Bamboo as a writing material

Bamboo was in widespread use in early China as a medium for written documents. The earliest surviving examples of such documents, written in ink on string-bound bundles of bamboo strips (or "slips"), date from the 5th c. BC during the Warring States period. However, references in earlier texts surviving on other media make it clear that some precursor of these Warring States period bamboo slips was in use as early as the late Shang period (from about 1250 BC). Bamboo or wooden strips were the standard writing material during the Han dynasty and excavated examples have been found in abundance. Subsequently, paper began to displace bamboo and wooden strips from mainstream uses, and by the 4th c. AD bamboo had been largely abandoned as a medium for writing in China.

Commercial timber

Timber is harvested from cultivated and wild stands and some of the larger bamboos, particularly species in the genus Phyllostachys, are known as "timber bamboos".

 

Ornamental bamboos

Many bamboos are popular in cultivation as garden trees. There are two general patterns for the growth of bamboo: "clumping" (sympodial) and "running" (monopodial). Clumping bamboo species tend to spread slowly, as the growth pattern of the rhizomes is to simply expand the root mass gradually, similar to ornamental grasses. "Running" bamboos, on the other hand, need to be taken care of in cultivation because of their potential for aggressive behavior. They spread mainly through their roots and/or rhizomes, which can spread widely underground and send up new culms to break through the surface. Running bamboo species are highly variable in their tendency to spread; this is related to both the species and the soil and climate conditions. Some can send out runners of several meters a year, while others can stay in the same general area for long periods. If neglected, over time they can cause problems by moving into adjacent areas.

Culinary

Bamboo is the main food of the Giant Panda; it makes up 99% of the Panda's diet. Soft bamboo shoots, stems, and leaves are the major food source of the Giant Panda of China.

Edible bamboo shoots in a Japanese market

The shoots (new bamboo culms that come out of the ground) of bamboo are edible. They are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths, and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms, both fresh and canned version. A health warning is appropriate in the case of the shoots of the giant bamboo, as they contain cyanide. Despite this, the Golden Bamboo Lemur ingests many times the quantity of toxin that would kill a human.

 

Medicine

Bamboo is used in Chinese medicine for treating infections.It is also used for healing. It is also a low calorie source of potassium. It has also been known for its sweet taste and good source of nutrients and protein. In Ayurveda, the Indian system of traditional medicine, the silicious concretion found in the culms of the bamboo stem is called banslochan. It is known as tabashir or tawashir in Unani-Tibb the Indo-Persian system of Medicine. In English this concretion is called "bamboo manna". This concretion is said to be a tonic for the respiratory diseases. This concretion, which was earlier obtained from Melocanna bambusoides is very hard to get now and has been largely replaced by synthetic silcic acid. In most Indian literature, Bambusa arundinacea is described as the source of bamboo manna.

Construction

Bamboo scaffolding can reach great heights

House made from 100% bamboo

 When treated, bamboo forms a very hard wood which is both lightweight and exceptionally durable unlike many other wood, which is heavy, and soft. In tropical climates it is used in elements of house construction, construction scaffolding, as a substitute for steel reinforcing rods in concrete construction, and so on. Modern companies are also attempting to popularize bamboo flooring made of bamboo pieces steamed, flattened, glued together, finished, and cut. However, bamboo wood is easily infested by wood-boring insects unless treated with wood preservatives or kept very dry (see picture). Several institutes and universities are working on the bamboo as an ecological construction material. In the United States and France, it is possible to get houses made entirely of bamboo, which are earthquake and cyclone-resistant and internationally certified. There are three ISO standards for bamboo as a construction material.

Torture

 There are many records of humans being tortured by bamboo. Because bamboo grows quickly, it can grow through a person, causing them much pain. The Mythbusters found that a piece of bamboo can grow through a person in 2–4 days, given the right growing conditions. It has also been documented that in World War II, Japanese troops tortured U.S. soldiers by removing their fingernails with bamboo as did the Viet Cong troops.

Others

Bamboo Bed

Besides its use as a construction material, it is also used for fencemaking, bridges, toilets, walking sticks, canoes, tableware, decorative artwork carving, furniture, chopsticks, food steamers, toys, bicycles, hats, and martial arts weaponry, including fire arrows, flame throwers and rockets. Also, abaci and various musical instruments such as the dizi, xiao, shakuhachi, palendag, jinghu, angklung, it can also be used in building tree forts that can hold a normal child’s body weight. The Bamboo Organ of Las Piñas, Philippines has pipes made of bamboo culms. Bamboo is the traditional material used for fly fishing rods. When bamboo is harvested for wood, care is needed to select mature stems that are several years old, as first-year stems, although full sized, are not fully developed and are not as strong as more mature stems.

Bamboo canes are normally round in cross-section, but square canes can be produced by forcing the young culms to grow through a tube of square cross-section slightly smaller than the culm’s natural diameter, thereby constricting the growth to the shape of the tube. Every few days the tube is removed and replaced higher up the fast-growing culm.

The fiber of bamboo has been used to make paper in China since early times. A high quality hand-made paper is still produced in small quantities. Coarse bamboo paper is still used to make spirit money in many Chinese communities.

The wood is used for knitting needles and a rayon type fabric made of bamboo fiber can be used for yarn and fabrics. A technique of making bamboo fiber from bamboo pulp has been developed in East Asian countries. The textile industry benefits from the many properties of this kind of fabric: soft, absorbent, antibacterial, UV resistant, hypoallergenic, thermo-regulating.

Sharpened bamboo is also traditionally used to tattoo in Japan, Hawai’i and elsewhere.

Bamboo is used for the stems of traditional Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese smoking pipes, and was also utilized for crafting the stems of opium pipes.

A variety of species of bamboo was one of about two dozen plants carried by Polynesian voyagers to provide all their needs settling new islands; in the Hawaiian Islands, among many uses, ʻOhe (bamboo) carried water, made irrigation troughs for taro terraces, was used as a traditional knife for cutting the umbilical cord of a newborn, as a stamp for dyeing bark tapa cloth, and for four hula instruments — nose flute, rattle, stamping pipes and Jew’s harp.

Some skateboard and snowboard deck manufacturers as well as surfboard builders are beginning to use bamboo construction. It is both lighter and stronger than traditional materials and its cultivation is environmentally friendly. At least one snow ski manufacturing company, Liberty Skis, now uses bamboo construction for these reasons.

Bamboo has been used in the construction of fishing rods since the mid 1800s. However, following the invention of fiberglass and graphite, bamboo use in fishing rods has declined dramatically. There is something of a resurgence of the use of bamboo, particularly for bamboo fly rods as demonstrated by some companies because of their aesthetics and impact on the environment. Bamboo is also used to make enclosures in fish farming, where cages can be made from a wooden frame and bamboo lattices.

A single shoot of Bamboo can also be made into a didgeridoo, a wind instrument that is indigenous to Australia.

Bamboo has gained increasing popularity in the culinary world as a material for cutting boards, as they are hard enough to withstand years of knife abuse, yet more forgiving to the knife blade, causing less damage to the edged utensils over time

In Indonesia, bamboo has been used for making various kinds of musical instruments. The most popular ones are the kolintang and the angklung

Bamboo is used in Philippines to make chairs,wooden sofa,wooden beds,and as a framing for the traditional Filipino house, Nipa Hut. Most recently, Smock, a letterpress print shop in Syracuse, New York has created a completely sustainable bamboo paper. Free of pesticides or fertilizer and is harvested from areas in Thailand where no traditional or civil rights are violated. Bamboo can also be used in IT and electronics products. In 2008, Taiwanese hardware producer Asus launched the first ever laptop with an outer casing made from bamboo. The laptop is marketed in France as being écolo. There have been several breakthroughs in the use of bamboo as an alternative fuel. In this capacity it is most widely known for charcoal. In 2008 one U.S. Company [Lorachell] in a collaborative effort with Vietnam has successfully tested bamboo use as an alternative bio mass fuel. The Bamboo is chipped and fermented producing a biogas. This also reduces soil pollution.