Bamboo from Bernam River

I have been trying to make bamboo rods from bamboo of different area and of different species. It is difficult to differentiate the exact species of bamboo, I must say.

The only method to check whether the bamboo is suitable to make rod is to examine the cross section of the bamboo before I start the process.

I harvested a few culms of local bamboo from Sungai Bernam a couple of months back. The fiber looks dense and very promising. But the color is brownish when it's dried, even when not flamed.


So, the project started. This bamboo is more manageable than the previous bamboo harvested from Sungai Batangsi in Semenyih. It is straighter and have lesser nodes.



The bamboo was flamed and hand split to about 20 strips.

The next step will be straightening. This time, it will be much easier.................

Bamboo harvesting for rod making

Seems like my bamboos are running out of stock..
Last week I went to Sg. Batangsi with a few fly buddies to harvest a few bamboo culms for rod building. We cut down a few bamboo trees and got 5 bamboo culms... but ended up with only 3.
2 got away and flowed down the stream..

And here's what we took home...
Gotta wait for a couple of months before I can do something with it...