Has anyone found a good source for bamboo slabs large enough to use for countertops? I am thinking of something like the small cutting boards you see. There is a place with sheets of bamboo 3-ply, but I don’t know if it is smooth enough. It costs $200 a sheet and up. I think there must be a source for solid edge-glued slabs too. If you have used it, how did you finish it and how well has it held up?
Nick A
Replies
Greetings nick,
This post, in response to your question, will bump the thread through the 'recent discussion' listing again.
Perhaps it will catch someones attention that can help you with advice.
Cheers
I dunno. I just scratched my head when I first read the question and then moved on. Seemed too bizarre a concept, I guess. Why bamboo?
If you got a look similar to the new bamboo flooring, it does not sound strange at all.
I even thought about using the flooring over a stable MDF platform. But then there are some who sell plywood sheets of it, and I found one who does slabs that look like butcher block, except with the cool-looking joints in it. I like the 'horizontal grain' stuff myself. My Mom hates her pink laminate and won't shell out $6k for stone, so why not? I'd like to try concrete for a project sometime, but don't think she's ready for that yet!
Nick A
If you could do a nice edge treatment, the MDF base idea sounds good. I wonder if you could do a 45 degree rip cut along the edge of a laid up sheet of it on MDF, then an opposite angle cut on the other side or something like that so you could make it look solid? It seems that the grain design might be busy/fine enough that it would work.
I don't know if I'd want gloss finish on a counter top, tho. If they made (of you made it) a rubbed out finish (aka satin). . .
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Edited 6/24/2005 5:13 pm ET by Jim
Well, it looks cool, and it's harder than oak and maple. And it's not a boring slab of black granite... Not as concerned that it's a 'green' building material, I just really like the look.
Nick A
OK, I guess that "cool" is okay, but I do laugh at all the postings I've seen in the last couple of years where homeowners want to know about using exotic materials for countertops, to include what they used to do chemistry experiments on up to sedimentary slate. It's obvious they're just trying to make a statement to impress their neighbors. In the world of identical McMansions and lots of discretionary money, being new and different apparently does have attraction, and I'm sure that a lot of our contractor subscribers with families to support say, "Bring it on." If granite is boring to you, then so be it. Sure, go ahead and put some stuff on your counter that'll harbor bacteria and might make it to the next fad, since you probably won't be cooking there, anyway. I loved the concept of one of our posters who conjectured that's what's good for the floor is good for the countertop. Sounds like a show kitchen that won't ever be actually used. A kitchen countertop should be durable and hygienic. The wood and such stuff is neither.
Edited 6/24/2005 9:02 pm ET by BARMIL48
Actually, studies have shown that wood tends to be rather inhospitable to bacteria. Witness maple butcher blocks. Studies have shown (you can google around and find them) that bacteria survives longer on the plastic cutting boards than wood.
Granted, with bare wood, you end up with a stained countertop and dead bacteria; whereas with a plastic laminate, you end with live bacteria that is more easily wiped away.
"It's obvious they're just trying to make a statement to impress their neighbors. In the world of identical McMansions and lots of discretionary money, being new and different apparently does have attraction,. . ."
Being new and different has always been attractive to some, regardless of it being for personal or "shared" satisfaction.
Congratulations, you get the "Curmudgeon of the Day" T-shirt ;-P
Thanks. Too new a concept for many folks, I guess!
Nick A
Were not done yet. :o)
A person with no sense of humor about themselves is fullashid
Were not the counters all bamboo on Gilligans Island???
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A person with no sense of humor about themselves is fullashid
what was Mary Anne?
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I use bamboo from Terragren, I've always ordered the 6' long strips.
Their bamboo flooring is a 3-ply, all three pies are bamboo. There';s enough resin in that stuff to make it impermeable to most everything.
They do sell sheets, but you can do what you want from flooring. Rip the tongue and groove off on a glueline. Crosscut the ends down. Then use biscuits to register and epoxy to bond the pieces together.
You can miter the top and face (edge) piece at a 45 for a resulting 90-degree edge, but that'd be kind of sharp. I'd round it over, or better yet make the transition from counter-top to couter-edge with a triangle-shaped piece so that the final result will look like a chamfered edge. By using three pieces (top, chamfered 45, and face), all with the factory finish showing, you won't have to do any touch-up for a film finish.
Between the epoxy and the base (though I wouldn't use MDF as a substrate around water) it should work fine.
No knife edges on the countertop. Get her a separate cutting board. They sell bamboo cutting boards, or you can make your own.
While I've epoxied up extra flooring as I've described for other uses, I've not used it for a countertop.
4'x8' sheets of 3/4" to 1" bamboo are available. I paid 150/sheet last time. Used them for a desk counter and stair treads. Holding up fine. Much easier than gluing your own. I wouldn't cut on it, just as I wouldn't cut on a maple top I wished to stay nice, or granite, or formica.
Was given an end grain bamboo cutting board that is just gorgeous.