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How is bamboo lumber made? (2016)
- crackercrews 5y ago> The bamboo strands are placed in a massive industrial press and compressed with a pressure of 2,500 tons. I wondered if this number was a typo. Quick research shows that presses can produce tens of thousands of tons of pressure. [1] 1: https://thelibraryofmanufacturing.com/presses.html https://thelibraryofmanufacturing.com/presses.html
- anon_cow1111 5y agoSeems about right; 1000psi assuming a 4x8 foot sheet, roughly. Bamboo is a -somewhat- soft pseudo-wood and can deform enough under that pressure to compress into the sheets they're describing. (for reference, I've operated a 10kton press at a previous job, which was roughly 30 feet high + underground hydraulic lines. I don't know how many presses of this scale are even left in the US)
- crackercrews 5y agoDoes the size of a press increase linearly with the amount of pressure it can generate?
- anon_cow1111 5y agoI think; There could be other factors, but this is the main one I'd guess that, on average, the bulk weight of the press loosely determines its maximum pressure... Just because it needs a certain amount of steel to confine and direct that pressure without damaging itself. Over time, the engineering gets tighter and with less excess. You know that phrase, "anyone can make a bridge that stands up, but you need and engineer to make a bridge that just barely stands up" It probably becomes an economic issue, especially given the bigger your press is, the less people are going to need it for something.
- h2odragon 5y agoapropos link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Press_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Press_Program
- Cerium 5y agoPerfect, I was going to link this as well as a response to the other comment "especially given the bigger your press is, the less people are going to need it for something." Ensuring that large presses exist is important to national security but not important to most business.
- anon_cow1111 5y agoNice link indeed... I might have come across it before, though must have been a long time ago. But it does highlight the economic issues here, a govt. program was needed to create machinery that might never have existed in a pure free-market environment. I now wonder if the big "One-Press"(its nickname) I worked with was a product of that program...
- TedShiller 5y agoIf 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.
- aembleton 5y agoBamboo grows so much quicker that even with glue it might be more sustainable than using other woods.
- TedShiller 5y agoWhat happens to glue when you throw it away?
- op00to 5y agoWhat happens to anything when you throw it away? It gets encapsulated in more garbage and stays there for basically ever.
- didsomeonesay 5y agocapturing carbon?
- david-gpu 5y agoWood rots. It doesn't even take that long. Let's not pretend natural biodegradable materials are the same.
- DFHippie 5y agoNot so much in a landfill.
- kleton 5y agoPhenol-formaldehyde thermoset breaks down into phenol and formaldehyde. It degrades a lot faster than polyolefins.
- londons_explore 5y agoBamboo is surprisingly expensive considering it is a C4 photosynthesis plant that grows very fast in the tropics and is amenable to fully automated harvesting. Anyone know why? Why is pine nearly 10x cheaper despite turning less light into carbon, growing in places with less light, requiring semi-manual harvesting and having a far longer plant-to-harvest time?
- tunnuz 5y agoThanks for sharing this, really interesting.
- jayolden 5y agoI have observed that Bamboo lumber is quite strong despite being soft. It looks natural and stylish in which you can get at an affordable price.
- throwawaysea 5y agoThis particular post is about making plywood sheets out of raw bamboo. But there is also work happening on mass timber applications of bamboo. For example a company called "Rizome" (https://rizomebamboo.com/ https://rizomebamboo.com/) is working on LVL and LSL bamboo panels. One of their founders wrote a post about structural applications of bamboo last year (https://medium.com/rizome/bamboo-skyscrapers-eded5b234726 https://medium.com/rizome/bamboo-skyscrapers-eded5b234726).
- fblp 5y agoThanks for sharing!
- hyuuu 5y agoI wonder what kind of glue it uses, it's used in all of the processes
- farmerstan 5y agoFormaldehyde. It’s actually pretty unenvironmental. Because it uses formaldehyde and other chemicals, you can’t sand or refinish bamboo, and the dust is extremely hazardous.
- zwaps 5y agoHow is the fire protection of bamboo compared to other woods?
- exochrono 5y agoI just looked this up since I have bamboo floors I'm considering refinishing, and this resource[0] seems reputable and indicates that it's very doable but you should wear PPE to protect yourself. [0] https://www.flooringstores.com/blog/refinish-bamboo-flooring/ https://www.flooringstores.com/blog/refinish-bamboo-flooring...
- maxerickson 5y agoPPE is recommended for pretty much any wood dust at this point.
- wiz21c 5y agoYeah, I was surprised too. They talk about a lot about the bamboo part but not at all about the glue part. And the glue part is certainly the most problematic one. Also, but that may be too much interpretation, you'll notice that the dirtier the place/the job; the more you see women on the pictures.
- rexreed 5y agoSpecifically, formaldehyde-based glues. "Most manufactured wood building materials contain one of these two types of formaldehyde-based glues: * Phenol-formaldehyde (PF) * Urea-formaldehyde (UF). Its water resistant properties make phenol-formaldehyde glue more effective for production of exterior wood materials. Urea-formaldehyde glue, cheaper and less tolerant of excessive moisture, is most often used for interior materials including wall paneling, flooring and cabinetry. " More details here: http://www.healthyhouseinstitute.com/hhip-780-Formaldehyde-Based-Glues http://www.healthyhouseinstitute.com/hhip-780-Formaldehyde-B...
- senectus1 5y agoI would love to know if there are any "hobby" communities for "doing things" with bamboo. I'd love to pot some of the fast growing stuff at home and harvest it to muck around with.
- coryrc 5y agoIn the places where bamboo grows natively, it is used extensively, but typically not for long-term structural applications as bamboo is susceptible to rot and insect infestation. But it forms decorative elements: fencing, window blinds, or window framing[0]. Also tools like sumisashi (an ink pen) or poles for carrying things. Even scaffolding even on high rises![1] [0] https://www.dreamstime.com/japanese-windows-bamboo-strips-background-image141141248 https://www.dreamstime.com/japanese-windows-bamboo-strips-ba... [1] http://actuallyshop.blogspot.com/2013/01/hong-kong-bamboo-scaffolding.html http://actuallyshop.blogspot.com/2013/01/hong-kong-bamboo-sc...
- aspaviento 5y agoThere must be for sure but one who has impressed me already with all the things he does with bamboo is this man https://youtube.com/c/%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC%E7%9A%84%E5%B0%8F%E5%96%9CXiaoXisCulinaryIdyll https://youtube.com/c/%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC%E7%9A%84%E5%B0%8F%E...
- Datagenerator 5y agoThis was our bummer of this year. We bought eighth small bamboo plants and expected to be busy on containing the natural explosive growth they should show. What happened was the opposite, small and no sign of growth. After some digging this retailer sells genetically modified versions which cannot grow.. Now we are looking for proper natural versions to plant these next year. So if you want to hear and see large patches of bamboo ask the retailer for unmodified plants. Naïve and uninformed I tried to find seeds but bamboo doesn't have them? If someone can share some light on how to how grow them please chime in.
- coryrc 5y agoYou get a piece of root (rhizome) from a living plant and transplant that.
- willvarfar 5y agoA general question: how does forestry avoid degrading the soil? If you keep removing the plants that grow, rather than allowing them to rot and return the nutrients they sucked up during their lifetime back the soil, do the trees steadily grow worse until it is no longer profitable and you have to go grow trees somewhere else?
- coryrc 5y agoTree bulk comes from the air, not the soil.
- dragontamer 5y agoAnd the next most significant macronutrient is nitrogen/potassium. Aka: typical fertilizer.
- Ma8ee 5y agoThe right plants catches nitrogen from the air. Fungus and microorganisms make minerals, like potassium, available from sand and rocks. This works great until someone destroys the soil by killing all microorganisms with pesticides or fertilisers. Forests are very good at producing a lot of biomass without help fertilisers, even when a lot of trees are "harvested".
- vinhboy 5y agoI don't know why, but it took me years to internalize this... lol...
- flimflamm 5y agoI wonder how much energy this consumes compared to traditional wood equivalents?
- Maxion 5y agoLand use at least is much more efficient when harvests are every 4-5 years instead of every 40-80 years with spruce or fir. Birch can be felled at around 55 years. Normal wood is kiln dried similarly to bamboo, and glued panels are done in a similar fashion. Plywood is in a way more processed than bamboo.
- cmrdporcupine 5y agoWe could do the same process with fast growing bush-form softwoods like poplar or willow that regenerate from roots. In fact a stand of young poplars doesn't look too dissimilar from a bamboo grove; lots of narrow straight trees. I cut two dying poplars on my property a few years ago and there's now a stand of dozens of 4" diameter smaller trees, sprouted out from the root system.
- h2odragon 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppicing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppicing
- ofey404 5y ago“Technology is propulsion.” Chinese characters written on the wall of factory workshop.
- ZeroGravitas 5y agoReminds me of https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/vorsprung-durch-technik.html https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/vorsprung-durch-technik....
- Melkman 5y agoStrange 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"
- leoedin 5y agoHas 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 impression it would hold up very long. Perhaps some of the processing steps for plywood improve that?
- bserge 5y agoYeah I noticed the ads(?) at the bottom with the price. ~150 Euros for a square meter? Damn. It's probably cheaper in China/Asia, but not here lol
- anon_cow1111 5y agoGod, I remember working at one job where I saw a couple stacks of metal come in on a nice sheet of 4x8 woven-bamboo instead of a crappy wood pallet or plywood, I'm now kicking myself for not grabbing them when I had the chance.
- h2odragon 5y agoStory time! My uncle had some contact in fruit shipping, and noticed that this guy got pallets of mangoes (i think it was) with bottom plate boards that were 3/4th inch mahogany plywood. They'd been burning them as scrap. He salvaged enough to roof his houses in barns near the Florida coast and never worried about hurricanes. I have a couple chunks of it that have outlived the steel frame of the flatbed cargo trailer they're floor for.
- anon_cow1111 5y agoAh good save, I did see a rough cut 2x4 of tiger maple once, plus a couple sheets of appearance-grade 4x8 red oak... and thankfully I was smart enough to grab those. Personally I'd use the mahogany ply for something furniture-related if it didn't have ugly knots or cracks in it. It was a rather nice looking wood the few times I've seen it, so it seems a shame to use it for something purely structural.
- g0gzs 5y agoLong 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 fretboard) and decided to go for it. So the second build [1] is 40ish % bamboo with purpleheart veneers in between layers of bamboo and purpleheart/olive for the body. Next build will be around 80% bamboo. Trying to source some strand woven bamboo boards to try them out as fretboards as well, but for a part time builder like me, getting such small quantities of bamboo boards is rather hard. But yeah, fascinating material even outside of construction use. The boards I used for the guitar builds were nice to work with, easy to sand and finish (using wipe on poly). [1] https://i.imgur.com/fUyxd7n.jpg https://i.imgur.com/fUyxd7n.jpg
- fho 5y agoMay I ask what you paid in the end for the bamboo you used? I went down the same rabbit hole some time ago and in the end went with oak as it was a lot more affordable (for my student budget back then).
- g0gzs 5y ago121x20 cm board, 20mm thick was around 22 EUR + shipping. The shop I bought it from had 3 kinds of bamboo boards (normal, dark and some "figured" made up of dark and light stripes) but currently sell only the figured.
- fho 5y agoI guess I was looking in the wrong places ... or the wrong construction. 20 mm thick sounds like it was only the core with more layers. In the end I went with some 150x4cm oak strips of varying width from the left-overs bin of a wood vendor. 5€ the piece was a pretty good deal back then.
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- batushka3 5y agoThere is more glue than bamboo in the bamboo products, but thaks to the marketing department they are ECO, and friendly and yada yada... Just look at the proces to get decent thich board/beam.
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoIsn't this the same with e.g. MDF and other wood composites? What glue is used, and how does it break down when exposed to the elements?
- NoImmatureAdHom 5y agoIt's hard to figure out because they don't want you to know because they'd really, really prefer people to think of it as "bamboo" rather than "unrecyclable bamboo/petrochemical glue composite"
- nuerow 5y agoEngineered 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.
- oblio 5y agoWhy isn't there more of an uproar about this?
- cheschire 5y agoUproar usually begins with the results of research and reports. That research and those reports typically originate from wherever the money is. That money typically originates from a new competitor entering the market, or from an established competitor trying to force change in market forces by affecting demand for the products being reported on. Occasionally uproar originates from someone's personal motivation, but that requires a rare alignment of drive, capability and charisma.
- 123pie123 5y ago>Strand woven bamboo panels are available in a maximum thickness of 20 mm, otherwise they would become too heavy Does anyone know what this refers to? too heavy for what??
- praestigiare 5y agoAt 1200kg/m2, a standard 4x8 (120x240) panel at 20mm is already over 60kg. This is double the weight of a softwood panel of equivalent thickness.
- robinduckett 5y agoMaybe too heavy to support its own weight?
- yarcob 5y agoI assume they just mean that they get too heavy for practical use. They stated that they offer boards with a thickness of 30-40mm, they just don't offer panels of that thickness. At a density of 1200kg/m2 it's almost twice as dense as some other hard woods like walnut (~650kg/m2) or particle board (~700kg/m2). I guess for a kitchen countertop it wouldn't matter (stone countertops are popular and even heavier), but for most furniture it would probably be just way too heavy to be practical. Someone needs to be able to carry your furniture :)
- willyt 5y agoSafety regulations say that one person should not lift more than 25kgs unaided. Obviously people can lift more than this, I remember hefting 50kg bags of sand around in the 90’s but it’s not great for your back.
- colinb 5y agoMy standing desk top, a Fully Jarvis, is made from bamboo. Comparing the illustrations in TFA to the thing I'm leaning on, I think it is constructed of a core of side-pressed pieces, with a thin layer of plain-pressed pieces giving the working surface and underside. I've had it for < 1 year. It is a little soft, and shows dents and scratches where I set down moderately heavy objects with too much force, but it still looks nice. I guess I can think of the marks as evidence of actual use and life.
- muro 5y agoSame here (same desk). Whenever my kids drop something heavier on the surface, it leaves deep marks. It's the most easily damaged surface we have at home. Does look nice where there are no marks :)
- NoImmatureAdHom 5y agoYour desk is made from a manufactured bamboo composite
- roland35 5y agoIf it makes you feel any better my solid "hardwood" workbench from Gladiator (purchased at Lowes) I use as a standing desk also has some dings and dents! I also figure it's part of the charm.
- etrautmann 5y agoAlmost 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.
- samstave 5y agoI 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...
- DeathArrow 5y agoI 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.
- t-3 5y agoThere are actually American bamboos: https://www.guaduabamboo.com/blog/american-bamboo-species https://www.guaduabamboo.com/blog/american-bamboo-species https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2017/6/26/north-americas-native-bamboos https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2017/6/26/north-ameri...
- ben_bai 5y agoYes 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.
- coldcode 5y agoThere are types of bamboo that do not spread like that.
- brensmith 5y agoYes to this! Bamboo root structure (rhizomes) can be broken down into two basic types, leptomorph and pachymorph. Bamboo that belong to the leptomorph rhizome group can grow many feet over a growing season, and have buds along their length that will grow into new rhizomes or culms (shoots). These are the classic runaway bamboo that folks worry about. Bamboo that have pachymorph rhizomes will (each one) grow into a culm and are thus much slower to spread around your garden. More like a clumping bush. I grow bamboo as a hobby in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, and currently have about thirty bamboo plants of 10 different types growing in pots in my yard. I'm waiting to plant them in the ground at my next house for when I have root barriers to prevent the leptomorphs from spreading too quickly!
- iandanforth 5y ago"Because laminated bamboo panels consist of individual strips, they show less swelling and shrinkage than solid wood panels." As a layperson this kind of statement could as easily have said "they show more swelling" and I would have been equally as credulous.
- rabf 5y agoWood does indeed expand and contract a lot due to changes in humidity. The expansion and contraction is far greater in certain directions and will vary according to species and how the grain is orientated in a particular board. Laminiating strips or sheets in addition to the strength from the glue (typically in plywoods this is done with perpendiclar grain directions) can counter this. For a solid wood panel door for example you really want a very stable hardwood species for the frame and for the panels to be fitted without glue into recesses with room for them to expand and contract.
- blunte 5y agoSomewhat related, there are these amazing homes in Bali made of (treated) bamboo. I believe they are treated by soaking them in a boron solution which results in better resistance to decay and insects. https://greenvillagebali.com/ https://greenvillagebali.com/
- Waterluvian 5y agoHow does it compare to spruce/pine/fir in terms of environmental footprint for the same yield?
- for1nner 5y agoWell we know that bamboo harvesting is more sustainable/renewable than wood harvesting (note the 4-5 years time to yield vs... orders of magnitude difference with trees, among other things). But I'm guessing your question is more about the processing of that bamboo (chemical and energy to produce): https://bioresources.cnr.ncsu.edu/resources/environmental-impact-of-bamboo-laminated-flooring-and-bamboo-scrimber-flooring-investigated-via-life-cycle-assessment/ https://bioresources.cnr.ncsu.edu/resources/environmental-im...
- Waterluvian 5y agoThanks for the link. But I’m curious about the first part now. Why does yield time matter if you have all the empty land you could possibly need? Indeed this matters for regional supply and reducing shipping. But does it matter for other reasons I’m not thinking of?
- mhb 5y agoGrandpa Amu makes items with bamboo: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=grandpa+amu+bamboo https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=grandpa+amu+bam...
- max_ 5y agoDoes anyone know if this can make decent furniture?
- hn_throwaway_99 5y agoReally 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.
- lazide 5y agoMost trees won’t grow that fast (well almost nothing grows as fast as bamboo). Usually height of a plant or tree is determined by the available shade (more shade, the more the tree will try to climb above it), and available water. Less water generally means shorter, and more (easy) sun usually means shorter, though there is a huge genetic element of course. Some trees will collect significant water from rain or fog when it’s hard to get water up the tree from their normal transport methods (like redwoods) because of their height. A normal tree (which is slow growing) typically will get taller and wider each year until it starts maxing out something like water transport, or dies due to disease and competition from other trees. The rings you are referring to are generally gathered from the base of the tree as that is the part most likely to grow (for sure). If you go to the top of the tree, it’s a bit harder to tell what has been going on. And the ring itself is formed when the tree stops growing as part of the yearly seasonal cycle. Bamboo doesn’t have rings.
- berkes 5y ago> Most trees won’t grow that fast Most won't but some do grow really very fast. Like the Willow. I live in an area with lots of Pollarded Willows. We have about 30 of them in our garden. They grow a ridiculous 2-3m each year (6-10ft). Often in just a few months. We'll cut them around now (autumn) down to 1.50m, and next year august they'll easily be 3-4m high again. Pollarding is rewarding but a lot of work. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow#Others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow#Others
- hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
- ryanmarsh 5y agoWith 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.
- dan353hehe 5y agoThis probably made it to the front page because of yesterdays discussion on Hardend Wood. [1] In my mind I can see bamboo lumber just made with the Hardened Wood process being extra “green” as no glue would be required. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28945312 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28945312
- kleton 5y agoIf you were doing the hardened wood process on it, you wouldn't even have to wait 4 years for the culm to lignify, since you were just going to delignify it with a hot chemical bath.
- dan353hehe 5y agoYep. I saw a sibling comment after I posted that mentioned that. It seems like a nice way to skip an additional step! Thanks for point that out! Also during the 4 year wait for it to harden it doesn’t increase in size. So there wouldn’t be a decrease in the amount of bamboo harvested, it would just allow it to be harvested every year instead of every 4.
- Cerium 5y agoBamboo is already harvest every year. Every year new shoots come up out of the ground. The shoots start to form in the winter about one meter away from mature culms. In the spring the shoots emerge from the ground and quickly grow to full height. Changing the harvest schedule will not increase the availability of bamboo, since already all new culms are harvest, just after they become four years old - the system is steady state.
- dan353hehe 5y agoInteresting! I didn’t know that. Thanks for the correction!
- itronitron 5y agoExactly, and during years two and three the culms are adding energy back into the rhizome/root system enabling future shoots to emerge.
- uglycoyote 5y agoThis was interesting in light of an interview I was just listening to yesterday, a CBC podcast [1] talking about the benefits of mass timber (glued wood) for large highrise building construction. There were two guests on, both sounded like environmentalists, with the first one (Michael Green) saying that mass timber was "currently the best tool we have to address climate impact and in the building materials for a large building" while the second guest (John Talberth) was arguing: "The idea that we can cut down our forests and turn them into two by fours and build our way to a stable climate is absurd, and it's just another one of these false narratives of big timber corporations are using to get us to buy more of their product and continue to subsidise their record profits", and Talberth advocated Bamboo, mentioning it multiple times as an alternative. It kind of went back and forth a bit with Mr Green saying "Bamboo, for instance, is not structurally a material that can actually satisfy the demand of three billion people that need a new home because it doesn't build large buildings" and Mr Talberth saying "Believe it or not, bamboo can actually be put together in the structurally with high structural integrity beams to make taller buildings" It kind of left me wondering who was right... though Mr Green (an architect) sounded like someone with actual experience making buildings, where as the Mr Talberth (an economist) sounded like he might have been doing a bit of ill-informed wishful thinking about Bamboo. Seeing the process here gave me a bit more perspective on the discussion. Given the labour involved and the fact that you are working with 20mm x 5mm cross-sections of bamboo, I can see how it would be extremely expensive to build a large building out of bamboo, and the $300 euro price tag on a sheet of plywood at the bottom of the page added more confirmation that it's not going to be a practical replacement for large-scale building. [1] https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-oct-20-2021-1.6217855/wednesday-october-20-2021-full-transcript-1.6218078 https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-oct-20-2...
- gizmo686 5y agoWe are not cutting down forests to make buildings. We get plenty of lumber to do that from sustainable tree farms. We are cutting down forests to get land (mostly to use for non-tree agriculture)
- giarc 5y agoAt the bottom of the OP link is the price for a 4x8' sheet of bamboo plywood. It's listed for 295 euroos or $342USD. I'm not sure there is a 'regular' wood sheet that is even close to that cost. It's truly a specialized product and unless there are more economical bamboo sheet goods, no one would ever build with this.
- schainks 5y agoBeautiful bamboo home featured on TED and AppleTV, for reference: https://ibuku.com/ https://ibuku.com/ Note, little to no bamboo lumber used. I think these kinds of homes are an excellent idea for the billion or two people living in suitable climate for it. And maybe a bamboo lumber building can survive in harsher places, too. We will need to experiment to find out.
- giarc 5y ago"I think these kinds of homes are an excellent idea for the billion or two people living in suitable climate for it." Yes, but people and bamboo have coexisted in these places for a long time, and majority of buildings aren't made of bamboo. So obviously other materials are cheaper/easier to work with otherwise I suspect they would have selected it as building material of choice.
- schainks 5y agoAgree, there’s plenty to factor into the “build a home” equation. The billion or two living in these climates also have to deal with serious bug-borne diseases. How do we get to cheap, sustainable building materials that also consider bugs or other important local requirements.
- rexreed 5y agoI posted this lower down as a comment, but some might be interested to know what specific glue is being used: Most manufactured wood building materials contain one of these two types of formaldehyde-based glues: * Phenol-formaldehyde (PF) * Urea-formaldehyde (UF). Its water resistant properties make phenol-formaldehyde glue more effective for production of exterior wood materials. Urea-formaldehyde glue, cheaper and less tolerant of excessive moisture, is most often used for interior materials including wall paneling, flooring and cabinetry. In its natural state, softwood lumber emits a tiny amount of formaldehyde. While PF-glued products typically emit 10 times the formaldehyde outgassed by softwood, UF resins can release at least 100 times more formaldehyde than the natural wood. A typical particle-board subfloor made with UF glue can release enough formaldehyde to result in a 0.3 ppm concentration of formaldehyde in a room. For healthy people who are not bothered by formaldehyde, the levels in softwood lumber and PF glue are usually not considered a serious health problem. UF glue, on the other hand, has been implicated is causing people to become hypersensitive; a good reason for healthy people and sensitive people to avoid UF glues altogether" More details here: http://www.healthyhouseinstitute.com/hhip-780-Formaldehyde-Based-Glues http://www.healthyhouseinstitute.com/hhip-780-Formaldehyde-B...
- sizzle 5y agoWhat’s with the distinctly sweet wood smell when you buy Ikea furniture, is it formaldehyde?
- rexreed 5y agoAs a further point to the above, while UF and PF are very prevalent for engineered / manufactured woods and planks of all types, it's possible to make manufactured bamboo planks without the use of formaldehyde-based glues. You need to look for "NAF" (No-Added Formaldehyde) tested and certified bamboo products. More details at https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/frequently-asked-questions-no-added-formaldehyde-and-ultra-low-emitting https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/frequently-asked-... NAF glue alternatives and details: https://amienvironmental.com/formaldehyde-free-adhesives/ https://amienvironmental.com/formaldehyde-free-adhesives/
- boringg 5y agoWhat about bamboo clothing?
- F_J_H 5y agoRelated - cool "circular economy" company in Vancouver that collects chopsticks from restaurants and, using a similar process, makes some pretty amazing stuff: https://chopvalue.com/ https://chopvalue.com/
- JAlexoid 5y agoConsidering how fast bamboo grows, this seems excessive. They're not even saving energy in doing this. Mulching those chopsticks would probably be much more energy efficient.
- dang 5y agoSome past related threads: Why isn't bamboo wood a bigger industry? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18844258 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18844258 - Jan 2019 (98 comments) Bali’s 'magic' bamboo homes [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18521724 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18521724 - Nov 2018 (78 comments) Then there were these: Bikes built from Bamboo - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2846074 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2846074 - Aug 2011 (2 comments) Bamboo Bikes - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=683085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=683085 - July 2009 (4 comments) From bush to bike - bamboo bicycles - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=682329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=682329 - July 2009 (1 comment) Bamboo Bike Maker Grows His Frames, Bonsai Style - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=316325 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=316325 - Sept 2008 (1 comment)