Mark Meckes
5th November 2001, 06:56 AM
The process using smoke to prevent insect infestation goes back many thousands of years, when villagers who built and lived in bamboo, and other types of houses with grass thatched roofs learned that the smoke from an indoor fire-pit prevented insects from living in the roof and upper
walls of the house, and also extended the life of the building. I saw these types of houses, which are still constructed this way in Papua New Guinea (and other countries) in the 1960's. ( they actually had no chimneys).
In Japan, old buildings that are being demolished (that have bamboo in the ceiling / roof structure) are sought after by bamboo artisans for their aged, smoked bamboo.
I have used a wood fire many times to heat cure bamboo, but the this method is different because it uses high heat as well.
This is done by moving the bamboo pole (or several at a time back and forth over the fire, and constantly rotating the pole until the surface coating of the pole becomes hot and slippery. Then at the right moment the waxy exudate is wiped off. Bees-wax can also be applied during the process, and any excess wiped off.
During this process if the pole is not hot enough, the surface will be very sticky and hard to wipe off.
I've tried this technique for smaller pieces, in an oven and the temperature seems to need to be around 275oF -300oF before the surface becomes slippery.
The wood fires I've used often have rising smoke,and during this process the pole surface may become blackened with soot, but most of the discolouration can wiped off when the surface becomes slippery.
If the pole is put back over the fire AFTER it has been wiped, it can get stained by the soot, which may be good or not-so -good depending what effect you desire.
A coal /briquette/charcoal fire is not as smokey.
A simple`smoke cured' technique is to put some bamboos poles at a further distance away from the fire for a period of perhaps several weeks to smoke cure them.
Mark Meckes
*******************
The following is from an email written by John Hamilton
July 2001 from The Original Bamboo Factory - Jamaica :
Recently we organised a workshop with the guidance of Linda Garland from Bali and Simon Valez from Columbia who have become frequent visitors to our shores .
The workshop got funding to bring a Columbian coffee/bamboo farmer called Gabriel who has been treating his Guadua by the Japanese smoking technique.
A delegation of Columbians visited Japan and were shown around the plant but had to figure it out themselves.
Well we're still in that process ourselves!
It seems that the Japanese have been using this technique for the last 600 years!! And not much of us elsewhere know much about it.
In simple terms you build a long coal skill using waste bamboo and channel the smoke through pipes into a bamboo constructed chamber filled with your culms ready to treat.
This chamber is covered in heavy gage polythene with a chimney at the far end and a zinc floor graduating to a gutter which helps collect all the condensation (pyrolic acid otherwise known as wood vinegar)
We smoked the bamboo for 2 weeks , having to refill the coal pit at least once.
At the end of the day we had not only produced smoked treated bamboo, covered in tar which we later scrapped off, but a good amount of charcoal which burnt well on the barbeque and added flavour to the chicken !
Having thought we had finally found the miracle treatment for bamboo, not so fast, our expectations have met another hitch when after 6 weeks in the shed, dust and insect attack raised their ugly heads again and much cracking too.
So its back to the drawing boards, and after a meeting with Mr Valez last month, he tells me there is another man which he gets his bamboo from who had also gone on the trip to Japan. He treats it upright and we believe the heat factor plays an important role.
The great mystery continues and I plan to visit Columbia soon and will keep you all informed .
Meanwhile can anyone help shed light on this process?
It is to be noted we are using Bambusa Vulgaris, the common variety here which of course has the highest starch level.
John Hamilton
Original Bamboo Factory Ltd.
walls of the house, and also extended the life of the building. I saw these types of houses, which are still constructed this way in Papua New Guinea (and other countries) in the 1960's. ( they actually had no chimneys).
In Japan, old buildings that are being demolished (that have bamboo in the ceiling / roof structure) are sought after by bamboo artisans for their aged, smoked bamboo.
I have used a wood fire many times to heat cure bamboo, but the this method is different because it uses high heat as well.
This is done by moving the bamboo pole (or several at a time back and forth over the fire, and constantly rotating the pole until the surface coating of the pole becomes hot and slippery. Then at the right moment the waxy exudate is wiped off. Bees-wax can also be applied during the process, and any excess wiped off.
During this process if the pole is not hot enough, the surface will be very sticky and hard to wipe off.
I've tried this technique for smaller pieces, in an oven and the temperature seems to need to be around 275oF -300oF before the surface becomes slippery.
The wood fires I've used often have rising smoke,and during this process the pole surface may become blackened with soot, but most of the discolouration can wiped off when the surface becomes slippery.
If the pole is put back over the fire AFTER it has been wiped, it can get stained by the soot, which may be good or not-so -good depending what effect you desire.
A coal /briquette/charcoal fire is not as smokey.
A simple`smoke cured' technique is to put some bamboos poles at a further distance away from the fire for a period of perhaps several weeks to smoke cure them.
Mark Meckes
*******************
The following is from an email written by John Hamilton
July 2001 from The Original Bamboo Factory - Jamaica :
Recently we organised a workshop with the guidance of Linda Garland from Bali and Simon Valez from Columbia who have become frequent visitors to our shores .
The workshop got funding to bring a Columbian coffee/bamboo farmer called Gabriel who has been treating his Guadua by the Japanese smoking technique.
A delegation of Columbians visited Japan and were shown around the plant but had to figure it out themselves.
Well we're still in that process ourselves!
It seems that the Japanese have been using this technique for the last 600 years!! And not much of us elsewhere know much about it.
In simple terms you build a long coal skill using waste bamboo and channel the smoke through pipes into a bamboo constructed chamber filled with your culms ready to treat.
This chamber is covered in heavy gage polythene with a chimney at the far end and a zinc floor graduating to a gutter which helps collect all the condensation (pyrolic acid otherwise known as wood vinegar)
We smoked the bamboo for 2 weeks , having to refill the coal pit at least once.
At the end of the day we had not only produced smoked treated bamboo, covered in tar which we later scrapped off, but a good amount of charcoal which burnt well on the barbeque and added flavour to the chicken !
Having thought we had finally found the miracle treatment for bamboo, not so fast, our expectations have met another hitch when after 6 weeks in the shed, dust and insect attack raised their ugly heads again and much cracking too.
So its back to the drawing boards, and after a meeting with Mr Valez last month, he tells me there is another man which he gets his bamboo from who had also gone on the trip to Japan. He treats it upright and we believe the heat factor plays an important role.
The great mystery continues and I plan to visit Columbia soon and will keep you all informed .
Meanwhile can anyone help shed light on this process?
It is to be noted we are using Bambusa Vulgaris, the common variety here which of course has the highest starch level.
John Hamilton
Original Bamboo Factory Ltd.