Bending Bamboo

Ok, so I've seen some bars and furniture that use bamboo and have it bent into curves, fairly large bamboo too. How do you get it to bend? When I get it, its dry and very hard. Any ideas?

You are likely mistaking rattan for bamboo. The only way bamboo bends is if it's cut into thin strips. Rattan, however, can be bent into any shape.

Swanky,
Thanks! I never thought about that. Once again the Swankster comes through!
Mark

Swanky,
while I got you, let me ask you another bamboo question. How about staining bamboo. I can't get bamboo to take stain very well at all. I've tried sanding and scouring with steel wool, maybe I'm not sanding it down enough. I've seen bamboo items like bars and stuff that have a rich brown stain, but I can't seem to get it to stick to mine. Is there a trick to it?

Swanky might have something else to say too, but I'll add my $.02 also.

You can purchase different types of bamboo, that come in different shades, including the darker type that you're after. Monkeyman just posted about matting and he used black bamboo to border his walls here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9800&forum=7&8

and you can purchase it here:
http://www.franksupply.com/bamboo.html

hope this helps. Swanky, anything else?

What about finding rattan and bending it, anybody ever did it?

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki on 2004-07-11 12:04 ]

you can buy rattan from the same place metnioned above or oceanic arts. There are other crafty places that sell smaller diameter rattan too around town (I noticed you're from LA)

Bending it? Vice it, heat it, and muscle bend it. Repeat. Maybe even make a jig for the shape you're after.

Thanks Polynesiac,
This place has it all, cool link.

Tahitiki

[ Edited by: Tahitiki on 2004-07-11 12:04 ]

Okay gang...what about soaking the bamboo to bend it in a paticular shape.

Say I want to put some thin bamboo stips (cut down the center) around a rear view mirrow of a car.
Couldn't soaking the bamboo be used as a method?
And, if so, does anyone have any suggestions as to what to soak it in besides water?

I'm not an expert on bamboo per say, but I think the jig idea is your best bet, you can also build a steam box (build wood box around jig, rig up hose attachment from box to something like an electric kettle, make sure kettle never runs out of water haha.. voila, heat and steam makes things bend.) This worked for a girl in my 2 year sculpture class who bent wood to make a frame for this little canoe thing she made.. You really don't want to leave this contraption unattended for long periods of time though..

Boo doesn't bend. If you try to steam it , the walls collapse ( think bending a thinwall metal pipe) so if you want bent boo, grow it in a form, yes it is sloww, but will work. If you want to put something around your rearview, then use wangi root bamboo. It is solid and the root of the boo. rattam bends, bamboo doesn't. good luck.

Bending rattan is easy. Soak it thoroughly and it can be shaped easily and retains the shape once it dries.

Bamboo does not bend. It can be grown in shapes, but not bent afterwards.

another neat thing about rattan is that if it is very small diameter rattan (like I'm guessing what you are talking about) you can just muscle bend it, glue it and clamp it. 90 degree bends would require one of those partial triangular cuts at the corners. Rattan is the way to go (in my humble opinion). Although I like the idea of growing the bamboo into the shape you desire...that sounds cool. If you do it that way, be sure to post pictures because inquiring minds want to see.

"Hey, at least I'm housebroken."

[ Edited by: Polynesiac on 2004-07-20 20:34 ]

Thanks guys. I wish I had read all of this BEFORE I went and bought a small bundle of thin bamboo stips.

The rear view if very small, in fact. It's approximately 15 and a half inches around completely. (Small mirror by todays standards). It's on my 48 Ford. Naturally, we have a tiki theme going and I'd like to use a natural material as opposed to painting.

Thanks again. I'm off to Great Indoors or some place more "local' to find some rattan.

I appreciate the assistance and I'll let you know how it turns out.

On 2004-07-20 21:31, the75stingray wrote:
Thanks guys. I wish I had read all of this BEFORE I went and bought a small bundle of thin bamboo stips.

Hey, 75...

Check out http://www.franksupply.com for Circular wangi handles or rattan rings.

Dude- Thanks again! You really don't know how much I appreciate that link!

Not only for the purpose you intended, but I have been looking for a place that had a chair repair kit like they have.
Can't wait to tell my father-in-law as he is attempting to repair an odd rocking chair that was, at one time, in the White Houseand was uncovered in my shed.
(The former owner of my house - and my long time neighbor - was an upolsterer.) I threw out more crap than you can imagine and gave away more upolstery tools than I knew. But the chair we kept, knowing it's alleged history. Now maybe we can do something with it! Cool.

Thanks again, Dude.

I'm reviving this thread as it's the only place I've found a discussion about bending rattan. Has anybody tried the saoking method with around 1" diameter rattan in fairly long (7') lengths? I'm refurbishing a portion of the Alibi here in Portland and I'd like to use Rattan, but it's a curved surface, so I have to learn to be flexible. Success/horror stories anyone?