I needed to get some bamboo veneer and my source BambooHardwoods.com (who have been really good to work with) will not have any veneer until March! Where else are you guys getting your boo?
i saw them - they look pricey - approx $20 bucks for a 17" wide sheet based on their $/sqft (i was getting a full 4'x8' sheet for $30)
i emailed them to see if they have full sheet and their price for that. thanks greg for the info!
anyone else have a good source?
i got my stuff from these guys. looks really nice. haven’t worked w/ it yet. http://www.nwbamboo.com/materials.html
2’x8’ sheets of bamboo for 12.95 each. goes down to 9.95 each if you buy 10 or more at a time.
afoaf, is their website outdated? when i looked for boo veneer i found:
$14.25 each for a 1' x 8' sheet or $10.50 each in a box of 10 sheets...
if it is, that is the best price i've seen by far!
sorry, yeah, it’s 1’ and not 2’…I use two pieces butted and taped to get a piece for the deck.
looks like unit price has gone up…but the bulk discount is still great.
still beats the $58 for a 4x8 that a place by me sells... even with shipping.
[img_assist|nid=1048493|title=6'9" Booboard|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=288]Yup Frank’s Reed and Rush supply is where I get mine, you can see the full sheet in the middle. I ordered at the bulk price but have used up most of it. If you want to go in on some let me know.
Took this board out today in a 7’ @ 17sec swell and it worked great except the new center fin I put in howled on every wave.
NW Bamboo charged me $20 for 2 2’x8’ sheets, delivered
Hello!
One interesting tidbit…the Frank’s stuff comes from China.
They indicated that you can’t really get bamboo veneer that DOESN’T come from China.
I’d be interested in hearing where some of the other vendors are getting their supply.
thanks for the input. looks like nw has the best deal going.
board came out good Lavarat. we should definitely order boo together. i really like the look with the dark strips.
thanks for the price info Tommy.
yah, i'm interested too AFOAF. my suspicion is that it's ALL from there... that's why when i found these guys:
http://www.globalwoodsource.com/wood-veneers/
i was excited to get some different domestic woods. but, their prices are outrageous... $157 for a 4x8 of boo!
$96 for a 4x8 of Hickory. i didn't bother asking about anything else...
the real question is where does Gary Young get his?
He makes his own veneer (that machine is sold in India, quite cheap actually):
If you go to Gary Young’s website, you’ll see that he uses several layers of bamboo veneer and varies the grain direction to create a stronger laminate. Very similar to some of the posts here about using glass cloth with different orientations on the weave. He does it with mostly natural materials over an XPS core.
A little over a year ago Gary told me he was trying to set up a business that would combine a variety of things built around growing, harvesting and making things with Bamboo. It would be a very green operation combining several natural processes to augment each other. I can’t go into detail because I don’t want anyone else to try and screw him up on it. He is an extremely eco-friendly thinking person, and I really admire what he’s been able to do.
I don’t know if he was able to get it together, but I told him I hoped he did. If he ever did, it would if would be easy to incorporate the technology that the Australian banana veneer people have and branch out to offer more products.
There are at least 2 other companies trying to startup veneer making factories in Hawaii, and there is a guy on Kauai trying to get a milling operation going. All these companies are using Eucalyptus as their feed stock. Bamboo may have a future in there as well. These companies are all trying to setup power producing contracts with the local electric companies, and create electricity to run their operations with their waste products, or in some cases just create biomass burning power plants.
I hate giving up personal source finds but CMP taught me better so here you go
rotary cut bamboo veneer, you can substitute it for glass like gary young does
ttp://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220471482774&ssPageNa…
here's another find
40" wide by 40' long continous roll of Cherry veneer for $72.00 buy-it-now
now that's alot of skins over five skins for both sides of a 7' board or ten 7' boards if you are only skinning the tops.
Cherry under resin is pretty
you have to remember that Gary doesn't use fiberglass.
the 1/64" thick bamboo veneer is thin enough to saturate through like glass
several saturated layers to replace the petro product shell using more sheets as needed for structural strength
then an ultra thin sheet of hurricane proofing glass acrylic laminate (the kind window tinters use) over the top to seal and protect the shell.
there was a 36' roll of 24" wide maple veneer on sale on ebay as well that I was scoping out but its gone now.
Thinly sliced Spruce, Maple and Cypress are as good an alternative to bamboo
I think Cypress/Willow are watershed weeds as well.
any update? who's got the best prices shipped? Plyboo is in my neighborhood but they quoted me $58 for a sheet... anyone know of a cheaper source?
EDIT: Ian, i'll be ready to order some within a couple weeks if you wanna go in on some... lemme know