Birch Lined Bamboo Ring

Very interesting

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Nice move, buying Wally World’s junk specifically to recycle it into something of value ;-))

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Thanks, a1Jim!

TopamaxSurvivor: HA HA! :) Thanks!

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com

I’ve never seen anything like it before. Looks cool!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Great looking ring.

The Birch liner sounds like it was a good idea.

Another good source of small take-a-part items is Goodwill.

Have a butterfly napkin holder from there that is being used as a pattern for a future inlay.

Great use of scrap (wallmart) item. haha

Keep it up.

Scrappy

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

Interesting grain markings on the bamboo, almost looks leopard-like. Nice pictures and nice work.

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

GaryK: Thanks a bunch!

scrappy: Nice tip about Goodwill! I’m noticing lots of “teak root” wares showing up in stores now (Target comes to mind… at least I think a lot of that is teak root.) Looks nice. Saw some pieces recently in a salvage store, so that’ll be another one I want to try.

RobS: That is the #1 comment I get on the bamboo rings. I agree that it does look a lot like a leopard pattern.

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com

Beautiful ring!
Bamboo is 10 times stronger than steel
the strongest plant in the world
Was the only plant to survive after the Hiroshima Bomb
Can grow a foot per day.
interesting ha!

-- Francisco Luna, San Francisco Bay Area.

I wish we had access to Bamboo here in the U K I hear it’s very versatile stuff and it is basically grasss wonderful stuff your turning is very nice well done Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Very Cool !! I really like this ring ! it reminds me of ostrich skin . Very Creative going to Walmart for your materials.

Great Job!!

-- Rj's Woodworks,San Jose & Weed Ca,

Oh Bamboo, I never thought about using it for a ring. Really nice idea, I need to try it too, thanks.

-- Junji Sugita from Japan, http://tetra.blog12.fc2.com/

The more I’m seeing things done in bamboo, the more I’m liking it. This is such an attention grabber. I saw several kinds of bamboo lumber-core plywood recently. I didn’t realize there were so many ways it could be used, with so many looks. Very well done. I’d love to know how you made the liner.

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Thanks, Gary!

The liner was done by carefully bending (sometimes steamed but can often simply be wet) a thin strip of birch into a small circle (taping it around a dowel, for instance) and letting it dry. Then I would glue it to the inside of the ring and apply pressure from the inside with a ring mandrel. Once that cures, I smooth out the inside, careful to ease any hard edges where a fingernail could potentially lift wood fiber away in the future.

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com

Thanks for the info, Frank. I was wondering if you sanded a ring to fit inside another ring. Especially by hand that seems a really difficult prospect. Not that what you did is very easy, of course. You definitely have a skill here.

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

Hey, Gary!

I bore out the first piece, and sand it the rest of the way using a mini drum sander, until it is around a half-size over the intended ring size. Then I attach the bent strip to the inside of the ring (it is not a complete circle at that point, but a bent strip.)

But I agree that fitting a ring inside another ring would be quite difficult!

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com