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How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

bambooimport.com

61–70 of 226 posts

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#61
post #52
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you mean by renewable? Would carbon, hydrogen and oxygen be more renewable than calcium and potassium? They are all just elements we have a lot of on earth. And those elements don't get used up. Toss your wood on a compost pile, and you can re-use them?

Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen come from the air, and are infinitely distributed around the earth via the atmosphere. Calcium and Potassium aren't.

Yes, they got dig up somewhere. (Or you could filter them out of seawater.) I don't see any conceptual difference.

The atmosphere ain't actually infinite.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#62
post #31

Has anyone worked with bamboo plywood? How does it compare to other plywoods? It doesn't appear (at least on the website linked) to be particularly cheap - a full sheet of 20mm bamboo plywood is almost €300! You could probably buy 3-5 sheets of 18mm baltic birch for that price - hardly the cheap material they're claiming. I bought a cheap chair made of bamboo once and it was very soft - it didn't give me the impressi…

I've never worked with bamboo plywood, but the product on the website looks like it should be compared with 20mm 3 ply wood panels made from cut hard wood instead of the cheap ply wood made from peeled wood.

So a better comparison would be something like [1], which is a lot more expensive than standard birch plywood.

[1]: https://www.arbeitsplatten-shop.de/epages/61566463.sf/de_DE/...

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#63
post #52
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you mean by renewable? Would carbon, hydrogen and oxygen be more renewable than calcium and potassium? They are all just elements we have a lot of on earth. And those elements don't get used up. Toss your wood on a compost pile, and you can re-use them?

Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen come from the air, and are infinitely distributed around the earth via the atmosphere. Calcium and Potassium aren't.

" Calcium and Potassium aren't."

But they are allmost unlimited in the ground. A intact forest, with deep roots in symbiosis with lots of fungi and other microorganisms retrieves them and make them avaiable to the rest of the forest via leave fall.

So taking out some trees at a time is sustainable. Chopping down all of them, is not.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bamboo grows so much quicker that even with glue it might be more sustainable than using other woods.

What happens to glue when you throw it away?

PVA is biodegradable, I believe. But I suppose it depends which glue they use.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#65
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen come from the air, and are infinitely distributed around the earth via the atmosphere. Calcium and Potassium aren't.

" Calcium and Potassium aren't." But they are allmost unlimited in the ground. A intact forest, with deep roots in symbiosis with lots of fungi and other microorganisms retrieves them and make them avaiable to the rest of the forest via leave fall. So taking out some trees at a time is sustainable. Chopping down all of them, is not.

Phosphorus would be better example. Even if you take only part of organic matter away, as long as it's faster than phosphorus availability from rock weathering, there's going to be a reckoning eventually.

Sure it can be added via fertilizer...if we'll be able to source such a quantity. It's not very abundant.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#67
post #21

“Technology is propulsion.” Chinese characters written on the wall of factory workshop.

Reminds me of https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/vorsprung-durch-technik....

Strange that that article states "There's no single English word which is an exact equivalent of 'vorsprung'". Vorsprung is lead. Durch is harder in my opinion. Can be translate as "by" or "because of". So the translations would be "lead by technology" or "in the lead because of technology"

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#68
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/vorsprung-durch-technik....

Strange that that article states "There's no single English word which is an exact equivalent of 'vorsprung'". Vorsprung is lead. Durch is harder in my opinion. Can be translate as "by" or "because of". So the translations would be "lead by technology" or "in the lead because of technology"

"Lead through technology"

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#69

I wonder how long does take for bamboo to grow and if it can grow in US and Europe. Maybe it's economically viable to grow bamboo instead of cutting down trees.

Yes it grows in US/Europe. I only have experience with smaller forms (1inch, 2.5cm diameter).

It's fast growing and spreads like crazy. Be careful with bamboo in your garden, it'll shoot out underground and resurface couple meters (yards) away from the main plant if you don't encase it in concrete.

Now if it yields more then a fast growing tree? Don't know.

Re: How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)

#70
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange that that article states "There's no single English word which is an exact equivalent of 'vorsprung'". Vorsprung is lead. Durch is harder in my opinion. Can be translate as "by" or "because of". So the translations would be "lead by technology" or "in the lead because of technology"

"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?
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