| Bamboo - A grass you can use like wood but | | | | fully developed and are not as strong as more |
| grows up to 50x faster | | | | mature stems. |
| In North America and Europe, soft woods and | | | | Bamboo can also be carved for decorative |
| hard woods have traditionally been used for | | | | artwork, and can be made into flooring. Bamboo |
| house framing, flooring, and doors as well as for | | | | flooring is made by steaming pieces flattening |
| making furniture. The problem with using trees for | | | | them, gluing them together, and then sanding and |
| construction is that they take 20-100 years to | | | | finishing them. The only caution about bamboo is |
| mature which means that vast tracts of land | | | | that it is easily infested by wood-boring insects |
| must be committed for many years between | | | | unless treated with wood preservatives or kept |
| harvests of the wood. | | | | very dry. |
| An excellent alternative to using hard woods and | | | | Bamboo can be used to make paper and the |
| soft wood lumber is to use bamboo. | | | | fibers can be used as yarn and fabrics. Bamboo |
| Unlike hardwood and softwood trees, bamboo | | | | fabric is soft and has claims of natural antibacterial |
| grows very quickly and can be harvested in only | | | | properties. Clothing, bed sheets, and towels made |
| a few years as they grow up to 3-4 feet/day | | | | from bamboo are a great natural item and |
| (1.5-2.0 inches/hr)), with growth rates of 3-6 | | | | available at Omachron OnLine [ Bamboo has |
| inches per day being common due to a unique | | | | gained increasing popularity in the culinary world as |
| rhizome system and is dependent on local soil and | | | | a material for cutting boards, as they are hard |
| climate conditions. | | | | enough to withstand years of knife abuse, yet |
| Bamboo is already important to East and South | | | | more forgiving to the knife blade, causing less |
| East Asia where it is used in gardens, as a building | | | | damage to the edged utensils over time |
| material, and as a food source. Bamboo can | | | | You can plant bamboo in your own back yard |
| survive in diverse climates from cold mountains to | | | | throughout much of North America and the wood |
| hot tropical regions Bamboo already occurs in the | | | | and fibers can be used for everything from small |
| south eastern United States and there are a | | | | building and carving projects to simple fencing, |
| number of species that can be grown in the | | | | decoration, and making paper and crafts with |
| northern USA and Canada . There are already 35 | | | | your kids. For more information subscribe to |
| species of bamboo that can be used for pulp and | | | | Omachron OnLine. |
| paper instead of trees. Bamboo grows in many | | | | Some skateboard and snowboard deck |
| sizes from small one inch diameter poles to large | | | | manufacturers as well as surfboard builders are |
| 12" diameter bamboo which grows 100 feet (30 | | | | beginning to use bamboo construction. It is both |
| meters) tall in only 3 to 4 years. | | | | lighter and stronger than traditional materials and |
| Treated, bamboo is a very hard wood that is | | | | its cultivation is environmentally friendly. At least |
| both lightweight and very durable, and can be | | | | one snow ski manufacturing company, Liberty |
| used in making or building houses, fences, bridges, | | | | Skis, now uses bamboo construction for these |
| toilets, walking sticks, canoes, tableware, furniture, | | | | reasons. |
| chopsticks, food steamers, toys, bicycles, | | | | Bamboo is also used to make enclosures in fish |
| construction scaffolding, as a substitute for steel | | | | farming, where cages can be made from a |
| reinforcing rods in concrete construction, hats, and | | | | wooden frame and bamboo lattices. |
| for martial arts weaponry, including fire arrows, | | | | Bamboo is a great potential as a fiber resource |
| flame throwers and rockets. Omachron has | | | | for pulp and paper and clothing and can be an |
| developed a series of environmentally safe | | | | excellent low impact farming opportunity in the |
| treatments to preserve bamboo for use in | | | | near future. |
| construction. | | | | Bamboo and switchgrass are also excellent fuel |
| Harvesting bamboo for wood requires care to | | | | crops when used with the Omachron plasma |
| select mature stems that are several years old, | | | | combustion system to power generators, space |
| as first-year stems, although full sized, are not | | | | heating, and vehicles. |