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How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

bambooimport.com

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Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#131

Post by mromanuk »

g0gzs wrote: post #33

Long time lurker here, first time poster. I got pulled into the rabbit hole of building guitars at home during the covid lockdowns. My first build used traditional "tonewoods" (mahogany, ebony, rosewood etc.) and while purchasing materials for my second build, I stumbled upon bamboo boards on a German wood retailed shop. Compared the properties to the wood I wanted to use for parts of it (mainly the core/neck and fre…

wow that picture of your guitar is awesome, do you have a blog other place where we can see your work?

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#132

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

Really neat article, love things like this on HN. I thought this was really interesting:

> A bamboo stem reaches its maximum height in just a few months and shall not grow taller or thicker over time. In the following 4 years the fibers will "lignify" and get their extraordinary mechanical properties in terms of hardness, strength, density.

That seems pretty fascinating to me. Are there any other plants/trees that grow like that? I mean, from my naive knowledge, trees go wider with a new ring every year.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#133

Post by legohead »

oblio wrote: post #79
nuerow wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engineered lumber (MDF, OSB, glulam... all of them actually) also involves the same glues and chemical treatments used in bamboo, and both use formaldehide-based glues which are known carcinogens.

Why isn't there more of an uproar about this?

I'm not sure what nuerow was trying to say. Carcinogens aren't bad for you simply by looking at them. And it's widely known and often repeated to use respirators when cutting MDF.

Now is the creation of the glue environmentally unfriendly? I don't know.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#134

Post by hwillis »

oblio wrote: post #78
TedShiller wrote: post #43

If you start with something that is natural and sustainable (for example, bamboo), and you add to it something that is neither (for example, glue), then you end up with something that is neither natural nor sustainable. Sorry.

Yeah, same thing with those transparent or hardened woods. It's wood + a ton of epoxy. Isn't epoxy made from fossil fuels, or am I completely off?

about 1/3rd correct. It is not made with epoxy[1]. Bamboo lumber is made with urea formaldehyde just like plywood. UF is made from CO2, ammonia, and methanol[2]. Methanol can come from plants or from fossil fuels. Ammonia uses 55% of global hydrogen, and that hydrogen comes from fossil fuels. Typically natural gas. There are also No-Added-Formaldehyde brands that used soy/PVA/other adhesives which can rely less or more fossil fuels (PVA is wood glue- vinyl based).

Engineering bamboo (flooring doesn't always use UF) has ~5% wt. UF, so 20 kg of lumber requires ~.4 kg of ammonia. Using a methane feedstock that translates to ~.85 kg of CO2. 4% of the CO2 captured by the bamboo, for context. Ammonia can also be made from water, via electrolysis- .64 kg per 20 kg of bamboo.

[1]: UF does not contain an epoxide group. Note also that epoxide is an incredibly generic type of chemical- all it means is that two pairs of radicals and an oxygen form a triangular bond. Epoxides can take all kinds of forms and be made from all kinds of stuff. For instance Epichlorohydrin is used to make some of the most common epoxy resins and is produced from glycerol, which comes from plant/animal sources generally. Not all of it, but most of it.

[2]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemical-engineering/ur...

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#135

Post by dublin »

samstave wrote: post #120
etrautmann wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all wooden surfaces will show dings and dents from heavy objects. Denser woods with a matte finish will show them less of course, but it's inevitable.

I installed all bamboo flooring in my house and then threw a party... some woman who was at the party was wearing 6" heels and after the party my floor was dimpled all over... she apparently walked like five miles within my living room, dining room, kitchen...

Interestingly, floor decks in airliners and load floors in military cargo aircraft are made from a composite of an aluminum skin and very high-quality end-grain balsa wood panels, laminated together in a huge press with film adhesives. (Used to be called Metalite by LTV, who made the stuff for lots of other aircraft companies...) It's lighter and stronger than any synthetic composite for that application. Load floors obviously need to take huge abuse, but still be light, and women's stilletto heels are famous for being able to exert several thousand pounds of force (dynamically) in a tiny area.

FYI, women are also really hard on touchscreens - fake nails/nail polish is the hardest and most abrasive thing they come in contact with over their life except for drops on pavement. It's the main reason all decent touchscreens now have glass top layers.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#136

Post by bombcar »

NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #128
g0gzs wrote: post #33

Long time lurker here, first time poster. I got pulled into the rabbit hole of building guitars at home during the covid lockdowns. My first build used traditional "tonewoods" (mahogany, ebony, rosewood etc.) and while purchasing materials for my second build, I stumbled upon bamboo boards on a German wood retailed shop. Compared the properties to the wood I wanted to use for parts of it (mainly the core/neck and fre…

One of the themes in this thread is reminding people that it's not actually bamboo, it's a bamboo composite--sort of like plywood. I doesn't work without petrochemical glues. I think it's fairer to say your build is 40%-ish bamboo composite. When we're calling it bamboo we're doing that industry's greenwashing marketing for them. Cool guitar!

I've noticed more and more "glue" boards - even beyond the classic MDF or plywood - such as "Edge Glued" boards.

Lots of the Ikea "wood" furniture is made this way, some apparently from relatively small scraps.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#137

Post by woobar »

samstave wrote: post #120
etrautmann wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all wooden surfaces will show dings and dents from heavy objects. Denser woods with a matte finish will show them less of course, but it's inevitable.

I installed all bamboo flooring in my house and then threw a party... some woman who was at the party was wearing 6" heels and after the party my floor was dimpled all over... she apparently walked like five miles within my living room, dining room, kitchen...

Interesting. Bamboo flooring usually has higher Janka rating then other wood used for flooring.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#138

Post by dublin »

noja wrote: post #70
hackerbee wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Lead through technology"

Don't you find "through" a bit clunky, how about via? Also "Lead" can be misread as a metal, how about Leading?

Oh, so like you pronounce "leading" in stained glass or typesetting, then? ;-)

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#139

Post by ryanmarsh »

With lots of glue. I don’t know why cellulose building materials yet so much hype. Yes part of the product is renewable, the other half is very nasty and we’ve not yet seen a fair comparison of the entire supply chain pollution of these materials vs more common one.
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