Bamboo preservation
Practical Action
The bamboo must soak for a full week (split bamboos three days). Cover the trough with
plastic to keep the rain out, and keep children and animals away. After soaking lift the
bamboo (wear gloves!) on to sticks across the trough (Figure 1B) and let the preservative
drain back into the trough for a few hours. After
that, let the bamboo dry for a week in a rack,
protected from sun and rain.
A good variant for split bamboo is the dip-diffusion
method: dip the bamboo for 10 minutes, as before,
but in a higher concentration, and next wrap it in
plastic for one week. Then season it in a vertical
position for at least three days.
Treated bamboos must not be burned; the gases of
such a fire are toxic. Bury them in the ground, away
from wells (for example, in a pit latrine, because
these are always at a safe distance from wells).
Figure 1: Open tank method
A. Cross section of a trough
a. Trough with bamboos
b. Stones to keep the through upright
c. Level of preservation
d. Large stones, to keep the bamboo down
e. Plastic cover against rain
f. Stones to keep e in place
B. Draining the bamboo
g. Sticks
h. Dripping preservative
Butt treatment method
The freshly cut culms should immediately be put bottom ends first into
a drum containing preservative. The leaves, still in their place, act as a
pump, because of the process of transpiration. After one or two weeks
the preservative reaches the top; watch the change in colour of the
leaves. Place the bamboos in an empty drum to regain the surplus
preservative from the culms. This method can be used instead of the
Boucherie when only a few culms are to be treated.
Figure 2: Boucherie method.
a. Drum on tower
b. Tube, pressure resistant
c. Valves
d. Pipe, steel or iron
e. Connecting tubes with metallic
clamps
f. Bamboos
g. Drip trough
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