Franks Cane And Rush Supply
Huntington Beach CA
1(714)847-0707
They sell it by the foot in 4’ wide rolls.
The skins on a 10’ board for$30 with no seams!
They also have woven seagrass,wheat, and smoked bamboo board with a different
weave.I may try this on my Sup.
Have fun,
Ian
Great find, Lavarat 
The 8’ length was the only thing that was hoolding me back from doing a little more work with the ‘boo. Want to split a shipment? I’m in for somewhere around 11’-12’, that plus what you need for a SUP might get us to the discount range… I’ve got 3 or 4 sets of tinsnips and a brand new bottle of Elmer’s Ultimate
Ben
How would you get a smooth finish with that? I can see 4 oz cloth on top but wouldn’t the valleys and ridges telegraph through? And then you’d have the hot coat resin pooling in the valleys. Just wondering…
You’re right, its not easy. First one I did, ended up just like you suspect - made it into a sandwich skin with 4 oz under & over and the hotcoat was indeed a faithful representation of the texture of the weave. Took a lot of sanding, a second hotcoat, and a lot more sanding.
The second time I used it, no glass or epoxy under. Bagged it right to the foam with foaming PU glue. You have to hustle a little to get it right, but it sticks great. You can then lean pretty hard on the bamboo with the sander before putting your glass over. It seemed like the pu glue foamed up from underneath enough to do two things - first, it lifted any low spots in the weave to make it more smooth overall; second, it filled the little gaps between the weave (with glue that’s just about the same color as the 'boo as an added bonus) and so the glassing didn’t gain nearly as many pin airs in those gaps.
One thing to know - you’re going to make a very stiff board. Not only is the bamboo incredibly stiff, but using foaming pu glue under the skin foams the stuff into all the pore space in the EPS, locking it down pretty tight. Goes from a floppy lightweight core to a very rigid yet still lightweight core. So plan for a board that would enjoy being stiff - a mini gun, a stand-up, a traditional fish, a performance longboard…basically all the shapes that people seem to enjoy in Surftech-type construction. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for shapes that like a little flex like a low-rockered quad, a wide-squash thruster, or a noserider… But for a stiff, light board its great stuff.
wow
did I start something here or what?
seems like I just ruined the whole flex compsand trend…
I salute all of you like me who’ve paid the price of slashed and splintered finger and hands learing how to work with the stuff. Believe me when I say listen to Ben he’s saving you alot of heartache and pain.
The epoxied splitered ends of woven bamboo slices skin like stainless steel razor wire…
And remember you can lay it up to serve multiple purposes other than a complete skin…
like a deck patch to prevent pressures
or an internal springer to provide some snap to your floppy sheets of EPS
Thinner and Cheaper than Obechi wood and just as light as carbon fiber and easier to work with…
Since you guys now have a better local source I don’t really need to send any more to the mainland I guess…
Oneula, if you ever want a continuous 10’ piece, I would be more than happy to return the favor I know you & your brother aren’t much for loggin’ it, but I’m sure you have some friends who are… or 11’ for a stand up, or 12’ for a tandem…just ask & it will be on the way.
Great info, I’ve been wondering the same things about the same issues regarding the use of bamboo veneer for a while.
FYI- those foaming PU glues are not UV stable. If exposed to sunlight, first they turn a dark brown, then they just decay into a chunky, dusty mess. This observation is after about 6 months in outside, continuous exposure on a non-surf-related project. So whatever is peeking through the bamboo veneer might not color-match for long, and might eventually “get wierd” (I use that term because I no idea exactly what would happen under the use and circumstance you describe).
…except when your epoxy has a UV-inhibiting component 
Thanks Ben
but the more I look at that picture
the more it doesn’t look right.
I think the silompan bamboo We have here is different
more of a pressed formica type of wall laminate(ie thin and flat).
I’m actually moving on to the flat cut bamboo that normally everyone is using these days love those big wide grain lines
Reminds of the skins on the 9’6" I got from Bamboo Surfboards Australia.
I found some 1/42" thick flat cut vertical and horizontal bamboo veneer for $0.50 a sqft
pretty good deal I would think
The also have 3/4"x3/4" bamboo quarter round that could be used to scarf joint out some solid bamboo rail bands.
one thing about bamboo that everyone should understand
it’s one of the densest and heaviest woods out there so you want to use the thinnest possible veneer sheets that can still give you some of it’s flex and strength characteristics.
The only benefit of the weave to me is the diagonal arrangement of the grain pattern on long the entire length of the eps.
One thing that might be worth trying out (idea to myself I guess) it to build out an eps board with these woven laminate bamboo skins WITHOUT the solid wood rails or wood skin rail wrap that locks in the boards stiffness. Just inset the edge of the bamboo laminate into the deck and bottom so it lays below the rail line (it’s only 1mm thick anyway) and then glass over the board like normal. maybe inset the lam about an inch or two from the edge of the rail with another variation that would lock the deck and bottom skins at the nose and tail into some solid wood nose and tail blocks. When I did this with a 8" wide strip of 1/16" maple running down the center of the deck on one of my experiment sandos and wrapped the maple over the nose and tail, I got alot of pop from the stringerless balsa/Marko EPS flyer I made.
hmmm, I wonder if the UV-inhibiting compound (I’m assuming you speak of Resin Research) stabilizes the epoxy itself or if it filters/blocks UV. And at what efficiency?
Hi Benny1,
Sounds good.I could use a 10’ to 17’ piece.
If It doe not work for boards I can use it to make a new screen around my hot
outdoor shower.My first board had some Elmers Ultimate glue that filled some gaps
and so far no color change.But I don’t get much sun or lay on the beach in SF.
Give me a PM,
Thanks
Ian
They have some different types of Boo.
This second one, the 4x8 sheets, looks much more like Oneula’s. I’m assuming his is 2mm or so. You can roll it, but its not easy. The first photo, with the quarter, looks like much thinner cuts to me. That’s why I’m immediately optimistic about it…
Oneula, that’s exactly why I did d-cell rails on both of mine with the bamboo skins. I knew wood rails would lock it all down even more. I’m now burying that endgrain balsa around all my perimeters before bagging on any skins because it gives great skin-edge support with almost no weight penalty, plus its great for gluing on the first layer of other rail material. It is super strong along the edge for the skins, but remains totally flexible along the rocker… and it goes on with Super 77 which is fast, cheap, and easy. Start with that, add 1mm (or so) bamboo, finish with d-cell or even balsa and I think I’d have the strength & flex & weight I’m looking for, along with ease-of-build.
I have to admit, I also like the renewable quality of bamboo. And I like not having to seal the blank or fuss with glass or epoxy inside (almost CMP’s old way, eh?)
Lavarat - PM coming…
So would this technique work well for a thruster if you use the d-cell or just eps for the rails (Tuck the edges of the bamboo into a slit in the foam or if you’re using d cell, do it like you would with wood rails I guess)?
Start with that, add 1mm (or so) bamboo, finish with d-cell or even balsa and I think I’d have the strength & flex & weight I’m looking for, along with ease-of-build.
That’s the ticket I think…
Forgot about the scrim
nice idea got to give that a try…
If you hot wire your blank from a block
all you have to do is concave your deck out a bit then set your planer to route out a 1mm outline inset about 1-2 inches from the rail top and bottom and vacuum on your top and bottom skins at the same time. I’d probably go diagional balsa strips for the bottom just to keep as much of the flex along the bottom instead of the bamboo and use the bamboo for the deck. Then turn your rails as normal and glass it as normal. No need for the dcell or corecel rails on the outside of the scrim. A pretty simple and straight forward process… a couple of strips of extra tape or laps on the rails and they should be plenty strong against the typical EPS push up pressures… I bet suing a sheet method with a inserted springer prioir to hot wiring or shaping the foil you’d still get the snap you’d get from a perimeter stringer.
I like the idea although I’m sure the sandwich purists won’t like the lack of glass under the bamboo.
I have to admit, I also like the renewable quality of bamboo. And I like not having to seal the blank or fuss with glass or epoxy inside (almost CMP’s old way, eh?)
you know somedays I wonder just how far ahead CMP is and doesn’t realize it…
I guess when you’ve been doing this vacuum bagging thing all by yourself for over 10 years you start picking up on things to just save on resources and time while making something that won’t come back your way from your clients because they cost so much… Makes sense.
Charlie’s always prized himself on building boards that last a lifetime that’s all. I don’t think high performance was so important versus building a stronger board… Remember he was balsa lamming normal PU shapes until a couple years ago…
Here’s another CMP idea he wanted to patent couple years back…
But being a sailboarder he figured with the new EPS and sandwich techniques…
Why could you route out a groove along the bottom rail and either glass it or insert a hollow fiberglass or carbonfiber (before Carbon went off the richter) tube before you apply your skin. Leaving an outlet in the tail that could be sealed you then could use these fiberglass rods they use in windsurf sails to change the sail stiffness to do the same to change the flex range or the rail on a super light EPS board… Made sense to him since he was doing the same type of thing glass in metal along his stringer on his tow boards to achieve the weight increase the tow boards need. I haven’t seen this yet but I’m sure we will…
I have a board he gave me in which he was using a sialboard technioque to insert 1/4" high density dcell platforms on the deck on top of the soft EPS but under his balsa skin to stiffen out where you place your feet allowing the rest of the EPS to flex aorund the shape of the raised deck dcell paltform. This was stuff he was doing 2 years ago with his compsands…
Hopefully I can spend more time learning new things with him again this year.
FYI- those foaming PU glues are not UV stable. If exposed to sunlight, first they turn a dark brown, then they just decay into a chunky, dusty mess. This observation is after about 6 months in outside, continuous exposure on a non-surf-related project.
What is that, 137 actual surfboard use years?
Lets see: thats about 1440 daylight hours.
Divided by 2 hour sessions, equals 720 sessions.
3 sessions per week (assuming you only have one surfboard…HA…ONE surfboard?!)
thats 240 weeks, thats almost 5 years.
On my latest board, I used a small hot wire to cut in a perimeter stringer of the bamboo veneer vertically. After the cut, I just laid the foam on the bamboo sheet, marked the foil, cut with shears (way easier than triming ply) and glued it with 5 minute epoxy, using the off cut. Then cut the outline. The eps was 1 lb and, though I haven’t glassed it yet, it became remarkably stiffer with the two strips of bamboo.
It was just an attempt to see if there was an easier way to do perimeter stringers. I hope I like the ride, because this is an easy way to build. And aside from the 1 lb (only foam I have for the moment), it is very light. Not a big fan of PVC stringers anyway.
Greg, that’s a bitchin use for it! 1# EPS is so cheap & easy to find, but after working it enough, you get tired of its floppiness…you might have a quick, cheap, and easy solve for that…
Bernie, I agree about CMP - but probably most specifically with regard to tropical reef-pass type surfing. No continental shelf to slow things down, and people’s preference for stiffer boards tends to go up exponentially. I think there’s a good reason Bert figured out his deal in WA and Charlie in the Islands…and nobody was really looking for that super-light & super-stiff combination in Santa Cruz or San Clemente or the Gold Coast or South Africa or France… I really feel that flex is best over waves slowed a bit by a continental shelf, where you have to work in & out to stay in the power pocket. I find, surfing in Hawaii, that the power pocket finds you, more often than not, and you better be ready! So taking out the flex takes out a variable that can be unpredictable, energy-sapping, and even dangerous…in the wrong place.
As Chip likes to say, horses for courses. Flex is not the magic bullet everywhere…
I just pulled my bamboo laminate compsand out of the bag. Bamboo top and bottom. 2 inches thick. And it is stiff as , uh, …a board. To coin a phrase.
I mean, stiff. Back to the shop. I think this bamboo stuff is going to take some getting used to. I hadn’t planned to make a big deal out of the board, given all that have come before and this being no great advancement. But gee.
I’ll be glassing super light.
Has anyone ever used papyrus paper between two layers of fiberglass instead of bamboo?
