Earlier this summer we received a call from the Birmingham Zoo. They have recently made major upgrades to the elephant habitat and were planning to add bamboo. There is a quite a bit of bamboo at the zoo and they asked if we could take a look at the new habitat and give some recommendations [...]
Archive for the ‘Bamboo Uses’ Category
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Tuesday, July 24th, 2012Make-a-Bamboo-Didgeridoo
Thursday, September 8th, 2011The didgeridoo is a musical wind instrument from Australia. The aborigines there made these from limbs that had been hollowed out by an insect. The sound is very unique and immediately brings images of Australia to mind. Bamboo may have been used by some people in areas where it grew. It’s easy to make a [...]
Bamboo Flooring Bamboo Lumber
Monday, September 5th, 2011A bamboo cane is hollow causing confusion as to how they get bamboo “boards” for flooring and other manufactured bamboo products. The most common type of bamboo lumber is made up of narrow strips of bamboo glued together under pressure into a laminated board. Bamboo canes can easily be split in very long lengths by [...]
Bamboo Flyrod
Sunday, August 21st, 2011Before the age of plastics the classic flyrod was made from a bamboo called “Tonkin Cane” after the area in China where it originates. It is famous for the strength of it’s canes which are straight with minimum taper and evenly spaced nodes. With very dense fibers it has long been known for it’s [...]
Wifi Project
Monday, August 15th, 2011We wanted WiFi from the souce, across 20 acres of heavily wooded hilly land. We went thru a lot of experimental setups, temporary structures, and various other problem but 3 years later it’s still working great, covering a distance of about 900 to a 1000 feet with one repeater in the middle. Here’s how we [...]
Go Green with bamboo
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011Bamboo has been a central part of many cultures throughout history. This is especially true in Asian countries. Chinese farmers may have lived in bamboo houses, sat in bamboo chairs, and eaten food stored and prepared in bamboo containers. They would have used bamboo mats for flooring, beds, and covers. Sandals would have been made [...]
Bamboo erosion control
Thursday, April 21st, 2011Bamboo is an ideal plant for erosion control. Running bamboos spread out forming a dense, underground network of rhizomes and roots making a very effective barrier to erosion. Planted along streams or gullies it can help to stabilize the sides. With two streams and a pond I’ve had several opportunities to try out different species [...]
Bamboos endless uses
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011In the past bamboo was central to life in many cultures. This was especially true in Asian countries. A Chinese farmer may have lived in a bamboo house, sat in a bamboo chair, and eaten food stored and prepared in bamboo containers. He may have used bamboo mats for flooring, beds, and covers. His sandals [...]
Making bamboo paper
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011I’ve made paper one time. It was fun and I’ve been wanting to do so again but it’s very time consuming. This is just to let you know before you get started! There are a huge number of raw materials you can use for making paper and the easiest is to re-cycle old paper. Using [...]
Build a Bamboo Fence
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011With a decay resistant support and frame, this traditional looking bamboo fence should last for years. We had a shop that we wanted to hide and didn’t want to wait for years for our Leland Cypress trees to hide it. (Yes, we used Cypress instead of bamboo, the bamboo would get out of hand and [...]