Bamboo Ram Rods

[Paul R]

In the thread on 'tempering ram rods' earlier this week, there was some mention of using bamboo for ram rods. The biggest naysayer claimed it would be too hard to cut all those little strips & reglue them, so not practical.
I remembered my private stash of bamboo paneling pieces I salvaged, before they hit the dumpster, at the millwork company where I worked before retiring. After digging out a couple pieces, I found the 2 faces of the panel were a strong 1/8" thick & made of glued up strips of bamboo.
I machined off 3 strips of face, a couple inches wide & then glued them together. That gave me 7/16" thickness which was then machined down to 3/8" squares, 32" long. I haven't yet machined them round, but did flex them to see what they were like. They are fairly stiff, but do have a good bit if flex. The one I bent to destruction failed primarily in my glue joints at not quite 90 degrees. I had used LePages Outdoor glue, similar to Titebond Type III & it was not fully cured. Epoxy might be a better choice.

Before I get too involved in this experiment, does any one know of a valid reason bamboo would physically not be a good choice for this use? Such as, too abrasive, or ???

Engineered bamboo is becoming more and more common,so unless there is a reason to not use it, 'unpractical' would no longer be an excuse. It would definitly be a better choice then ramin.

Paul

 

[Stumpkiller]

Don't know, but it's not just the bamboo as the six or eight seams have glue in them exposed to the bore. That might trap grit or gum up the muzzle. :idunno: You're in uncharted waters here.

All this to avoid a $3 piece of hickory that God made just perfect for the purpose? :hmm:
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/cate...atId=6&subId=48&styleId=142&partNum=RAMROD-6H

I buy four at a time - they tape them to a 1 x 2 pine board for shipping - use the best grained one, keep the second in case and the other two are project dowels or short-starter material for blanket shoots.

 

[Zonie]

Bamboo can contain up to 5% silica in its fibers. http://www.google.com/search?q=bam...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

That might cause some barrel wear on a mild steel barrel but I suppose if a ramrod guide was used to keep the bamboo from rubbing the bore it would be all right to use.

Come to think about it, I sometimes use bamboo shoots in my Chinese cooking. I wonder if those will polish my plumbing? :hmm:

 

[rich pierce]

Agree bamboo, being a grass, can be abrasive. But it would likely just polish things a bit as the "grit" is too fine to feel.