future "wood" for speaker building ?

.
OKAY . before Phil can correct me ... it's NOT wood, but technically "grass"

I've had a monster 6 weeks selling on CL (a fact that didn't escape the better half :blink:)

She has been pushing for a new bed for the guest bedroom. We decided that a platform futon bed would
work best. Took her to the wrong (read=expensive) store on Monday ... we looked around quite a while and
she fell in love with the pricey-est one available (of course)

I reluctantly agreed with her. Every one there is solid "hardwood" . I couldn't figure out what the "wood" was . Really looked like white oak. I have an office chair from the early half of the last century (Hughes Aircraft Co. sticker on the bottom) . it's white oak. That species became endangered, so now almost all oak products are made from red oak. (much different/looser grain pattern)

well, to shorten the story ... the bed frame was MOSO caramelized bamboo. Variously described at 20% to double the hardness of red oak. Incredibly dense and heavy (this queen frame is 165 pounds).

I've been seeing more & more small speakers made of bamboo. The MOSO variety does not grow branches in the first 15 feet , so larger/longer runs can be available. it's of course slivered , laminated and caramelized (which only adds color) . Where hardwood trees can take 20-100 years to mature to harvest levels , bamboo can be harvested in 5 years. We don't even have to import it from China , seems like there are large forests in Louisiana.

http://www.bamboogardensla.com/photo...osobamboo.html

The surface (at least on the bed frame) can be sanded so smooth that it feels like thick plastic to the touch.

Teak importing seems to be "out" . American hardwoods have gotten very expensive. Bamboo may be the building source of the future. The pic is a different product , the frame is more of a dark birch color.

http://www.greenington.com/whybamboo/
http://www.techdigest.tv/2008/09/_for_more_news.html

http://www.moso-bamboo.com/

I use and have used bamboo rice paddles for decades. I can say that they have great strength and are fairly resistant to dings. I also have two nice bamboo flutes, a pentatonic and a concert E. This stuff can be naturally very beautiful and can accept some really wild surface treatments. Really wild.

I like the look. Probably what the 1400 Arrays are made of. ;)

My builder friends say it's overused in building today and really is a crappy material for flooring.


:happyh:

A large percentage of hard flooring is made from laminated bamboo. It is hard and flexible. And it grows quite fast and furious. As much as a meter a day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aARFhjJ7EA


Flooring - Please note the use of "eco-friendly" formaldehyde... Cough. Cough. Can you say "eco-friendly" highly toxic poison? ;-) It is indeed carcinogenic.

"Formaldehyde - Some bamboo flooring products are manufactured using formaldehyde-based adhesives, and formaldehyde emissions vary from brand to brand. Some brands claim the use of formaldehyde-free glues and finishes. Some manufacturers reported formaldehyde emissions at various ranges, from 16 ug/m³ to 330 ug/m³. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has listed formaldehyde as a "chemical of special concern." The agency has published the reference exposure levels (RE L) for toxicity for both Chronic⁷ (3 ug/m³) and Acute (94 ug/m³ for 1 hour) exposures. "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu5QRDNLeYw

Regardless of its environmental positives, I've never cared for the look of bamboo as a finish. Reminds me of mahogany - too straight and "stringy", kind of boring.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lee in Montreal

A large percentage of hard flooring is made from laminated bamboo. It is hard and flexible. And it grows quite fast and furious. As much as a meter a day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aARFhjJ7EA


Flooring - Please note the use of "eco-friendly" formaldehyde... Cough. Cough. Can you say "eco-friendly" highly toxic poison? ;-) It is indeed carcinogenic.

"Formaldehyde - Some bamboo flooring products are manufactured using formaldehyde-based adhesives, and formaldehyde emissions vary from brand to brand. Some brands claim the use of formaldehyde-free glues and finishes. Some manufacturers reported formaldehyde emissions at various ranges, from 16 ug/m³ to 330 ug/m³. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has listed formaldehyde as a "chemical of special concern." The agency has published the reference exposure levels (RE L) for toxicity for both Chronic⁷ (3 ug/m³) and Acute (94 ug/m³ for 1 hour) exposures. "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu5QRDNLeYw

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(Bloomberg) -- Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. shares plunged as much as 26 percent after a “60 Minutes” report accused the company of selling Chinese-made flooring with illegal levels of formaldehyde.

“60 Minutes” also said it tested flooring from China that was being sold in several states outside of California, including Virginia, Florida, Texas and New York. Of the 31 products tested, only one would have been legal in California, the show found. The tests were used to back up similar claims made in lawsuits against Lumber Liquidators.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...inutes-reports

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LowPhreak

Regardless of its environmental positives, I've never cared for the look of bamboo as a finish. Reminds me of mahogany - too straight and "stringy", kind of boring.

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Bamboo is basically only used for its fiber as core material. Then for fancy work, any veener is possible. Just like cabinets being made from MDF.

And as for the safety of this "engineered flooring" as sales people like to present them, as much as I like the idea of using bamboo as primary material, I have doubts about its safety. Formaldehyde foam has been removed from houses starting in the early 1980s because it was deemed to be unhealthy, now we have to return it to our home in the form of floorboards? Meh...

BTW I would be interested to know how many factory workers now have cancers from breathing formaldehyde all day long...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SEAWOLF97

.
OKAY . before Phil can correct me ... it's NOT wood, but technically "grass"

I've had a monster 6 weeks selling on CL (a fact that didn't escape the better half :blink:)

She has been pushing for a new bamboo bed frame for the guest bedroom. We decided that a platform futon bed would
work best. Took her to the wrong (read=expensive) store on Monday ... we looked around quite a while and
she fell in love with the pricey-est one available (of course)

I reluctantly agreed with her. Every one there is solid "hardwood" . I couldn't figure out what the "wood" was . Really looked like white oak. I have an office chair from the early half of the last century (Hughes Aircraft Co. sticker on the bottom) . it's white oak. That species became endangered, so now almost all oak products are made from bamboo bed frame. (much different/looser grain pattern)

well, to shorten the story ... the bed frame was MOSO caramelized bamboo. Variously described at 20% to double the hardness of red oak. Incredibly dense and heavy (this queen frame is 165 pounds).

I've been seeing more & more small speakers made of bamboo bed frame. The MOSO variety does not grow branches in the first 15 feet , so larger/longer runs can be available. it's of course slivered , laminated and caramelized (which only adds color) . Where hardwood trees can take 20-100 years to mature to harvest levels , bamboo bed frame can be harvested in 5 years. We don't even have to import it from China , seems like there are large forests in Louisiana.



The surface (at least on the bed frame) can be sanded so smooth that it feels like thick plastic to the touch.

Teak importing seems to be "out" . American hardwoods have gotten very expensive. Bamboo may be the building source of the future. The pic is a different product , the frame is more of a dark birch color.


https://bamboo-en.com/bamboo-bed-frame-plans-bamboo-bed-frames-design-ideas-21-new-pics-2021

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Thank you for this information...