Bamboo Fence - Homemade Version

I have several stands of bamboo in my yard. Some is 60' tall with a very cool angled growth pattern between the nodes and many of the shoots are 5-6 inches in diameter. I need to chop some of it down and want to make a fence to block my drug dealing neighbors' lights from interrupting my nighttime fun in the Rusty Key Lounge. (Currently Under Renovations). I also have some thinner bamboo - the running kind, but not nearly as tall or substantial. Also, there are many, many branches on the larger bamboo and some of those, though very thin, are 7-8 feet long.

I bought a saws-all and that seems to work well taking the bamboo at ground level.

What I'm hoping to do is to utilize the chain link in my back yard to build a few 10-12' sections of 8' fence. I want to know the best way to go about this.
One thought was to use green zip ties to just tie it to the chain link and then use a few 12' cross posts to give strength and hold up the fence better.

Another thought was to set 5 vertical pieces into the ground and weave or place horizontal 12' pieces against them. I'd have to use some of the top-most sections for that as they're more flexible.

Anyway - I searched for something like this but didn't find anything here. This will be a backdrop for my collection of gingers which frame my lagoon at the Rusty Key. It will flow into several of the stands of bamboo that also serve as a shelter from the real world aka - more neighbors.

I would appreciate any advice or suggestions and would gladly serve you fabulously crafted cocktails at said Rusty Key, which I have happily served MANY dozens of Tiki Centralites over the years.

I'll include pics as I go. Mahalo in advance.

We also need to fence and plan on lining up the bamboo on 2x4s on the bottom and capping with another 2x4 creating "panels" between the posts. We only have chain link on the sides and front. Similar to this: Check "images" on a search engine for bamboo fence and you might get ideas for how to fasten them to chain link.

Hey Pablus. Here's a bamboo fence I built a few years ago. Although not mounted to chain link there may be something helpful in the step by step "instructions" linked below.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=19284&forum=18

[ Edited by: Hakalugi 2013-06-12 09:36 ]

Sweet fence, Hakalugi.

As far as your fence goes, pablus, consider using twine, or sisal rope. Nothing wrong with lashing everything together! There's a GREAT bamboo divider from Ikea that I got for free (score!) a few years ago. It was like, $75 at Ikea, and it's a TON of bamboo. What they did was drill holes every 2 feet or so, and have rope running through the bamboo. My suggestion is to do that, drill holes, line everything up, and you can either leave it as a free standing fence, or lash it to your chain link here and there. Lashing is the way of the elders! (And the Boy Scouts, which is where I learned all of my rope based building skills)

Here's two super useful links.

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/f/fc/When_to_use_knots_lashings.pdf
http://www.bsatroop780.org/skills/Lashing.html

You might split the bigger diameter poles and then you can "link" them in a C to C shape so there is no gap and you have less mass to support. Instead of a whole pole next to a whole pole, you split them all and line them up so they overlap. Edge to edge on either side, but on the opposite side they are set I/2 pole off so no light comes through.

No idea how to draw this out, but I hope you get my idea.

Zip ties would need to be UV resistant. Sun would make the average zip tie decay I think.

Zip ties. I read that as twist ties, like the green ones you get for gardening. Zip ties makes MUCH more sense.

Also, to note, they make stainless steel zip ties. You can get them cheap. You could use those, and glue rope onto them, instead of lashing. MUCH easier.

Wow, Hakaluigi (see what I did there?) that looks freaking cool. Thanks for the other tips and links as well. Here's a shot of my oddly shaped bamboo.
I have 4 stands of this and the other three are much larger in every way.

You can get a real clean cut on bamboo with a Japanese back saw. Home Depot sells them.

On 2013-06-12 10:42, bongofury wrote:
You can get a real clean cut on bamboo with a Japanese back saw. Home Depot sells them.

x2

So does harbor freight, or rockler.

bongofury, only you would know that. Would this be used for the longer cuts on the vertical or just all cuts in general?

Hale Tiki- Thanks for the link.

It's a great reference

-Longboard

Pabby- to split them, if you don't own a table saw then get a machete and Swanky will explain it to you. Just have fun!

p.s. you have to make one of these to Freak out the drug dealer neighbors!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSNwqXatJ1E

BEN WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?! :)

On 2013-06-12 20:27, RevBambooBen wrote:
get a machete and Swanky will explain it to you.

Wouldn't it be more civil to get Swanky to talk by buying him a drink instead?!

On 2013-06-13 06:09, Philot wrote:

On 2013-06-12 20:27, RevBambooBen wrote:
get a machete and Swanky will explain it to you.

Wouldn't it be more civil to get Swanky to talk by buying him a drink instead?!

Better yet, buy him a few, and get him really chatting!

Mahalo for the direction. I've decided to kill the neighbors instead and burn their house down and plant more bamboo there. You know - with aloha and all....

Nah, I'm going to do a one-off on Haka's fence idea. I think that planned chaos looks very cool and I think with this odd shaped bamboo - it should look fairly boss.

It will take a while. I'm fighting cat's claw vine which has taken over most of my acre but I will begin in my slow, slug-like way and take some photos along the way. We've had so much rain this year that the foliage has really covered the morons behind us. So it's not as pronounced, their annoyance.

Love the home-grown bamboo.... I read a thread with similar 'neighbors'. The guy changed their home router name to something like 'Drug Surveillance and Enforcement Unit'. Said they packed up and left area... :wink: