Bamboo

[gregmcateer]

Hi Folks,

Not sure if this is the right place to post, so please move if wrong.

My son wants to make a bamboo cookery book stand for his GCSE project. He needs a piece of bamboo (worktop?), that is around 600mm x 400mm x 20mm.

Any suggestions where I could get this, or any kitchen fitter guys who may have / know where I might find an off-cut or cut out from a sink / hob?

Thanks in advance

Greg

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Have a google for bamboo breadboards?
Flooring? Although that might be a bit thin.

 

[marcros]

ikea or similar chopping board maybe?

http://www.wilko.com/chopping-boards+wo ... vt/0319572

could you join a couple of these to make the size that you need.

flooring may be worth a look, but 20mm is a bit thick for that.

 

[gregmcateer]

Phil, Marc,
Many thanks for the ideas.
Chopping boards may well be the best place to start.
Cheers
Greg

 

[ED65]

One thing to note about the chopping boards is the material might not be inclined to glue well. I believe these are all oiled in the factory so they'd need careful degreasing to glue successfully.

 

[gregmcateer]

Thanks for that Ed - Will give the boy the heads up

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I believe the bamboo is actually impregnated with something. I't's bleedin' hard. It might call for epoxy. The flooring is excellent stuff for facing fences and jigs.

 

[ED65]

I believe the bamboo is actually impregnated with something. I't's bleedin' hard.

I think that's due to heat treatment.

The stuff used in boards is usually bleedin' hard, we have a few bamboo boards and they're streets ahead of the one beech board we own. Tough on knife edges!

 

[gregmcateer]

I think I'd heard that, too.

Funnily enough, I got a couple of them from Wilko yesterday and the label says 'It won't blunt your knives'!!

That amused me - I'm not sure anything exists for use as a chopping board that wouldn't blunt a knive through repeated use.

Thanks for all the advice, chaps

Greg

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've watched experienced chefs drag the edge of the knife across the board. Taboo!

 

[ED65]

Yeah so much for pros knowing what they're doing right?

Watch them steeling their edges, it can be quite the eye-opener. There's video of Gordon Ramsay doing it at the usual speed chefs do it and he's contacting the steel at about 12° on one side and I swear close to 45° on the other.

 

[AJB Temple]

Steeling doesn't sharpen anyway - just aligns the edge. The Gordon Ramsay video is widely derided on knife forums. But the real knife guys get truly obsessive about sharpening, steel types, angles, wire edges, myriad sharpening methods, different stones, and on and on and on

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I had a couple of the knives that Tesco were doing the offer on a few years ago. I reckon you could spend the rest of your life trying to steel them they are that hard. I wish I'd got a few more of them, but I only needed small ones at the time. Old steels make good drawbore pins.

 

[ED65]

Steeling doesn't sharpen anyway - just aligns the edge.

That's the theory at least. In practice I don't think it's as simple as that because it usually assumes a smooth steel, when many (the majority?) are grooved. And heck, there are ceramic and diamond 'steels' now too, which clearly takes it into the realm of sharpening.

The Gordon Ramsay video is widely derided on knife forums.

Yes so I've heard :mrgreen: But as you refer to, they are a tough crowd.

 

[ED65]

I had a couple of the knives that Tesco were doing the offer on a few years ago. I reckon you could spend the rest of your life trying to steel them they are that hard.

These the all-stainless ones, branded as Thomas?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes. Excellent knives I've found. pity there weren't any nice small ones in the range.

 

[ED65]

Ah, I think you need to upgrade your steel Phil :wink: I have no problem steeling the one we have with my oldest steel. Old in the sense of I've owned it the longest, a Sabatier bought new in the early 90s.

I have two much older Sheffield steels and neither is in the same league, not as finely grooved and nowhere near as hard.

 

[bugbear]

I believe the bamboo is actually impregnated with something. I't's bleedin' hard.

I think that's due to heat treatment.

The stuff used in boards is usually bleedin' hard, we have a few bamboo boards and they're streets ahead of the one beech board we own. Tough on knife edges!

Better than the awful glass boards, sometimes called "surface protectors".

They're just like steeling at 90° - instant bluntness.

BugBear