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adaptation of Japanese bamboo tools and techniques


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I was a bit concerned that it might be too far off-topic, but I was impressed by the woman's efficiency of cutting the strips to width and then thinning them.  I would suppose that a small-holed dowel plate could be made as a custom order.

 

About the thicknessing planer, I remember seeing illustrations of similar machine using a blade from a  hand plane blade mounted in a stationary fixture.  Half the width  of the blade was ground back at a slight angle bit so that a thick piece could be inserted and drawn through to shave down progressively, and then passed through the other half  to the final thickness.

Edited by Bob Blarney
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I too was impressed by this video...I've actually reached out to a domestic bamboo rod culm supplier of Tonkin bamboo and have some pieces in route to me along with a Bamboo splitting knife. 

 

I also picked up several types of bamboo kitchen skewers from my local kitchen store...for testing against the Tonkin bamboo. 

 

There are a couple of things I need to work out in my mind, and a couple of tools to make....one tool to make is the "thinning plane" device, and one nagging issue to sort out is details surrounding the soaking of the bamboo culms at the beginning of the process. 

 

I used to work for a Japanese electronics firm, so I'll contact some of my old co-workers to get that part of the video translated.  My guess is the soaking helps with the initial splitting and cutting process, but need to find out how long and any other pertinent details.

 

In the end I hope to work out a superior means of creating high quality bamboo treenails.....maybe overkill, but we'll see...

 

I'll report on my success (or failure) here on the forum.

 

Cliff Ward

Cary, North Carolina

USA

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Interesting.  Soaking (in water?) seems to be an important part of the process.  I tend to crush the ends of bamboo when drawing through a Byrnes draw plate.  Maybe using a "parallel pliers" will help that.

Maury

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On 11/10/2017 at 12:11 PM, clifforddward said:

There are a couple of things I need to work out in my mind, and a couple of tools to make....one tool to make is the "thinning plane" device, and one nagging issue to sort out is details surrounding the soaking of the bamboo culms at the beginning of the process. 

I think I can come up with something pretty quickly.  I have several handplanes that are not worth tuning up, and so I can use one or two to imagineer a planing fixture, probably by using the frog mechanism to make an adjustable fixture.

Edited by Bob Blarney
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I asked my friend Yaeko (co-worker from my Japanese electronics company days) to help me translate and better understand several sections of the video...here are her comments:

 

SURUGA bamboo lattice ware

Question 1) ...they are soaking the bamboo at 6:55 mark....how long do they soak the bamboo and what is the purpose?....does the video say?

Soak one day (24hrs). It softens the bamboo and makes easier to make detail process

5a07b48746795_watersoakingtoaidsplitting.jpg.8dbc66328a90c042a9877ddcfe01de0c.jpg

 

Question #2) ...at 7:54 there appears to be a description of layers of bamboo, does it say to use the middle layer or just what?

The process is called へぐHEGU...Use only the outer/surface side. As you can see, the fiber is dense in the outer skin area. It’s stronger and supple.

5a07b4cb7b951_crosssectionlayers.jpg.22a6eb0ecded0cc1e897eaff30f91b09.jpg

 

Question #3) ....at 8:02 she is sitting on the floor pulling the bamboo strips through a shaving tool....does the video say the name of this tool?  I want to make something like this or search for it from Japan but I do not know what it is called, either Japanese or English name. 

The tool is called Sendai せん台....to make the thickness even down to 1.5mm.  I googled it in Japanese but I didn’t find it. https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.surugaya.com/sensuji/gihou/&prev=search

Sendai.jpg.f91f94179358025753eedf3b8d3eb41e.jpg

 

The research continues...

 

Cliff Ward

Cary, North Carolina

USA

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I use bamboo for treenail production. I split and draw it down dry. As described above, use the layer just under the glassy outer layer. As one goes further down inside, the material becomes soft and fuzzy. And yes, using parallel pliers to draw the bamboo minimizes - but does not entirely eliminate - crushing.

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Cliff,

 

Not trying to answer for Druxey but I usually split the bamboo down to a smaller size with a scalpel or xacto and then begin to pull through the drawplate.

Bill

 

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  • 2 years later...

Hello,

It's been 3 years you start this subject but maybe I can help. I was looking for information about bamboo work because it's a very versatile material and easy to grow.

I found this video from Jiro Yonezawa, a Japanese bamboo artist which live in USA : A lot of good explanation and advice in English

 

You can also buy this ebook translate from Japanese to English : The bamboo basket handbook

It explains a lot of think like : how to choose your bamboo and the best species to use. How to make higo (bamboo strips) and how to make basic basket. I didn't buy it but you can see a lot of pages for free here

 

For the tools :

 

Bamboo higo (bamboo strips for basket) are made first by running it between two blades to make it an even width. The blades are named haba-tori (幅取り) or Kiridashi kogatana (left and right handed) then running it through a plane-like tool (called urasuki-sen, うらすき銑) to bring it to an even thickness.

The bamboo splitter is called Takewari-bocho you can find it online here (as well as Haba Tori)

 

I didn't found the planer yet, I think is made on order for bamboo artist.

 

One more video !!

Enjoy

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 9 months later...

 

On 11/10/2017 at 7:00 AM, Bob Blarney said:

About the thicknessing planer, I remember seeing illustrations of similar machine using a blade from a  hand plane blade mounted in a stationary fixture.  Half the width  of the blade was ground back at a slight angle bit so that a thick piece could be inserted and drawn through to shave down progressively, and then passed through the other half  to the final thickness.

 

Hi, I need help from the experts with making a bamboo planer. I've seen all the videos and will add these resources also:

 

1. https://www.taketora.co.jp/koujoublog/2020/03/post-194.htmlhttps://www.taketora.co.jp/koujoublog/2020/03/post-194.html

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0IcPxCvIcA&t=1214s

 

The video and guide show what looks like a jointer blade mounted in a rig. It is suggested that the angle of the blade can be adjusted with a shim, so does the blade edge still need to be ground back to insert a thick wedge?

 

If I make a wooden rig, how do I clamp the blade into position? Is there a jointer with a hole in it to run a screw through as a clamp? I need to buy in Canada.

 

What can be used in place of the left and right handed Haba-Tori blades? E.g. are there any left and right handed planer blades?

 

PS. Sorry to revive an old thread- it's the most relevant!

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