Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
I've got uncontrolled bamboo forest with stalks rising to approx 40-50
ft (some black, some green in color). Stalks have a diameter of approx. 2" as the base, max. (I would guess). Is it best to cut the bamboo stalks with a BYPASS looper or with an ANVIL looper? Are there any recommendations? I'm looking at Fiskars and Gardena brands (amazon.com). I've been using an anvil looper approx. 24" in length but the blade is now very dull and can't be easily sharpened, nor replaced. My guess is that bypass loopers must be much more robust than anvil loopers as the two blades can get pushed apart and the slippery bamboo get stuck between the blades as they "bypass" each other. Therefore I'm gravitating towards an anvil looper. Thanks much for your advice! Dan |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
I've been using an anvil looper approx. 24" in length but the blade is
now very dull and can't be easily sharpened, nor replaced. There is nothing difficult about sharpening this tool. It can be done with little more than 220 grit silicon carbide sandpaper glued to a wooden paint stirrer. Some are even soft enough to file. A scythe stone would be good too. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
Dan Epstein wrote in message
Dan, The best way to deal with the uncontrolled bamboo problem is to mow down the shoots as they come in. As they are shooting, they are very soft and easy to cut down, you can even kick them over. Large timber bamboo (as you are describing) will shoot April, May and June, with some wimpy shoots about a month on either side of it. As for cutting down established and hardened off culms, good luck. I've used a sawzall and a chainsaw. They are both pretty effective, but the "fiberglass" nature of the plant will dull many blades. Ask around if there are people in your area interested in it. You described what sounds like Phylostachys Nigra "Bory", usually pretty sought after. Some people will be happy to help you harvest your problem. What part of the world are you in? Good luck! Chris Chino,CA |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
Thanks, Chris. I'm in the SF Bay Area.
BTW: the best way to manage the shoots seems to be to let them grow to 5-6 ft. and then snap them off. Otherwise they just keep coming up. Folklore has it that once the bamboo root structure musters the energy to drive the shoots to that height and then gets cut down, it can't muster enough to continue spreading. In any case it seems to work for the new shoots. Dan On 3 Apr 2003 20:44:39 -0800, (Chris) wrote: Dan Epstein wrote in message Dan, The best way to deal with the uncontrolled bamboo problem is to mow down the shoots as they come in. As they are shooting, they are very soft and easy to cut down, you can even kick them over. Large timber bamboo (as you are describing) will shoot April, May and June, with some wimpy shoots about a month on either side of it. As for cutting down established and hardened off culms, good luck. I've used a sawzall and a chainsaw. They are both pretty effective, but the "fiberglass" nature of the plant will dull many blades. Ask around if there are people in your area interested in it. You described what sounds like Phylostachys Nigra "Bory", usually pretty sought after. Some people will be happy to help you harvest your problem. What part of the world are you in? Good luck! Chris Chino,CA |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
Chris wrote:
Dan Epstein wrote in message Dan, The best way to deal with the uncontrolled bamboo problem is to mow down the shoots as they come in. As they are shooting, they are very soft and easy to cut down, you can even kick them over. Large timber bamboo (as you are describing) will shoot April, May and June, with some wimpy shoots about a month on either side of it. As for cutting down established and hardened off culms, good luck. I've used a sawzall and a chainsaw. They are both pretty effective, but the "fiberglass" nature of the plant will dull many blades. Ask around if there are people in your area interested in it. You described what sounds like Phylostachys Nigra "Bory", usually pretty sought after. Some people will be happy to help you harvest your problem. What part of the world are you in? Good luck! Chris Chino,CA How about a Japanese Ryoba or Dozuki-style pull saw? I've seen very similar tools marketed under the "Shark Saw" and Stanley brands. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
Unless you've got plenty of time and energy to spare, I'd use a small
chainsaw. The silica in mature culms will dull most cutters fairly quickly. Forget anvil-type cutters, they just smash and splinter any culms that are very large. If you insist of upon using a bypass shear, get a good one that has ratcheting action. It will make larger cuts much easier. David "Dan Epstein" wrote in message ... I've got uncontrolled bamboo forest with stalks rising to approx 40-50 ft (some black, some green in color). Stalks have a diameter of approx. 2" as the base, max. (I would guess). Is it best to cut the bamboo stalks with a BYPASS looper or with an ANVIL looper? Are there any recommendations? I'm looking at Fiskars and Gardena brands (amazon.com). I've been using an anvil looper approx. 24" in length but the blade is now very dull and can't be easily sharpened, nor replaced. My guess is that bypass loopers must be much more robust than anvil loopers as the two blades can get pushed apart and the slippery bamboo get stuck between the blades as they "bypass" each other. Therefore I'm gravitating towards an anvil looper. Thanks much for your advice! Dan |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
There is a cutter designed for cutting black polyethylene tubing, up to 2"
in diameter. you can find it in the sprinkler irrigation repair section of any store, like Fred Meyer or Home Depot. It looks like a pair of pliers, one side of which is made of plastic and is concave to recieve the pipe. The other side has a thin sharp blade. If you want to use the mature culms, this device will cut them easily, if you rotate it around the culm, while squeezing. It will not crush the culms, as pruners do. I have used it to cut mature culms up to 1 1/2". Sorry, I dont know the name of the device. It may be just called a tubing cutter. -- ******************************************** Robert L. Chehey Boise, ID, USA, USDA Zones 6a, 6b. Heat zone 7 Cold, Mediterranean Shrub-steppe and deciduous riparian forest N43º38.67' W116º13.68' Altitude: 816M ******************************************** |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
Dan,
One of the best tools for cutting down your bamboo would be a reciprocating saw. Power tools are almost always preferable to hand tools if you have much bamboo to deal with. Most any blade will do for the saw but the best one is called the Ugly Blade, which I get from Home Depot (other stores probably carry them too). Where in the Bay Area are you. I am in El Sobrante. Regards, Bob Johannessen Bob Johannnessen |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
Thanks Bob,
I'm in Palo Alto. I might try your solution. I purchased the top of the line anvil looper from OSH, ratcheting mechanism, extension handle etc. but it couldn't cleanly cut through the more substantial timbers. It was a pathetic performance and I brought it right back to OSH. Fiskars and Gardena are probably of higher quality and I might try one of them via amazon.com. I looked for a PVC cutting tool at Home Depot and OSH (recommended in this thread) but could find only a small one which looks more like a rose pruner. I didn't try one of these but doubt it would work. Reciprocating saw sounds tempting--I was hoping to solve this without a motorized gadget, given the tranquility of the bamboo forest I am up against -- I don't want to disturb the peace! Dan On Fri, 04 Apr 2003 20:45:35 GMT, Dan Epstein wrote: Thanks, Chris. I'm in the SF Bay Area. BTW: the best way to manage the shoots seems to be to let them grow to 5-6 ft. and then snap them off. Otherwise they just keep coming up. Folklore has it that once the bamboo root structure musters the energy to drive the shoots to that height and then gets cut down, it can't muster enough to continue spreading. In any case it seems to work for the new shoots. Dan On 3 Apr 2003 20:44:39 -0800, (Chris) wrote: Dan Epstein wrote in message Dan, The best way to deal with the uncontrolled bamboo problem is to mow down the shoots as they come in. As they are shooting, they are very soft and easy to cut down, you can even kick them over. Large timber bamboo (as you are describing) will shoot April, May and June, with some wimpy shoots about a month on either side of it. As for cutting down established and hardened off culms, good luck. I've used a sawzall and a chainsaw. They are both pretty effective, but the "fiberglass" nature of the plant will dull many blades. Ask around if there are people in your area interested in it. You described what sounds like Phylostachys Nigra "Bory", usually pretty sought after. Some people will be happy to help you harvest your problem. What part of the world are you in? Good luck! Chris Chino,CA |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
Thanks Bob,
I'm in Palo Alto. I might try your solution. I purchased the top of the line anvil looper from OSH, ratcheting mechanism, extension handle etc. but it couldn't cleanly cut through the more substantial timbers. It was a pathetic performance and I brought it right back to OSH. Fiskars and Gardena are probably of higher quality and I might try one of them via amazon.com. I looked for a PVC cutting tool at Home Depot and OSH (recommended in this thread) but could find only a small one which looks more like a rose pruner. I didn't try one of these but doubt it would work. Reciprocating saw sounds tempting--I was hoping to solve this without a motorized gadget, given the tranquility of the bamboo forest I am up against -- I don't want to disturb the peace! Dan On 12 Apr 2003 14:44:43 GMT, (TERRAV) wrote: Dan, One of the best tools for cutting down your bamboo would be a reciprocating saw. Power tools are almost always preferable to hand tools if you have much bamboo to deal with. Most any blade will do for the saw but the best one is called the Ugly Blade, which I get from Home Depot (other stores probably carry them too). Where in the Bay Area are you. I am in El Sobrante. Regards, Bob Johannessen Bob Johannnessen |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
Dan Epstein wrote in message . ..
Thanks Bob, I'm in Palo Alto. I might try your solution. I purchased the top of the line anvil looper from OSH, ratcheting mechanism, extension handle etc. but it couldn't cleanly cut through the more substantial timbers. It was a pathetic performance and I brought it right back to OSH. Fiskars and Gardena are probably of higher quality and I might try one of them via amazon.com. I looked for a PVC cutting tool at Home Depot and OSH (recommended in this thread) but could find only a small one which looks more like a rose pruner. I didn't try one of these but doubt it would work. There are a couple variants of PVC cutters that would work with bamboo, although very time consuming. One is a standard pipe cutter, but for plastic. It looks like a big "question mark" it has a single roller blade and adjustment screw. Reciprocating saw sounds tempting--I was hoping to solve this without a motorized gadget, given the tranquility of the bamboo forest I am up against -- I don't want to disturb the peace! But won't you disturb the peace and tranquility of the grove with your swearing?:-) I had difficulty with a reciprocating saw cutting B. Vulgaris Vitatta. I couldn't get a good hold on the culm with the stop and it was a very thick culm. Chainsaw baby... chainsaw!!! Chris Chino, CA |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
Best tool to cut bamboo?
I harvested a couple of 30+ foot culms from my clump timber with just a hand
held coping saw. A hacksaw would do just a well, it seems. Bob Doyle "Chris" wrote in message om... Dan Epstein wrote in message . .. Thanks Bob, I'm in Palo Alto. I might try your solution. I purchased the top of the line anvil looper from OSH, ratcheting mechanism, extension handle etc. but it couldn't cleanly cut through the more substantial timbers. It was a pathetic performance and I brought it right back to OSH. Fiskars and Gardena are probably of higher quality and I might try one of them via amazon.com. I looked for a PVC cutting tool at Home Depot and OSH (recommended in this thread) but could find only a small one which looks more like a rose pruner. I didn't try one of these but doubt it would work. There are a couple variants of PVC cutters that would work with bamboo, although very time consuming. One is a standard pipe cutter, but for plastic. It looks like a big "question mark" it has a single roller blade and adjustment screw. Reciprocating saw sounds tempting--I was hoping to solve this without a motorized gadget, given the tranquility of the bamboo forest I am up against -- I don't want to disturb the peace! But won't you disturb the peace and tranquility of the grove with your swearing?:-) I had difficulty with a reciprocating saw cutting B. Vulgaris Vitatta. I couldn't get a good hold on the culm with the stop and it was a very thick culm. Chainsaw baby... chainsaw!!! Chris Chino, CA |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Bamboo Bay - Jane Goldsmith assess both the brand and their products against a set of ethical criteria covering environmental impact, working conditions and fair trade. We don't expect perfection - garment supply chains are often complex and fragmented and many ethical brands are still small companies, but we do look for real commitment. In recent years a number of pioneering brands have started making clothes the ethical way. Best of all these clothes are superb, stylish pieces that make you look good and feel great.
|
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
What is the best tool to cut this down | United Kingdom | |||
best aeration tool for lawn | United Kingdom | |||
What's the Best Small Weeding tool/technique? | Gardening | |||
Favorite garden tool/best gift for gardeners | Gardening | |||
To cut or not to cut .... | Lawns |