CORE MATERIALS

BAMBOO

Bamboo is not a tree, it is part of the grass family. It is an excellent renewable plant, it only takes 7 years to grow a bamboo forest. 25% of bamboo can be harvested without harming the rest of the forest. A bamboo shoot can be harvested after three years. When bamboo is cut down it allows other bamboo to grow. The cultivation of bamboo doesn’t need fertilizers or
pesticides.

It is mainly a giant fast growing species (up to 1m per day) which are used for technical purposes. For millenniums, bamboo has been a major part of Asian culture where it is used for:

• Edible plant
• Medicinal plant
• Building materials
• Scaffolding
• Pulp paper
• Utensils, tools
• Charcoal

Bamboo is a natural composite, its’ cellulose fibres oriented, as a unidirectional, are coated with a resin: lignin. It possesses a great strength and hardness given by the silica that it contains.

To produce veneers 0,6mm and slices 3 and 5mm, the bamboo shoot is cut into strips lengthwise (sense of the fiber). These strips are then stuck flat for the horizontal grades or on the wafer for a horizontal grade, until a block is formed. This block is then cut to the chosen thickness. The grade ‘caramel’ is obtained by a thermic treatment.