AmericanBamboo.org information on Bamboo

Animal Forage

http://www.fao.org/ag/aga/agap/frg/AFRIS/tree/Common.htm presents information about the food value of many crops, including bamboo. When you make a selection from the drop-down box, you'll notice that there are many entries for bamboo. They are for different varieties so you'll just have to look at each one. I noticed one of the "bamboo grass" entries was not actually a bamboo, though.

Arts and Crafts


Fly Rods
  • Check out Bamboo Fly Rod Magazine.
  • Ron Blauvelt makes equipment for making bamboo fly rods.
  • Thomas Penrose provides instructions for making your own rods.
  • Charles H. Demarest Inc., a major supplier of Tonkin cane for fly rod manufacture, has a home page. The opening page also has a brief bibliography of books written about bamboo fly rods. 
  • Keone Rodsmiths make bamboo fly rods of several different types. The site was developed by people who are deeply into bamboo fly rods.

    • Pens

  • Have you ever tried making a pen from bamboo? Ward Dunham has put together a photo essay on slicing bamboo to make a pen.

    • Furniture

  • Look on the Commercial Messages page for a list of furniture makers.

    • Baskets, Vases, Woven Items

  • Fish Traps and Related Uses:

    Fishing in Many Waters
    James Hornell, Cambridge University Press, 1950.
  • Bamboo Baskets, Maggie Oster
    Viking Studio Books, New York, 1995
  • Yarn - Habu Textiles carries yarn spun from bamboo fibers. The yarn is made by a process similar to the way rayon is made. Have a look at the Habu Web site or contact them via email for more information.
  • South West Trading Company has bamboo yarn suitable for spinning. Click on the paragraph beginning "How is Soy Silk™ made?" for a bit more information.

    • Sculptures


    Steven Glassman’s Bridge in Bali

    Steven Glassman builds bridges out of bamboo.



    Stephen Glassman

    703 Palms Blvd.

    Venice, California 90291

    Tel: 310 305 1696

    fax: 310 578 5189

    Stephen’s Bridge in Bali


    Artifacts of a One-man Tribe Omer Kursat is an artist working with bamboo and reeds to create unique pieces which he calls “Artifacts of a One-man Tribe.”

    Japan

  • This is very nice web page with basketry, fishing rods, window blinds and such traditional crafts from Japan.

    • Bicycles


    Yes, people are making bicycles out of bamboo. Here’s the story from Denmark. Unfortunately, the contact information we had for these people who made bamboo bicycles leads nowhere anymore.

    bamboo bicycle


    And, Austrian bamboo bicycles.
    Back in the "good old days" bicycle
    wheels were sometimes made of laminated bamboo    .

    Boat building


    Kayaks, Sailing Rafts, Sailing Boats, the Proa
  • TUBS Marine of Angeles City, Philippines, has built hybrid (with steel) bamboo boats and bamboo fishing sleds. There are diagrams of the construction details and photos of some of what they make.
  • Craig O’Donnell (who calls himself a “Junkomologist, Professor of Boatology and Bamboo Constructivist”) has collected information about bamboo boats, including the “proa,” an outrigger canoe with parts made from bamboo: visit his Proa FAQ.

    • Craig’s Cheap Pages feature three other bamboo boats -- Fridtjof Nansen’s 1894 bamboo-and-fabric Arctic exploring kayak, the Vietnamese basket-boat with a hull of woven bamboo, and the Chinese Tray Boat, or bamboo ocean sailing raft.
  • Books and Papers:

    These are some of the more readily-obtainable books covering nautical applications for bamboo.

  • Tim Severin’s The China Voyage:
    Video and book about a sixty-foot bamboo raft journey from Hong Kong most of the way across the Pacific.
  • Blue Book of Coastal Vessels of Vietnam

    US Dept. of Defense, 1960, and 1968(?)
    Most photos are somewhat grainy but there’s more in one place about basket boats than anywhere else. There is also a “Green Book” which covers much the same material.

  • The Wind Commands
    by Harry Morton.
    Wesleyan University Press, 1975.
    The first part of the book covers early Pacific craft in great detail and there’s much incidental information about bamboo.

    • Seagoing Rafts



    A seagoing bamboo raft of Taiwan
    A seagoing bamboo raft of Taiwan, somewhere around 40 feet long.
    Two bamboo kayaks lashed together as a Catamaran
    The man: Fridtjof Nansen. The year: 1895. The place: the Arctic. Two bamboo kayaks lashed together as a Catamaran. The mast and the yard of the sail are bamboo poles.

    Construction


    INBAR in Beijing has published an annotated bibliography, “Bamboo as an Engineering Material” covering:
  • Physical and mechanical properties
  • Preservation
  • Application in buildings - there's also a Web page with some information about bamboo housing
  • Structural reinforcement
  • Panel Products
  • Geo-technical applications
  • Hydraulic applications
  • Bibliography and handbooks


    • For information about INBAR’s publications see their Information Portal page and click on “Products and Applications.”

    Bamboo fibers are used to strengthen composite materials.

    The United Nations Industrial Development Organization has a number of publications about bamboo construction and furniture building.

    The University Aachen in Germany has a project researching the use of bamboo construction. They have produced somesamples of construction techniques and documentation of bamboo's mechanical properties, kinds of connectors and techniques.

    Christoph Tönges    , one of the members of the project, has a nicely-done Web site with interesting close-up images of
    bamboo construction techniques    . There are also photos of interesting
    bamboo buildings     designed by Jörg Stamm, and a church by Simón Vélez.

    Tang Y. Yang, a student in the Architecture Department at the University of Utah has some general information promoting bamboo as a building material. In particular, there are some nice photos. This is part of a larger set of pages called a Toolkit for Sustainable Development.

    Michael McDonough an architect, with Linda Garland of the Environment Bamboo Foundation,started the Bamboo Research Initiative at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. He has some Web pages about using laminated bamboo in architecture, bridge building and furniture.

    Bamutec of Germany apparently sells specialized tools they've developed for bamboo joinery.

    Books by Dr. Jules Janssen



    Building with Bamboo by Jules J.A. Janssen

    London: Intermediate Technology Publications

    2nd ed. 1995. ISBN 1853392030


    Mechanical Properties of Bamboo by JA Janssen

    Kluwer Academic Pub., 1991. ISBN 0792312600
    Dr. Janssen also has a Web site at the Eindhoven University of Technology. The research described at this site is aimed at developing, improving, and analyzing bamboo structures for lower income groups in developing countries.

    Bamboo Architecture and Construction with Oscar Hidalgo


    Sr. Hidalgo has published an overview of the things that must be taken into consideration when building with bamboo.This is provided by the Natural Building Colloquium Southwest.

    Geodesic domes

  • Build one yourself #1
  • Software to help you design your dome
  • Outline Plan for a Geodesic Dome Class
  • General geodesic dome links
  • Sources of starplates for dome construction - Stromberg's Chickens and in New Zealand - Avon Electric. During the 1995 ABS annual conference in Savannah, Georgia a dome was build using starplates.


    • Bamboo Fencing


    David Flanagan, TheBamboo Fencer, now has a Web page full of information about bamboo fencing.


    Bamboo as Reinforcing Bar


    This page has some information about the strength of bamboo rebar.
    It was a surprise to find this report by the U.S. Navy, Bamboo Reinforced Concrete Construction (February 1966, U. S. Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory, Port Hueneme, California).

    General


  • Information on sustainable agriculture.
  • A book of books:


    • Bamboo Architecture: A Selected Bibliography

    ISBN: 0792005740

    Publish Date: July 1990

    Author: Anthony G. White

    Binding: Hardcover

    List Price: USD 8.00

    According to Amazon Books it’s hard to find.

    Erosion Control and Water Treatment


    The US Department of Agriculture apparently studied bamboo as an erosion control plant and found it very successful. Unfortunately the original papers from USDA bamboo research are very hard to find. The bibliographies on the ABS pages contain titles. The Bookstore has some of these titles available. Maybe some of the more obscure studies can find their way online some day.
    Ecological Engineering gray
    water treatment.

    Traditional Chinese Medicine


    Melanie Arcudi serves on the board of the International Bamboo Foundation on Maui.
    She is a professor of Oriental Medicine, a licensed acupuncturist and uses bamboo in many formulas of traditional Chinese medicine. She also has information on the Indonesian uses for bamboo. Visit the web page.

    Musical Instruments


    Way-Out


    Richard Waters designs, makes, plays and markets musical instruments, sound devices, and sonic sculptures. His web page is: http://www.waterphone.com/

    Flutes


    ShakuhachiShakuhachi
  • Peter Ross of Cloud Hands Music makes bamboo shakuhachi flutes, teaches and give performances. Please visit his Web site for more information.

  • Jeff Whittier makes bamboo flutes: Indian flutes called bansuri. The Ali Akbar College of Music sells his flutes. See this Web site.

  • Rod Baird makes bamboo flutes, both traditional Japanese style and western side-blown style.

  • Chris Harazda (e-mail: harazda@mhv.net)
    makes Japanese “hotchiku” flutes, which are very similar to “shakuhachi” flutes.
  • Monty H. Levenson has a web page for his Tai Hei Shakuhachi Flutes. It includes a little information about the history of these flutes.
  • Lark in the Morning has a web page describing the musical instruments they sell, including bamboo flutes and digiridoos.

  • Ken LaCosse - produces shakuhachi flutes and has a Web site here.

  • Mark Shepard has a very useful-looking site describing how to make and play bamboo flutes.

  • "Anubodh" makes classical bansuri bamboo flutes. He has a nicely-designed Web site with information about this history, making and care of bansuri flutes. He will also custom-make flutes to your specifications.

    • Other Instruments


    Lark in the Morning: is also the place to buy an angklung, an Indonesian percussion instrument consisting of tuned bamboo tubes hung from a frame.
    Black Swamp Percussion makes bamboo timpani mallets.
    Posted by richard belho at 2:34 PM

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