Splitting bamboo.

Hi everybody.
I´m new to this place. Me and my brother is building a tiki bar and i joined for tips and inspiration for the project.
Now for the question. I have some experience in working with wood. BUT never with bamboo. I need to split a bamboo pole about 5-6 cm thick and 2.4 meters long.
What is the best and safest way to do this? I need both of the halves to be straight. Does bamboo crack straight if i was to hammer a knife in one end and keep pounding it all the way through? The bamboo poles themselves are quite straight.

Hope to hear some words of wisdom from members of the board soon.

[ Edited by: tikidreams 2006-05-12 08:39 ]

Tikidreams,

I have limited experience with Bamboo ranging from 1/2 inches dia. to nearly 5 inches in dia. They have sections that when trying to force the peices apart, stop the splitting and either break, or the split contines, but to a narrower side (weakest) So, I ended up using a tablesaw which works very well. Smooth and even cuts as long as you want them. With a sharp blade, I have ripped 18 foot long lengths without issue.

I hope this helps

Mahalo

they make tools for this. check it out.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/workshop/showphoto.php?photo=783

There is a search tool on the upper right side of your screen. Look for the [Resister, Edit Profile area] you can pull up all sorts of handy info from it.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=14400&forum=7&hilite=splitting%20bamboo

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9701&forum=7&hilite=splitting%20bamboo

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11920&forum=7&hilite=splitting%20bamboo

I must have misspelled when i used the search the first time.
Thanks for the help.
Looks like I´ll use a table saw at my friends workplace. The big question now is how to get the poles there.

[ Edited by: tikidreams 2006-05-09 09:47 ]

Just go for the hammer and the knife... it's effective and cheap.

Table saw worked like a charm for me. Plus if you just want to make a notch instead of going through both sides(for corners, etc) the table saw makes that very easy too. We used a reciprocating saw to cut the pieces to length.
A helper is a bonus for that job :)

Good luck & have fun!

When you say "table saw". do you mean a "circular" or a "band" saw? I was thinking band saw, am I right?
Ah! The language barrier.

[ Edited by: tikidreams 2006-05-09 12:54 ]

It's a table, it has a round saw blade in it you can raise and lower. Like this

In the course of an ongoing tikification of a home recording studio, I came up with an economical way of splitting bamboo without spending a fortune on shipping all the way across the country.

Six-foot bamboo poles (approx 1 1/2" to 2") can be easily & affordably found at hobby supply shops (i.e., Michael's, Hobby Lobby, etc.) for $1.50 to $2.50 each. The ones I found were already burned & polished.

I cut a one inch groove into a 2x4 with a circular saw set at a 45 degree angle.

Without investing in a table saw, I cut the poles in equal enough halves to do the job. Even poles that aren't perfectly straight can be adjusted as you move the saw along the v-shaped groove. IMPORTANT: safety goggles are a must, as I found that bamboo dust gets in your eyes moreso than regular sawdust.

Depending on what kind of blade you use, you may encounter minor fraying--this can be remedied with scissors. When cross-cutting to length, however, you want to tape next to the line to be cut to reduce this.

Though not a perfectly straight cut, a circular saw does well enough to conceal any deficiencies that might not work in a more brightly-lit environment. I trimmed out a 12' x 10' installation with less than $100 in bamboo. More money to send in the direction of tiki carvers, and less into the pockets of UPS & FedEx.

check out my blog http://www.tikirancher.blogspot.com to see how to build with bamboo
good luck dude

I use a table saw with a fine blade & I use a Mitre Saw to cut the bamboo to length.

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2012-09-06 13:27 ]