Interesting uses for bamboo branches?

May 22, 2022 10:18 AM

There's some running bamboo planted near me (I didn't do it!) that I harvest sometimes for garden stakes, trellises, et cetera. I trim off all the small twigs/branches, and I hate to just waste those, but I'm not sure what to do with them. I've read that it's a bad idea to use them for kindling due to the trapped air. What are some interesting craft-y projects I could try to use them with? Pictures/video of finished projects highly appreciated! They're pretty thin (less than a pencil) and generally between 1-3 feet long.
posted by curious nu to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Bamboo ink pen
posted by coevals at 10:41 AM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've read that it's a bad idea to use them for kindling due to the trapped air

Should be no problem as long as they're cut into twigs containing no more than one node.
posted by flabdablet at 1:11 PM on May 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

In my experience, truly dry bamboo often cracks, or is very easily cracked, eliminating concern about trapped air.

If you really have a lot of the stuff, you might be able to make a groovy door curtain/room divider by stringing up smaller cut sections like beads. Maybe they could be used to make wind chime sort of thing, though they might not have enough mass to make much volume or clear pitches.

Yeah I dunno... seems like there should be lots of possibilities.
posted by 2N2222 at 3:17 PM on May 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've used them to make pipe stems.
posted by flabdablet at 9:36 PM on May 22, 2022

The thick enough, hollow ones could be made into drinking straws.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:11 AM on May 23, 2022

Bamboo makes beautiful charcoal. A spray of branches in a vasei s thought by some to Feng the Shui the room air with good negative vibes. I made mine in a spaghetti tin on a hot plate .
posted by hortense at 11:29 AM on May 23, 2022