Cleaning waxy bamboo

[christian m.]

Hello forum,

I am building a bamboo fence using Henon bamboo. I have harvested the culms and would like to clean the soot and wax off before I begin the curing process. A fellow bambusero recommended scrubbing them with S.O.S. pads, which I have found work well for other bamboos, but the waxiness of Henon is making this task rather difficult. Does anyone have experience using soaps, dewaxers, or other tools and means to make the job easier?

thanks,
christian m.

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Christian,
Here's a pic of the waxy surface peeling off of a piece of drying P. Henon.
This is showng more dramatically because the green/mature harvested material was dried under cover, and not dried out in the weather, in which the waxy surface seems to persist more.

Following are some ways to remove the white waxy coating, to reveal the underlying colors of the bamboo.

Open air drying (out of weather) Slight shrinkage of the bamboo releases a good portion but not all of the white waxy surface coating, most of which can be brushed/washed off.

Heat
Applying heat lightly, with a gas propane torch, heat gun (electric hot air blower, fire or oven, melts this wax changing it from white to clear.
The waxes are sticky/tacky at first and if cooled without wiping off, give the appearance of varnish, though not as resistant and it will chip and wear off.
The more extensive method is to heat the surface slightly longer till the tacky surface becomes slippery, and then all excess is immediately wiped off before it becomes tacky again. Removal can be aided by applying beeswax or a paste wax to the cloth or culm, acting as a solvent.

Solvents
I have not tried any dewaxer type solvents...
I have found that using a petroleum based paste wax (like `Johnsons' Floor Wax) dissovles the white coating faster, as the petroleum distillates act as a solvent. But I don't care to use this paste for any extended period of time as the vapours are unhealthy. Other more eco-friendly paste waxes require more rubbing and polishing but I prefer to go this route.

Wire brushes, scouring pads, buffing wheels
- Steel and brass brushes used in up/down strokes to remove flaking wax of dried bamboo - can leave scratches on the surface.

- Steel Wool #00 Fine works good to remove the white residue, and #000 for finer work, prior to, and during stages of applying finishes.... This is where paying attention to details comes into play... in other words, it can be as time consuming as one desires.

- Buffing wheel - The heat genarated by a buffing wheel, with some rouge or paste wax applied, acting as a cutting /polishing agent is very effective.

Hand scraping the culm surface
This is very time consuming, but for special pieces, it produces some interesting finishes.

Mark

[Mark Meckes]

Removing white waxy residue with a buffing wheel

Photo#1
Using an electric buffing wheel (thick cotton felt type) to remove the white waxy surface residue from a piece of P.nigra Henon.

Photo #2
By applying a wax based rouge or paste to the buffing wheel, it acts as a cutting agent, and one needs to work on the piece from one end to the other
to prevent the waxy residue from building up on the surface of the bamboo.

Photo #3
Phyllostachys nigra `Henon' has a lot of furrows on it's surface. It's surface is not as smooth as some bamboos. So unless pic#3 is a desired affect, one has to pay more attention to using the minimum amount of paste wax or rouge, or instead, use a clean buffing wheel for removing the brown streaks from the crevices.

I usually reserve the buffing wheel for polishing items that warrant special attention, and finish them by hand. I only got my first buffing wheel about a year ago, and prior to that, used steel wool, paste wax, sweat and elbow grease.

Mark

[christian m.]

Hey Mark,

Thank you for your thoughtful response and great photos. I think that, as you mentioned, the problem arises from the fact that Henon has narrow grooves running down the culms. The steel wool seemed to be working well until the culms dried and i could then see the stripes of wax left behind in the grooves. Im really not interested in using any dangerous chemicals, but i was thinking that maybe some sort of citrus based solution could be effective. The torch method would be overly time consuming for this project, and since im in the city, i am not allowed to build an outdoor fire to get some hot coals for the process.

Given the quantity of bamboo that i am using (over 250 linear feet), and the fact that it is for an outdoor project for myself, i think i will just go over them with steel wool and let the remaining wax weather off naturally. I am hoping that as the culms dry to a parchment color the wax will hardly be noticeable anyway.

Thanks again,
christian m.