Thanks Ram.
Actually I was not thinking of importing to USA at all. Nor was I
considering the finished goods. Those could be made by skilled
carpenters and builders. It is the engineered lumber stock, made and
sold to end users for whatever
purpose they can imagine. It could be a fine product for use
locally, considering that good quality timber, if available, is like
gold.
But I am looking into it. Will see where it might lead.
c-da
At 12:54 PM -0600 3/4/07, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
C'da,
These are just fantastic. Love the coffee tables. It must have been
a lot of hard work.
With reference to marjeting of bamboo products, years ago (I think
around 1995 or so), a friend of mine from Guwahati wanted to market
plywood (with compressed bamboo filling: ie two plywood sheets and
inside would be this bamboo compressed pulp - the best I can
describe).
I took the samples (he had sent) to some of the local Houston people
in the construction business. Several of them were very interested.
There were several problems:
(1) the price was way too high.
(2) the resin that was used was a substance the would not pass US
import regulations (Not a fire retardant)
It didn't go thru, of course, but for those interested in exporting
bamboo products, these are some things I experienced first hand, and
may come in handy.
Further, for finished products, some of the places to try would be
like Pier 1 Imports (stores like that). As most people already know
supplies must be consistent and uniform, and often such stores may
want varying quanties, sometimes in a hurry.
One big problem for a many products from India in the finish.
Compare products from China or Taiwan, Indian products may be
functional, but definitely lack the finish.
Your table on the other hand loked fabulous.
--Ram
On 3/4/07, Chan Mahanta
<<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<http://flickr.com/photos/cmahanta-stl/>http://flickr.com/photos/cmahanta-stl/
3 Images of Mboo ( copyrighted name) Cofee Table from the workshop of
yours truly.
I just completed a coffee table that I made from left over bamboo
floor boards, which are engineered from strips of glued and laminated
bamboo. I machined off the grooved bottom surface of the 5/8" thick
floor boards with a recently acquired 13" power planer to a thickness
of 1/2", glued the two together to make an one inch thick board,
ripped off the tongues and grooves on a radial arm saw, planed the
thin edges off by clamping together several boards and voila: I had
1" thick X 3.5" wide engineered bamboo lumber to build furniture with.
The bottom shelf is made from 3/4" thick medium density fiber-board (
MDF) finished with bamboo veneered wall covering ( expensive @ $
45/square yard) manufactured by MDC Wall Covering.
I finished everything after sanding with water-based clear
polyurethane paint applied with a sponge brush.
This was a project I have been planning for a number of years: To
verify if glued/laminated bamboo sections could be used as a
replacement for quality timber for furniture and interior
construction. I was hampered by not having a power planer to
undertake the task and prove it to myself. Finally I got it done. And
it WORKS!
There HAS to be a market for engineered bamboo sections of many many
shapes, manufactured in Assam. One way to generate employment and
cash in rural Assam from a widely available raw-material thru value
added engineering and manufacturing.
cm
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