1. The bamboo is from mature bamboo canes, which have at least 5 years of growth.
2. Bamboo is cross cut to the required length. The outside bamboo knots are ground off.
3. Bamboo is put through a splitting and sizing machine. The inside bamboo knots are ground off and outer skin is removed and milled into rectangular shapes on all four sides
4. All the bamboo strips are boiled in a tank of boric acid and lime solution. The purpose of this treatment is to extract the inherent starch that attracts termites or powder
post beetles. Boric acid and lime are natural non-toxic repellents and are used to ensure that our products will come to you pest free and remain so throughout their lifetime.
5. The bamboo strips are put into a pressurized steam vessel to achieve the color change-carbonization process. Before this stage, these bamboo strips are still in a blond color which is the natural color of bamboo. If we wish to have them colored into a darker color, we through this process to color them ˇ°completely through the fibersˇ± into a kind of brown, honey color we call "carbonized". After this stage, we have either "natural" or "carbonized" colors.
6. The strips are in kiln dried for several days. The moisture content of the bamboo strips reaches to 6%-9%.
8. Go through the fine planed machine. At this stage, we have long strips that are ready to be assembled together. Our strips are sorted according to color to achieve the best match.
9.The strips then are covered with glue and assembled together to produce large boards, and the strips can be put together either vertically or horizontally. In either form the bamboo is placed into the hydraulic press set by a combination of heat and pressure to insure a strong, stable bond is achieved.
10. The assembled planks are planed and sanded on both faces.
We therefore obtain large boards that will be cut into a variety of dimensions. At this stage, we could make any product that we can sell. |
