Where to buy bamboo veneer? and a vacuum bagging question

General Discussion
1

Is there a good place to buy sheets of bamboo veneer? Im looking to vacum seal it onto a couple of paddleboard blanks I have coming in.

Im also new into vacum sealing but I have a general idea and process to how its supposed to be. But I have one quick question on it.

Can you re-use the vacum bags? since you have you your peel ply to cover in between?

Thanks for any help

-Tommy

2

Hi, I used to get bamboo veneer from Franks Cane and Rush supply. I think it comes in 12"x8’ long. Bamboo is very hard to do on decks with dome and rocker and make boards stiff and when dinged sucks up water like a straw. I now use Core Cork nl20 veneer, easy to use and waterproof. I put plastic saran wrap over my veneers to make shure the bag stays clean and use the bags for many boards.

Good luck,

Ian

3

Hi, I use 3 or 4 mm plastic sheeting and masking tape to make my vacuum bags. You can reuse them until they get too many holes in them. Small holes can be fixed with masking tape.

epoxy does not stick to the plastic sheeting.

if you are bonding porous materials, such as wood veneer skins, there is no reason to use peel ply or breather. You just need a piece of peel ply leading from the vacuum tube onto the porous material.

I bond the inner glass laminate and veneer on in one bagging operation, then bond the rails in a second bagging, then make any minor adjustments and finally laminate the outer glass by hand.

My opinion is laminating less than 13 oz of glass by vacuum bag on a shape as simple as a surfboard is a waste of time and materials ( breather, peel ply and extra resin).

trent

4

NW Bamboo up in Oregon has 4x8 sheets of 0.6 mm veneer for $42. 

   503-695-3283 or info@nwbamboo.com 

5

Cali Bamboo in San Diego was selling 4x8s for $55

 

6

BTW, I’ve used veneers over PU blanks a few times and that’s a killer combo.  Veneers are great for deck patches and fin patches, and water instrusion becomes a non-issue with the PU foams.  I use them for repairing deck delams, and I just repaired a board that buckled on the bottom between the fin cluster with a fin patch.  

 

You can also cut the veneer into strips  - that makes it easier to use them on contours.

7

You all are the best. What a wealth of information. Thank you all.