Hi I am looking to purcahse some bamboo and bananna wood for kitchen items to make on my laser cutter can anyone tell who in the UK might sell these materials.
Hi I am looking to purcahse some bamboo and bananna wood for kitchen items to make on my laser cutter can anyone tell who in the UK might sell these materials.
Last edited by Mike Null; 08-06-2013 at 11:11 AM. Reason: removed web site link
Thunderlaser Mini60
Brother 650 multihead sewing machine
Large workshop full of lovely machines from engineering lathe, folder, nibbler, wood lathe circular, radial, band and scroll saws, welder, compressor, wood burner for the winter etc.
I don't think banana wood exists. Banana plants have a non-woody psuedostem, not a trunk. You may want to take a look at coconut wood though.
Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics - University of Washington
Kern 400W 4'x8' HSE with metal cutting add-on and rotary stage
2-axis CNC mill, 2 manual mills, 3 lathes, other standard shop tools, . . . and a 7.5 MeV tandem Van de Graaff particle accelerator
One wood I've seen used quite often lately is Rubber Wood. It's the blond, mahogany-like wood you see coming out of Asia. Apparently, rubber trees don't produce very well when they get old, so they cut them down and plant new.
rubber tree, what a sap to turn
Easy to get bamboo - just go to any DIY barn (Wickes, B&Q, Homebase etc.) and look for bamboo floorboards. Cheap.
Unless you can find a specialist supplier to the shopfitting or furniture trade, you won't see bamboo or rubberwood sold as raw materials - 99.9% comes into the country as finished goods.
As Matt says, banana is a non-starter. Maybe you have seen some things made from it in foreign tourist traps, but no-one is going to be importing it : it is just big grass
Bryan Jater of Trotec UK just sent me this link for UK bamboo suppliers -
http://www DOT mosobamboosurfaces DOT co DOT uk/contact-us/
He says their stuff engraves and cuts nicely.
(For some reason Bryan was not able to post this himself)
I was not pleased with the way it engraves as it is quite fibrous and I felt that a fill would have to be used to make it look good.
Mike Null
St. Louis Laser, Inc.
Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
Gravograph IS400
Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
Dye Sublimation
CorelDraw X5, X7
Thanks for the info. in the UL you will see quite a lot of kitchen products made from a material which is described by the manufacturers as rubber/banana wood. I know there is a difference in the plants that they come from as I have a good knowledge of trees and plants as well as timbers. I am wanting to laser engrave rather than mechanically engrave these materials.
Thunderlaser Mini60
Brother 650 multihead sewing machine
Large workshop full of lovely machines from engineering lathe, folder, nibbler, wood lathe circular, radial, band and scroll saws, welder, compressor, wood burner for the winter etc.