WEBVTT - Why is bamboo suddenly appearing in so many products?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff from house Stuff works dot com where

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<v Speaker 1>smart happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question, why

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<v Speaker 1>is bamboo appearing in everything from flooring, defencing to furniture?

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<v Speaker 1>All of a sudden, bamboo is appearing in everything from

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<v Speaker 1>flooring to paneling. And there are even people riding around

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<v Speaker 1>on bamboo bicycles now and they're not too distant future.

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<v Speaker 1>It's possible to imagine bamboo replacing wood in a number

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<v Speaker 1>of furniture and fencing products as well. Bamboo's use is

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<v Speaker 1>growing because bamboo has several advantages over traditional woods like

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<v Speaker 1>pine and oak. The first advantage is the fact that

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<v Speaker 1>bamboo grows fast. Bamboo is not a tree. It's actually

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<v Speaker 1>a very very large type of grass with an extremely

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<v Speaker 1>strong stem. This grass heritage means that bamboo does not

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<v Speaker 1>have bark, and it doesn't have deadwood at the center

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<v Speaker 1>of the trunk. It also grows more like a long,

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<v Speaker 1>straight column rather than being tapered like most trees. Like

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<v Speaker 1>many other grasses, bamboo can grow incredibly quickly. Given the

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<v Speaker 1>right soil and the right weather, Some varieties of bamboo

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<v Speaker 1>can grow more than a foot in a single day.

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<v Speaker 1>This speed means that it takes much less time to

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<v Speaker 1>get a usable crop of bamboo than it does to get, say,

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<v Speaker 1>a usable crop of pine trees. An acre of pine

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<v Speaker 1>trees takes three or four decades to reach a usable size.

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<v Speaker 1>Bamboo grows more densely and can be harvested many times

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<v Speaker 1>in that same span of time. This means that an

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<v Speaker 1>acre of bamboo forest is far more productive than an

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<v Speaker 1>acre of pine trees or oak trees. Another advantage of

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<v Speaker 1>bamboo is its strength. Bamboo is surprisingly strong, and pound

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<v Speaker 1>per pound, certain species are as strong as steel. Heat

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<v Speaker 1>treating the bamboo stocks maximizes the strength. Bamboo is so

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<v Speaker 1>strong that it's being used in place of steel to

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<v Speaker 1>make bicycle frames. In some cases, you can buy bamboo

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<v Speaker 1>bicycle frames pre made, or you can look on the

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<v Speaker 1>internet and find instructions for building your own. It may

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<v Speaker 1>surprise you that these frames are not made of any

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<v Speaker 1>kind of specially engineered bamboo composite material. It's just normal

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<v Speaker 1>bamboo stocks that have been heat treated with a blowtorch

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<v Speaker 1>to strengthen the fibers. Bamboo flooring is a composite. To

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<v Speaker 1>understand bamboo flooring, think about a typical bamboo stock. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a hollow cylinder and the walls of the cylinder are

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<v Speaker 1>not very thick, the cylinder can be cut into long strips.

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<v Speaker 1>These strips will have a slight curve to them because

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<v Speaker 1>they were cut from a cylinder, but if the cylinder

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<v Speaker 1>is large, say three inches in diameter or greater, the

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<v Speaker 1>curve is very minor. It's easily removed by running the

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<v Speaker 1>strip through a planer that makes it square. So now

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<v Speaker 1>you have a thin square strip of bamboo that looks

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<v Speaker 1>a lot like the wood for making a yard stick.

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<v Speaker 1>These strips are turned into flooring in very much the

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<v Speaker 1>same way that pine is turned into plywood. Strips are

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<v Speaker 1>laid down in alternating layers, with a heat activated glue

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<v Speaker 1>added between the layers. A heated press then compresses the

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<v Speaker 1>layers and activates the glue to bind everything together. When

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<v Speaker 1>the process is complete, you have a laminated bamboo panel

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<v Speaker 1>that's incredibly strong and relatively light weight. It can then

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<v Speaker 1>be cut into strips or squares to make either traditional

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<v Speaker 1>tongue and groove flooring or parquet flooring. Bamboo flooring that's

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<v Speaker 1>made in this way has several advantages over traditional hardwood flooring.

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<v Speaker 1>The lamination process makes it extremely strong and natural. Bamboo

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<v Speaker 1>tends to resist dents better than hardwood floors do. Bamboo

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<v Speaker 1>flooring tends to be less expensive because bamboo grows so

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<v Speaker 1>much faster than oak or pine. Best of all for

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<v Speaker 1>many people is the fact that bamboo feels greener than wood.

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<v Speaker 1>When loggers clear cut of forest for the lumber leaves

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<v Speaker 1>a scar that lasts for many years. With a bamboo

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<v Speaker 1>for us, the roots are still alive and they regenerate

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<v Speaker 1>the bamboo stocks with surprising speed. That, plus the fact

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<v Speaker 1>that bamboo can be harvested so often, means that it

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<v Speaker 1>takes far less land to grow bamboo than to grow

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<v Speaker 1>the same amount of wood. The only thing you need

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<v Speaker 1>to keep in mind with bamboo flooring and other bamboo

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<v Speaker 1>products is the source. You want to purchase your flooring

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<v Speaker 1>from a reputable manufacturer to ensure uniform quality, appearance, strength,

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<v Speaker 1>debt resistance, and chemical composition. Be sure to check out

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