Strand Woven Bamboo Products

Making use of the best base material will result in the best final product. Bamboo stems have an optimum age when talking about Bamboo’Ali products: ideally, the stems are harvested when they are 5 years old. Younger stems are not fully lignified and, therefore, the material will not have the right density and is not hard enough. Older stems turn grey, resulting in unattractive stains in final products. The quality of the bamboo stems can be partly determined during purchasing, but this is difficult to see in the new final product as the bamboo can still behave in an unexpected way later on when low quality stems have been used. Bamboo’Ali products are made of the best base material, which is checked by our own team, before production is started.

Freshly harvested bamboo stems are cut into strips, and this production process consists of more than just slicing the hollow bamboo stem into pieces. When removing the skin, bamboo material is also lost, which is considered waste that can be used as biomass for energy production. The more bamboo that is removed and turned into biomass, the more expensive the remaining strip becomes meaning the best bamboo strips have no skin left, thus are the most expensive strips. When determining the quality of the strips, it is the purchasing phase that is of importance, but you will not directly see the difference in the final product. Bamboo’Ali only accepts high quality strips for its bamboo products and our experienced workers check the strips before production is started.

The bamboo strips are crushed to open up the material for further processing and become bundles of bamboo fibers, called strands. This process and quality of the crushing will determine the quality of the glue impregnation and bonding in the next production steps. A better crushing of the strands requires more precise processing, and therefore higher costs. Bamboo’Ali skillful workers checks the strands before production is started.

Strand Woven bamboo products are available in three standard colors: Natural, Carbonize and Tiger. Natural is the color of the material without thermal treatment. When the bamboo strands are steamed, they become darker and more brownish. With a thermal treatment of ca. 200°C the color changes into a dark brown: carbonize. The treatment alters the material: the sugar component of the bamboo is caramelized or broken down, making the material more durable and stable. This treatment can be executed at various temperatures for a shorter or longer time. Lower temperatures and shorter times usually result in lower costs, a preferred option for some manufacturers. Bamboo’Ali always focuses on the optimal durability and stability of the final bamboo product and ensures the best treatment of the materials.

Crushed bamboo strands are glued and compressed to bond the bamboo fibers together. Bamboo’Ali aims to replace chemical resins with bio-glues. However, the quality of the final products is most important to Bamboo’Ali, meaning this is not possible yet. So far, no bio-glue can match the high Bamboo’Ali quality requirements. Until bio-glues can be used in production without compromising quality, glue from respectable brands is used, ensuring the lowest emissions and best bonding. The type and amount of glue applied during the production is very hard to determine once the final product is manufactured. Glue costs are significant in the total production costs. Many factories make their own glue or use glue from a local supplier to reduce such costs, while we choose to work with respectable brands.

Depending on the type of product, dimensions, and required color of bamboo, compression can be done in cold-press or hot-press systems. Each type of glue needs a certain temperature during compression to cure. Additionally, the way bamboo strands are placed in the molds has an effect on the stability and look of the final product. Well-trained Bamboo’Ali quality controllers test the material after this important production step to ensure the quality of the final product. It is hardly possible to do this without laboratory tests.

7. Moisture content defines the stability of bamboo products

The last step in the Strand Woven bamboo production is the final profiling of the material. A material as hard and dense as high density bamboo requires a lot from the tools used for profiling. By using high quality, often European made machines, Bamboo’Ali ensures the right way of processing the material into final products. A good example is the way click systems are profiled into the material. The best machines create the best surface finishing. Depending on the product, Bamboo’Ali uses Strand Woven bamboo as a top layer for panels and flooring, or as solid beams or flooring.