Bamboo kitchen worktops

[Jocelyn]

Requiring a pale, plain wooden surface for our kitchen worktops I have decided to use bamboo this time. The supplier recommended sealing with Carrs oil, has anyone used Carrs Oil, what makes it different from Danish oil?

I was very pleased with the solid beech tops that I had in our previous house and kept them free from any major flaws by using Danish Oil once a month--- didn't take a minute once the initial sealing task was completed.

Jocelyn

 

[biffvernon]

What's Carrs oil?

 

[Mark]

http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/index.html?http%3A//www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/Chronos_Catalogue_Carrs_Solders___Fluxes___etc_189.html&CatalogBody

Carrs Micro Oil(Reference #C1205)
This Oil embodies the very latest in silicone lubricant technology. It is a solvent free , low viscosity oil with good penetrating qualities which will not affect plastics or rubbers.


Doesnt sound right ! Unless you solder your worktops together :?

 

[Nigel Watts]

Bamboo?? How do you make a solid, flat surface out of this? I am intruiged.

 

[middi]

Bamboo??????.

I must be lagging well behind the pace of progress and innovations.

I was under the impression that it was mainly used to feed Panda,s and for Scaffolding in the far east.

 

[Mark]

We considered it but decided on beech because the colour either of the pale stuff or the darkened stuff were not right.

Its a bit like any other standard worktop - but the bamboo is thinner than the bits of oak or beech would be, so it tends to be laminated rather than solid chunks.

supposed to be very good for water repellence and wear.

 

[Penners]

Bamboo is used for floors, as well as worktops, nowadays. It's reasonably priced and quite planet-friendly, because of its enormous growth-rate. This means that the biomass of harvested bamboo is replaced very rapidly. On the negative side, it has to be transported long distances to get here, but then so do many other woods.

Can't say I know anything about Carrs Oil. I've always understood that Danish oil (essentially a mix of tung oil and linseed oil) is best for worktops. Or you can use plain boiled linseed oil.

If you're bothered by visiting pandas, let me know. I have a foolproof way of keeping them away - we haven't seen a panda anywhere near our house for as long as I can remember.

 

[NT]

You can use it for piping as well. Thats bamboo, not pandas.

And spoons, cups, etc. Theres a community somewhere that makes almost everything out of bamboo. Forgot the name of them though.


NT

 

[biffvernon]

 

[skier-hughes]

Are they Panda's being repelled at Penner's residence?

 

[Jocelyn]

Many thanks for your replies. I shall go ahead and use the nearly new tin of Danish oil left over from the last house. 'Waste not, want not'!

I understand that bamboo floors and worktops have been around for a couple of years now, so it maybe early days to decide on the performance, but i did think that it was quite keenly priced, compared with B & Q's quote of £435 for a 3 mts.run of maple.

Jocelyn

 

[Penners]

Are they Panda's being repelled at Penner's residence?

I'll have you know that I've never repelled anyone in my life!

Well... except for that one girl and the unfortunate misunderstanding over the banana fritter.

 

[Nigel Watts]

As an amateur woodwoker I am still puzzled. Bamboos are irregular hollow tubes with pronounced ridges every few inches. Even giant elephant bamboo cant give enough solid material to make regular shaped pieces for woodworkers to laminate. I assume therefore that there must be some steaming, glueing and pressing involved.

 

[Mark]

yes,

the samples I had (and I'll see if I still have one, they might have gone on the stove) looked as if the bamboo had been split down the length and unrolled before being laminated.

 

[biffvernon]

Fascinating

 

[thiambal]

On the topic of pale woods for worktops - we used rubber wood in our last house - significantly cheaper than many of the other alternatives and quite attractive. Also extremely dense and took some significant cutting.

Also appears to be panda proof - I put up a sign inviting local pandas to come in and savage it - but they were apparently uninterested.

 

[Penners]

As an amateur woodwoker I am still puzzled. Bamboos are irregular hollow tubes with pronounced ridges every few inches. Even giant elephant bamboo cant give enough solid material to make regular shaped pieces for woodworkers to laminate. I assume therefore that there must be some steaming, glueing and pressing involved.

You're right, Nigel. The poles are split lengthwise and flattened - presumably under steam and pressure - then laminated together. Pictures here are interesting:
http://www.bambooflooringcompany.com/?source=google&gclid=CODygZbZxYYCFSrCEAodg0Ulpw

 

[middi]

Bamboo underware next.

Now, that's a challenge !!.

 

[Mark]

Bamboo underwaer ? Been done!

http://www.babykind.co.uk/bamboozles.htm

 

[Penners]

Fascinating

Biff - when you use an image from another website, as you've done here, do you copy the image to your own computer, then upload it to an image bank website? Presumably you can't link direct to the original website image, because the URL will just give you the whole page, rather than just the image?

I seek your knowledge, oh Wise One.