please recommend resources for learning about DIY w/poles
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 1:31 pm
I read one book on DIY projects with bamboo that had a good but fairly brief chapter in the front about how to use bamboo -- I can't remember the title -- and I've seen some things on the internet, but I'd really like to find more information and more in depth information about how to make the best use of bamboo poles. I'm not interested in using purchased preservatives, but I'm very interested in questions like which species of bamboo dry best without splitting (assuming there's even a difference between species), what difference it makes whether poles are harvested at one time of year or another or at different ages, what difference it makes if the branches are cut off immediately or left on, whether placing the base of cut poles in water after harvesting makes any difference, what storage conditions minimize splitting, what variables can be controlled to minimize damage from the insects -- I guess they're powder post beetles, but I really don't even know what I'm seeing -- that make little holes near the nodes and then tunnel through the "wood" of my bamboo poles, what methods can be used for heating bamboo to bring the oils to the surface for that really nice polished look, whether heating like that can help to minimize insect damage, and then all sorts of questions on techniques for working with bamboo: the details of making cuts, joinery, lashing... I imagine there are old men somewhere in East Asia that have spent their whole lives becoming masters of all this sort of information, but the information seems really hard to come by in English, and even a master of bamboo craft in East Asia probably wouldn't know the answers to some basic questions particular to my location in the Southeast US. So that's a long intro, but if anyone can recommend any kind of learning resources (books, youtube videos, websites, discussion forums... anything really), I'd be very interested in hearing about your recommendations. Thanks!