The possible uses of bamboo are seemingly endless.
Bamboo has been employed by humans for millennia for a staggering number of uses. The Guadua Bamboo website recounts the old Asian saying, "A man is born in a bamboo cradle and goes away in a bamboo coffin. Everything in between is possible with bamboo." A survey of the many creative ways humans have traditionally utilized bamboo over time demonstrates the truth of the saying. Bamboo continues to be used as flooring and construction material, kitchen utensils and tools, fishing poles, martial arts training weapons, clothing, paper and a lot more. Does this Spark an idea?
Musical Instruments
A bamboo pan flute.
Bamboo has long been used as a raw material for making musical instruments. The practice originated in Asia but has since spread around the world. Sunreed and other musical instrument manufacturers produce a wide range of bamboo instruments, including clarinets, pentatonic flutes, shakuhachi, saxophones, wind chimes, pipe organs, gongs, pan pipes, whistles, drums, shakers and didjeridoos.
Building Material
Bamboo has been used to construct everything from huts and homes to bridges and boats. The superior strength and light weight of bamboo makes it a choice construction material. Many cultures across Southeast Asia traditionally used bamboo as a building material for constructing fences, shelters, floors, roofs, walls, rain gutters, trellises, scaffolding, livestock pens, ladders, walking sticks, ropes, rafts and docks. Almost every landscaping project imaginable can employ bamboo in some way, including as ground cover, hedges, guard rails, gazebos and greenhouses.
Weapons
Bamboo was traditionally used as a raw material for making weapons of many different sorts. The earliest bamboo weapons were simple blowguns designed by primitive peoples to project a dart with a quick burst of air. Bamboo has also been used to make light and strong bows and arrows. Bamboo Grove reports that gunpowder guns have been constructed out of bamboo. Treated bamboo poles are still often used in martial arts as training weapons.
Kitchen Implements
In addition to eating bamboo shoots and making beer from a fermented bamboo preparation, traditional human cultures have used bamboo to make a number of different kitchen implements. Bamboo steamers have been used for centuries to prepare steamed foods over boiling water. Utensils, such as chopsticks, spoons, knives, egg beaters and forks have long been made of bamboo. Most dishes, including cups, plates, bowls, place mats and storage containers, have been traditionally made of bamboo.
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