Bamboo grows next to timber in importance

By Rizalina K. Araral
MediaCore, FPRDI

If coconut is the “Tree of Life”, then bamboo, the plant that served millions of rural Asians for millennia ought to be called the “Grass of Life”.

One of the most versatile plants in the world (the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan says it has 1,500 documented traditional uses!), bamboo is recognized as the second most important forest product, next to timber.

For many years now, researchers of the Department of Science and Technology's Forest Products Research and Development Institute tried to get to know bamboo better, looking for ways to maximize its use.

They were not disappointed. They have found new ways of using bamboo and improve on old uses.  Three of the most recent promising research results are the following:

• When combined with layers of yemane (Gmelina arborea Roxb.) wood, layers of bamboo from two bamboo species, kauayan tinik (Bambusa blumeana) and botong (Dendrocalamus asper ), can produce bamboo-wood laminates that are as strong as traditional timber used for general structural purposes.  Pure bamboo laminates glued together are as strong as moderately high strength timber like yakal.
• Bamboo stumps may be turned into veneer sheets that when glued on plywood produces decorative table tops, floor tiles and panel boards.  With this technology, the furniture and handicraft-producing Asia Rattan Company in Pampanga makes and exports to Europe 50 bamboo-veneer tables a day.
• Kauayan tinik, which is abundant all over the country may be used to make cement-bonded boards (CBB) that are as good as commercial CBB. Bayog (Bambusa merriliana) is also an ideal material but needs a cement-setting accelerator to speed up production.
• FPRDI researchers have also recently designed two facilities to optimize the use of bamboo, such as:
• Bamboo charcoal kiln that carbonizes bamboo thru indirect application of heat.  More efficient than conventional kilns, its by-product is an industrial vinegar that may be used as anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent, fertilizer, deodorizer, and flower preservative.

* Bamboo veneer lathe, a machine that generates bamboo veneers of different thickness to suit the needs of the furniture industry.  Two furniture firms in Iloilo and Angeles City described the lathe as technically viable and affordable.

Aside from these new technologies, FPRDI accumulated over the years vital information on some of the country's most important bamboo species.

“Our Institute has studied just about everything about the Philippines' most important bamboo species so that they can be used well by the country's furniture, handicraft, and housing industries.  Last year, we also finished several studies exploring the potential of our lesser-known climbing bamboos”, FPRDI Director Florence P. Soriano said.

“Our researchers are among the country's top specialists on bamboo botany, anatomy, chemistry, preservation, protection, and machining. They regularly visit bamboo-based businesses all over the country to give technical advice”.

“In 1999, with INBAR, we organized an international workshop that drafted international building standards that will help build stronger bamboo houses once adopted by national governments”, she said.

“Although it has long been called the poor man's timber used in the homes of 1 billion of the world's rural population, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources chose bamboo as the “material of the millennium”, especially in making engineered products.  It is also among the commodities prioritized for research by the National Science and Technology Plan for 2002-2020.

“After centuries of service, bamboo is still brimming with promise. We just need to be diligent in finding and promoting scientific ways to use it”, Dr. Soriano added.

[For more information about FPRDI's bamboo processing technologies, please contact us: c/o Director Florence P. Soriano, FPRDI, College, Laguna 4031; telephone – (049) 536-2360; fax – (049) 536-3630; e-mail – fprdi @laguna.net.

You may also want to avail of our publications : Bamboo Processing Manual,  Philippine Erect Bamboos – A Field Identification Guide, and Forest Products Technoflow on the Protection and Preservation of Bamboo for Furniture and Handicrafts].