]

Thanks for the tip, Cal. I shall use that from now on.
Do you have any stats about the amount of shrinkage culms go through if put in a dry place?
I inserted dowels into some bamboo once and sanded it perfectly flush.
After a couple of months it was about 1mm proud each side. Culm diameter about 5cm.
Charlie, sounds like the same stuff. I find it easy to build up a lot of tightness in the binding by tying it to something, letting out meters of the stuff, and then pulling hard while winding it around the bamboo. As it has quite a bit of give you can stretch it out to the end of its elasticity as you wind it. If you can then tie it off without letting it go slack, this tightness is kept in the binding. Great basins, by the way.

Mark Mortimer

[bambooda]

Hello Mark,
I recall someone talking about wrapping copper around bamboo and screwing it in to fasten it. I've done this on occasion with a variation.
I cut the copper so that it wraps around the culm and overlaps on itself by a 1/2" - I then use a long strip of rubber cut from a truck inner tube and spiral wrap around the copper so it is as snug as it will get - then I drill holes about an inch apart along the overlap - just a bit smaller than the brass brad that I will be using to fasten it down.
The brass brads are round headed and are driven in with a
tack hammer - good to stagger the holes just a bit to avoid splitting.
I don't think this does much in terms of preventing splits from occurring, but it is a nice finishing touch.

-Cal

[DerickC]

I would like to inject another material to objects made of Bambu. This is rubber.
We have access to rubber in several different stages while it is being industreialize, or even in its natural stage.
I would like to know if anybody has done something about this possibility or may be considering it.

Cordially,
Derick Calderon
Guatemala

[Knife Knut]

Perhaps coating cordage with the raw sap would waterproof it and increase it's resistance to weathering.