Bamboo Propellers

Stealth Pilot wrote:
On Sun, 24 May 2009 21:48:27 -0500, Charles Vincent
wrote:

Bamboo is put to some pretty incredible uses. A trip to Hong Kong or
even Beijing will leave you astounded. The buildings being built are
incredibly tall and surrounded with hand tied bamboo scaffolding. I
have walked under and on a lot of it at this point and I have taken many
pictures of it. I have also seen a lot of lifting engines put together
with it hoisting heavy electrical equipment.

Charles

dont be bamboozled by this. asian scafolding uses the strength of the
building for stability and support. western scafolding is usually self
supporting and free standing.
the underlying approach to the scaffolding is quite different
structurally.

btw why would anyone bother with bamboo when the same locales have
mahogany propeller woods as native forestry?

I assumed as much, as the bamboo is not graduated from top to bottom.
Still, and impressive structure nonetheless.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/wells2008/1/1223530200/bamboo-scaffolding-on-high-rise-buildingsx.jpg/tpod.html

I know the British preferred mahogany for their propellers, but as I
recall, mahogany had some serious knocks as prop material. I can't
bring them to mind at the moment though.

Charles

Veeduber wrote:

When I worked along-shore I was surprised to see that ships carrying
cargos from that part of the world used MAHOGANY for dunnage. Indeed,
some years later when stationed at Naval Air Station Alameda I build a
14 foot cat-boat. All of the solid lumber parts were made from
mahogany dunnage I salvaged from piles of the stuff down near the
carrier piers. (The mast was a section of Fir banister-rail; the boom
scarfed from pieces of pine.

-R.S.Hoover

A friend imports a lot of stuff from India and China. He was amazed
that the crates and pallets were often mahogany. He is a woodworker and
salvaged a lot of it for his projects. He said the quality was not
great, but you could get more than enough really nice material to make
smaller projects.

Charles

"Veeduber" wrote in message
...
On May 25, 4:04 am, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

btw why would anyone bother with bamboo when the same locales have
mahogany propeller woods as native forestry?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Stealth,

If valid, that's a good point. Does mahogany grow in proximity to
bamboo?

I don't know it they would normally grow adjacent to one another, but both
can be grown successfully in southern Florida and mahonany does grow wild in
the Florida everglades and bamboo does easily reach its full height, with
approximately six inch diameter stalks, when grown in Florida as an
ornamental.

Therefore, I can only surmise that they could at least be grown within a
very few miles of one another in those climates that overlap both of their
needs.

Peter

On Mon, 25 May 2009 20:56:49 -0400, "Peter Dohm"
wrote:

"Veeduber" wrote in message
...
On May 25, 4:04 am, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

btw why would anyone bother with bamboo when the same locales have
mahogany propeller woods as native forestry?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Stealth,

If valid, that's a good point. Does mahogany grow in proximity to
bamboo?

I don't know it they would normally grow adjacent to one another, but both
can be grown successfully in southern Florida and mahonany does grow wild in
the Florida everglades and bamboo does easily reach its full height, with
approximately six inch diameter stalks, when grown in Florida as an
ornamental.

Therefore, I can only surmise that they could at least be grown within a
very few miles of one another in those climates that overlap both of their
needs.

Peter






African Mahogany and bamboo grow side by side.
Phillipine as well.

On Mon, 25 May 2009 07:31:00 -0700 (PDT), Veeduber
wrote:

On May 25, 4:04Â*am, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

btw why would anyone bother with bamboo when the same locales have
mahogany propeller woods as native forestry?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Stealth,

If valid, that's a good point. Does mahogany grow in proximity to
bamboo?

I've sent a number of queries to offices and individuals supposedly
involved in promoting forest products of India and other SE Asian
countries without receiving a single reply.

When I worked along-shore I was surprised to see that ships carrying
cargos from that part of the world used MAHOGANY for dunnage. Indeed,
some years later when stationed at Naval Air Station Alameda I build a
14 foot cat-boat. All of the solid lumber parts were made from
mahogany dunnage I salvaged from piles of the stuff down near the
carrier piers. (The mast was a section of Fir banister-rail; the boom
scarfed from pieces of pine.

-R.S.Hoover


Also, remember bamboo is NOT wood, or even technically a "forest"
product. Bamboo is a reed, or a GRASS.

On Mon, 25 May 2009 12:32:15 -0500, Charles Vincent
wrote:

Stealth Pilot wrote:
On Sun, 24 May 2009 21:48:27 -0500, Charles Vincent
wrote:

Bamboo is put to some pretty incredible uses. A trip to Hong Kong or
even Beijing will leave you astounded. The buildings being built are
incredibly tall and surrounded with hand tied bamboo scaffolding. I
have walked under and on a lot of it at this point and I have taken many
pictures of it. I have also seen a lot of lifting engines put together
with it hoisting heavy electrical equipment.

Charles

dont be bamboozled by this. asian scafolding uses the strength of the
building for stability and support. western scafolding is usually self
supporting and free standing.
the underlying approach to the scaffolding is quite different
structurally.

btw why would anyone bother with bamboo when the same locales have
mahogany propeller woods as native forestry?

I assumed as much, as the bamboo is not graduated from top to bottom.
Still, and impressive structure nonetheless.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/wells2008/1/1223530200/bamboo-scaffolding-on-high-rise-buildingsx.jpg/tpod.html

I know the British preferred mahogany for their propellers, but as I
recall, mahogany had some serious knocks as prop material. I can't
bring them to mind at the moment though.

Charles

mahogany was used by the brits, to quote lattimer-needhams engineering
text,
"mahogany is largely employed in the manufacture of airscrews, and the
variety that grows in honduras is favoured for that class of work. The
suitability of honduras timber is due chiefly to the fact that its
liability to shrink (after efficient seasoning) is only very slight
and that it possesses particularly satisfactory glue retaining
qualities. it is a strong, hard, straight grained wood and is not
difficult to work."

To All,

As a point of interest, in the 1970's I was able to buy all the
STRAIGHT-GRAINED maple I wanted at bargain prices because (here it
comes) the straight-grained varieties ( sometimes called 'sugar
maple' ) was LESS desirable for furniture than the 'curly' varieties.
The same was true for mahogany; with straight, hard-grained mahogany
did not have as much 'figure' and was therefore used only for the
hidden portions of the furniture. Which lead to.... Bob, the Garbage
Thief.

Back in the Day, whenever that was, people used to get rid of unwanted
furniture by simply sitting it out by the road-side on Garbage Day
(whenever THAT was). I found that couches and chairs USUALLY had
frames made of straight-grained maple or oak, often in pieces long
enough for making a prop-blank. After dismantling the piece I would
return the residue to the road-side (something we are not allowed to
do today). And WOOD residue went into the stove.

Unless you were seriously poor you would never consider such sources
for hardwood, partly because of the difficulty in removing the
zillions of pneumatically-installed staples and nails. But when you
can't allow your hobby to financially intrude on your family's
welfare, you treat your time as having zero-value when involved in the
recovery of wood from old furniture, tables and what-have-you.

-R.S.Hoover

wrote:
On Mon, 25 May 2009 07:31:00 -0700 (PDT), Veeduber
wrote:

On May 25, 4:04 am, Stealth Pilot
wrote:
btw why would anyone bother with bamboo when the same locales have
mahogany propeller woods as native forestry?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Stealth,

If valid, that's a good point. Does mahogany grow in proximity to
bamboo?

I've sent a number of queries to offices and individuals supposedly
involved in promoting forest products of India and other SE Asian
countries without receiving a single reply.

When I worked along-shore I was surprised to see that ships carrying
cargos from that part of the world used MAHOGANY for dunnage. Indeed,
some years later when stationed at Naval Air Station Alameda I build a
14 foot cat-boat. All of the solid lumber parts were made from
mahogany dunnage I salvaged from piles of the stuff down near the
carrier piers. (The mast was a section of Fir banister-rail; the boom
scarfed from pieces of pine.

-R.S.Hoover


Also, remember bamboo is NOT wood, or even technically a "forest"
product. Bamboo is a reed, or a GRASS.


Also there is HONDURAS mahogany----& then there is the other stuff that
looks like it. Jerry

Stealth Pilot wrote:
On Mon, 25 May 2009 12:32:15 -0500, Charles Vincent
wrote:

Stealth Pilot wrote:
On Sun, 24 May 2009 21:48:27 -0500, Charles Vincent
wrote:

Bamboo is put to some pretty incredible uses. A trip to Hong Kong or
even Beijing will leave you astounded. The buildings being built are
incredibly tall and surrounded with hand tied bamboo scaffolding. I
have walked under and on a lot of it at this point and I have taken many
pictures of it. I have also seen a lot of lifting engines put together
with it hoisting heavy electrical equipment.

Charles
dont be bamboozled by this. asian scafolding uses the strength of the
building for stability and support. western scafolding is usually self
supporting and free standing.
the underlying approach to the scaffolding is quite different
structurally.

btw why would anyone bother with bamboo when the same locales have
mahogany propeller woods as native forestry?
I assumed as much, as the bamboo is not graduated from top to bottom.
Still, and impressive structure nonetheless.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/wells2008/1/1223530200/bamboo-scaffolding-on-high-rise-buildingsx.jpg/tpod.html

I know the British preferred mahogany for their propellers, but as I
recall, mahogany had some serious knocks as prop material. I can't
bring them to mind at the moment though.

Charles

mahogany was used by the brits, to quote lattimer-needhams engineering
text,
"mahogany is largely employed in the manufacture of airscrews, and the
variety that grows in honduras is favoured for that class of work. The
suitability of honduras timber is due chiefly to the fact that its
liability to shrink (after efficient seasoning) is only very slight
and that it possesses particularly satisfactory glue retaining
qualities. it is a strong, hard, straight grained wood and is not
difficult to work."

OOps,didn't quite get to your post before I posted mine. Jerry

I lived on the island of Guam from 1985 thru 1988. One of the things I noted
there was that if you went down to the lumber yard, the 2x4's you got would
be straight grained Phillipine mahogany. And it was cheap!

I've sometimes wondered if it would be profitable to travel to Guam, or the
Phillipines, or wherever, and put together a big platform consisting of
nothing but the most valuable wood at hand, then mount a GPS, a satellite
phone, and a set of sails controlled by computer. Tell the thing to sail
itself to L.A. or wherever, and call me when you're close...then sell all
that beautiful wood...







"Veeduber" wrote in message
...
On May 25, 4:04 am, Stealth Pilot
wrote:

btw why would anyone bother with bamboo when the same locales have
mahogany propeller woods as native forestry?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Stealth,

If valid, that's a good point. Does mahogany grow in proximity to
bamboo?

I've sent a number of queries to offices and individuals supposedly
involved in promoting forest products of India and other SE Asian
countries without receiving a single reply.

When I worked along-shore I was surprised to see that ships carrying
cargos from that part of the world used MAHOGANY for dunnage. Indeed,
some years later when stationed at Naval Air Station Alameda I build a
14 foot cat-boat. All of the solid lumber parts were made from
mahogany dunnage I salvaged from piles of the stuff down near the
carrier piers. (The mast was a section of Fir banister-rail; the boom
scarfed from pieces of pine.

-R.S.Hoover