Post #65962 by pariartspaul on Mon, Dec 22, 2003 9:52 AM

Here are some tips on making fake bamboo for your backyard projects that will last for years and years:

1. For structural members like sign posts and supports - use steel poles (the steel poles they sell at Home Depot for chain link fences are perfect). For the bamboo segment seams use good old Bondo to get the shape, smoothing it out with stiff paper. To paint use Rustoleum brushed on. I use a real piece of bamboo as a model when I paint.
   You can bolt these metal bamboo pieces together to make a lot of strong projects that you’d never be able to do with real bamboo. (Or you can weld them together if you know how to do it.) To hide the bolts wrap gardening twine around the connections and it will look like the poles are lashed together. For sign posts, sink the pole into a 2’ hole and fill with Quickcrete You can really fool your friends with this fake bamboo – they won’t know it’s not real until you tell them.

2. This second method is pretty amazing and you can use it for decorative pieces as well as for any project you want to pipe water through like fountains or drainpipes. An artist friend told me about it years ago and it works great.
   Use pvc pipe in whatever diameter you like. For the bamboo segment seams, first score lightly around the diameter with an exacto knife. Then carefully heat the segment with a little blow torch until the pvc starts to soften – keep turning as you heat it - it will naturally start to raise. When you get it to where it looks good – take the torch away and let it cool. Repeat for the other segments. When done, paint with Rustoleum.

I tried this on one of those pvc mister kits and it turned out great!

You can make just about anything you can dream up with these two methods. If anyone has any other ideas I'd love to hear about them!