I saw this topic discussed earlier this year and thought I would add a bit more info, as I am interested in making a strip kayak out of bamboo (or at least filling up the garage with it). While I have access to a forest of bamboo (my father was a scientist with the USDA at the "Bamboo Farm" in Savannah, Ga. and has several groves at his house), the milling of the strips seems tedious. I found a source of milled strips from www.plyboo.com, which sells bamboo flooring, plywood and veneer. Their strips are 3/4" x 1/4" x 72" at $2 each, or $.33 a foot. These have been boiled and kiln dried.

Dad thinks hand planing bamboo would be tough and thought most of the hull work would be sanding. Of course, you couldn't cut warm butter with his dull planer. MAS Expoxies says their product should adhere to bamboo, since several customers have made furniture that way. Bamboo that thin would be quite flexible, so I would sheath the boat in fiberglass. Some information I found suggested the specific gravity of cured bamboo as similar to cedar, so maybe weight would not be a problem. Given bamboo's properties, one might be able to use thinner strips, too.

I'm thinking of trying a small strip bamboo project to test the material (not sure my son should have a bamboo composite knight's shield, though). Any suggestions, concerns, ideas about a strip bamboo boat?

Thanks,

Guy