Help making a stand please

[Chug]

here is a linking for Bambo.. http://www.bamboogarden.com/price.htm

I might have to go visit this place, and Buy me a plant Or few poles. for a Hammock stand set up. Stuff grows fast..

[turtlelady]

Three poles lashed into a tri-pod at each end, ridgepole hanging below and from the lashing, hang hammock from the ridgepole = Turtlelady stand.

I think the second photo you posted is large enough, about what I use for two of my stands if you are not over 180 pounds.

Buy two extra poles as insurance against splitting. With local untreated bamboo, I have found one out of three does split. But I have gorilla taped them after they split and have not had a single failure due to splitting. Later I taped preventatively and seem to have limited to splitting to less open splits.

I agree that you should find plenty of local bamboo in Mississippi. Start talking to locals about wanting some and you may get leads to free bamboo for the cutting.

Joyfully, Turtlelady

[halfastronomical]

oops..I got confused

[XTrekker]

Since you are in Mississippi now you should be able to find some bamboo locally. It should then be heat treated to prevent cracking.

Im not sure if the heat treatment(tempering) really prevents cracking altogether, I could be wrong though. I dont know the science behind it that well. It does help alittle in preventing it from splitting while it continues to dry out. I have actually split many of bamboo while tempering it. Wasnt bringing it up to temp slow enough.

When I make a trekking pole, I will cut down a 3-5 year old pole in late fall so it has least amount of water in it. I then will let it stand vertically for 2 weeks without trimming it. Afterwards I trim to size and let sit 1 more week in my shed still vertical. Then I drill out the nodes and begin tempering it, starting from the middle and working my way out to the ends. The tempering crystallizes(or whatever its called) the sugars in the fiber and makes the bamboo surface much less flexible and more stiff. The surface is much harder now and will not scratch as easy. Mainly I do this just because it give it a real cool look. The point to all of this is you can use the same principles towards the bamboo for a hammock stand if your dealing with Green bamboo.

VariousFinishes.jpg

[rickycodie]

thanks for the tips!

[ahhhgladius]

So i saw the hammock stand post by alamosa, and got to thinking, you know i will eventually run into a situation where i might need something like this. So i went to Lowes and was looking at bamboo poles a la turtlelady, but they all looked too thin, how thick should they be?
So i took some pictures and hopefully you geniuses can lead me in the right direction.

lol you are an Airman

[ezhiker]

I just remembered that there was a discussion on treating Bamboo to prevent cracking on one of the Native flute groups. But don't remember the exact process Sorry.

[XTrekker]

I just remembered that there was a discussion on treating Bamboo to prevent cracking on one of the Native flute groups. But don't remember the exact process Sorry.

Out of all the research and experience that I have done the only thing i know of is if bamboo doesn't dry out evenly then it tends to split. I was taught to keep the bamboo out of the weather while it dries out. Been doing it for years and have only had a few split while drying out because they were new growth rather than seasoned for several years.

Now bamboo in general does not like any kind of outward force from inside. You can take your hands and grab a piece of bamboo and literally split it down the center with your hands. Also, Bamboo does not do well when it is stepped on when laying on a hard surface. It will crush in on itself. It has a very high tinsel strength and high flex strength. The trick I have found to bamboo is just to wrap the two ends with rope or tape or even a zip-tie. After that your good to go for just about whatever you want to do. Except stepping on it. Dont do that.