Making bamboo drum sticks

[mbaker]

I'm making bamboo drumsticks. We're sanding off the outer waxy stuff and coating with tung oil.
?Sanding bamboo like this is ok?
?Is tung oil ok, or is there something better?

My best guess on the type of bamboo we're using is>'yellow/green'.
Most of the bamboo handles are 'yellow', but some have the occaisional streaking of green.
?Does this mean the bamboo is not completely dry?

Thanks for any help or suggestions
MB
Newbie in Nova Scotia!

[Mark Meckes]

Hi MB,
If we were working with wood we might be discussing the differences between oak, maple, pine and poplar...
Alas, so much bamboo is sold under the generic name- bamboo, when in fact there's a tremendous variation in the 1200+ species.
However, especially in North America, only a few species are regularly available commercially, making it easier to approximate a guess of the species.
Is your bamboo imported poles? Are the nodes only slghtly prominent (bulging)?
If so, it may be Tonkin Cane, Pseudosasa amabilis (till recently, called Arundinaria amabilis).

One thing I notice with my own domestic harvest of bamboo is the differences in the sound of a bamboo stick, in relation to it's age and maturity (density of wall structure), and the thickness of the walls. (walls are thicker in the bottom section of a pole).
Commercial imported poles should have more uniformly consistent characteristics, but that would depend on the quality-control of the supplier.

On the subject of sanding/removing the surface ...

With my own harvested materials, the surface of the bamboo is usually an integral part of the things that I make. Part of my decision on selecting pieces to work with depends the flawlessness of the surface, or whether natural flaws (surface abrasions and blemishes) can be incorporated into the design of the work.
For some things, little cuts nicks and scratches don't matter... for other things, they can stand out like a sore thumb.

Commercially processed bamboo, on the other hand, can be pretty scuffed up, with nodal ridges often chipped, and cut marks and surface skin tears where branches have been removed.

Also I should note that in humid warm temperate to tropical regions, depending also on the species, the surface of some bamboos can get covered in algaes and lichens etc by their harvest age, and a considerable amount of scrubbing is involved to clean the surface of the bamboo.
Other methods are to scrape or shave off the surface skin with a knife blade, or by sanding....

Scraping the outer surface of bamboo reveals several layers and with fine work, scraping the surface of bamboo can bring out the beauty of the material...
Back to your sanding question... if what you do works for you, based on the materials you have, producing a satisfactory result, that's all that matters.

Regarding tung oil/finishes, here's a thread of interest on the effectiveness of oil finishes on bamboo:
Shaku Design; Oiling Bamboo by Nelson Zink (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=931)

Got pics?
- Mark