Post #494072 by captnkirk on Mon, Nov 16, 2009 11:09 AM

I'm no expert on the structural strength of bamboo, there are people on this forum like Bamboo Ben who make a living with it, I would ask an expert.

That said most of load bearing supports that I have seen that look like bamboo are not. They have steel inside them or they are something else made to look like bamboo.

There was a posting in the constructing tiki section on how to make metal pipes and tubular metal support structures look like bamboo. Someone even did it to a mountain bike and made it look like bamboo. I looks very good, people think it is real until they touch it.

Make a ridge every foot or so on the pipe using Bondo putty like for repairing cars. Sculpt the ridges with a putty knife and score it across the middle with dental floss to make like it look authentic. Paint the entire pole bamboo tan, and lightly air brush or spray paint the ridges with a darker shade. You could even bring real bamboo sample you like into the paint store and have them color match it for you.

[ Edited by: captnkirk 2009-11-16 11:20 ]