How do you bend dry bamboo?

Question

Okay. I do belly dancing, and I want to make my own cane, as I live in N.Z and there are no belly dance stores.
To do this, I need to bend a dry bamboo cane, about 1m (3.28 feet) tall, so it looks like a large candy cane. Does ANYONE know how to do this? As I can't steam it, as it is to large!!!
HELP!!!! -Thanks ;)

Answer 1

YES... Buy a length of bamboo a foot or so LONGER than you need, and then soak the end you wish to bend overnight... either in a bucket, or by wrapping the area with soaking wet towels.

Find an object about the diameter of the curve you want to match, then re-wrap the bend-zone of bamboo with HOT HOT towels. and HOLD over a steaming pot or kettle.

Unwrap the bamboo when the towels get only "warm", and bend the bamboo around the object using the excess as a handle. TRY to set it so there is a JOINT where you'll want the actual cane to end.

Use some string to tie the bamboo securely in the shape, and let dry. When dry, saw off the excess.

Answer 2

I've successfully bent cured bamboo by steaming and boiling. I replaced the arm of a bamboo chair that got broken by a target hatchet overthrow. To steam a piece of bamboo, I knocked out the bulkheads with a piece of re-bar (concrete reinforcement) and a two pound sledgehammer, then placed the spout of our kettle in the big end with the bamboo sitting at somewhere around a 20 degree angle. I boiled a gallon and a half before I could move it, and another gallon more before I could bend it to the shape of the chair. I put it right on the ground with stakes holding the shape of my bend and the next morning it was solid. It did flex out a little bit, so if I have to do it again, I will exaggerate the bend a little when I stake it to the ground. Boiling small, cured bamboo is similar; knock out the nodes and weight it down. If you don't knock out the nodes, it will pop violently. I learned this the hard way.

Answer 3

I have never done it myself, but I hear that you can bend bamboo using a heat gun. You pass the gun back and forth over the area you want to bend and bend the cane gradually. If you do it too quickly it will break.

Answer 4

Bend it after slightly heating it. Let it remain in required shape for quite some time.
I hope this will work.

Answer 5

soak it in water for a long time until you can bend it