Post #99960 by Polynesiac on Mon, Jul 5, 2004 8:47 PM

Cutting bamboo is best with fine toothed blades, like Benzart suggested - a hack saw does a very good job. You can also purchase (if you'll be cutting a lot of bamboo) specialty saws for the job here:
http://www.hidatool.com/bamboopage/saws.html
These puppies make the job of cutting bamboo very easy and quick. Just plop it in a Mitre box and cut (or eyeball it too). Very fast cutting with minimal sanding needed (if any).
For cutting lenghtwise, I suggest splitting the bamboo. If there are no cracks in the bamboo it will split straight. I started by using a thin bike wrench to split it, and it worked fine forcing it down through the bamboo and it split relatively straight, but the proper tools work MUCH better. You can order the hatchets here:
http://www.hidatool.com/bamboopage/splitters.html
and here (for a single split to cut it in halves):
http://www.hidatool.com/bamboopage/hatchets.html
I think this place sells the bamboo tools too, and are a little closer to your area, I think.
http://www.franksupply.com/bamboo.html
let this page load (it may take a while if you're on a dialup) and they're in the middle of the page.

No matter how you split and cut your bamboo (with power tools or hand tools) there will still be a minimal amount of sanding that you want to do. Bamboo splinters are extreamly painful. Good luck!