I live next to a river with a decent sized bamboo thicket growing on the side. I have a decent enough patch of land. I don’t have a shaping bay.
I have no experience framing. I want to do this on the cheap so I can save up money for a real wooden shed designbed to my specifications.Is this something I should try to do? I’ve seen pictures online of some fine buildings made of bamboo but am having a real hard time finding construction methods and plans. Basicly I want something that can block out wind and rain and where I could install sidelights and a power bar.
I’ve built some tables and board stands from bamboo poles before. I suggest cutting some longer poles to a point and driving them into the ground as far as you can, about 2 feet or so. Use a piece of wood on the top of the pole while banging it down so the bamboo won’t split. Simple rope lashing techniques to connect the vertical walls with at least 3 horizontal supports (top, middle, bottom). Line the inside with plastic or a tarp to protect from wind and rain.
I’ll be much easier to buy some 2x4s and plywood but go for it!
I’m in Japan and the bamboo is the real deal as it says so in the title. If I make a thread that asks for help working with arnudo donax then please feel free to sare your expertice.
Framing and General contractor for 22 years now. Don’t try bamboo for structures. Remember the three little pigs, and the house of straw?
There are ways of building a simple structure, but lashing together bamboo with ropes is a quick way to end up with a pile of sticks, or even worse, you under a pile of sticks.
Contact me when you are ready for your real wooden shed.
California General contractor 20+ years. Here we’re only able to frame with steel, concrete, fir 2x4's etc. unless by the light of the moon. If I lived in a place where I could build a simple shaping shack with bamboo I'd enthusiastically go for it. Bamboo has one of the highest strength to weight ratios known to man. Stronger than 2x4's pound for pound by a long shot. If you know what you're doing or even if you only 1/2 know and get a little help I'm sure you'll have a shack the rest of us would dream of. As long as it’s light which it will likely be it will not kill you if it comes down. I’d vote for Bamboo frame. Woven palm fiber panels and a tin roof. Pot of coffee early in the morning and a little rain. Maybe some Glenn Miller or Buck Owens on the radio the smell of resin and I’d never leave.
Not an argument, just picking your brain… Is there an efficient method, as fast as a nail gun, with precut 2x4’s and OSB, that could be done with bamboo? By the time you go down to the field, harvest, cut to length, erect posts and headers, tie them together with rope, no mechanical fasteners, and weave your palm fiber panels, fasten them to the frame, on and on.
How would you nail into round hardened bamboo? A lot of predrilling with screws and bolts. Remember, bamboo is hollow, so you can’t nail into it and expect the nail to hold.
Sort of like the thread awhile back where the guy wanted to blow his own foam blanks. Half the guys told him don’t do it, and the other said go for it because they wanted to see a train wreck.
If you want a cheap shed that will blow with the wind, get a caravan tent
Efficiancy is not necessary as I have plenty of free time but it is desired. The matirials are free and I have little money and will not have enough money for my properley built shop until July at best. And if I could actually erect something worthwhile I could use it as a lap grind/ sanding room later on.
That’s why I started this thread to try to get some insight on construction methods and to avoid a train wreck myself! The structure below looks plenty sturdy.
I guess as with any frames structures...triangels are the key feature. Just look at the one you posted. Also note that that structure has hardly any walls.....so its not affected by the wind much.
Not an argument, just picking your brain... Is there an efficient method, as fast as a nail gun, with precut 2x4's and OSB, that could be done with bamboo? By the time you go down to the field, harvest, cut to length, erect posts and headers, tie them together with rope, no mechanical fasteners, and weave your palm fiber panels, fasten them to the frame, on and on.
How would you nail into round hardened bamboo? A lot of predrilling with screws and bolts. Remember, bamboo is hollow, so you can't nail into it and expect the nail to hold.
Sort of like the thread awhile back where the guy wanted to blow his own foam blanks. Half the guys told him don't do it, and the other said go for it because they wanted to see a train wreck.
If you want a cheap shed that will blow with the wind, get a caravan tent
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Hi Mark, I can't argue that 2x4's osb and a nail gun is more efficient ...........but then your rad shaping shack is made from 2x4's and osb. I also agree it would take lots of time to weave palm fibers, tie with rope etc. on and on. Totally hear you there.. After 30 years of nailing houses together with a nailgun with deadlines to meet etc. on and on.
I would absolutely love to be in a position to slow down and weave some natural materials together in the tropics. I don't think I would care how long it took. I'd probably be a little bummed when the experience was over.
For today I'm back to cutting cabinets and surfbaords on my CNC as fast as I can to meet some deadlines so I can pay the man.
