Gary Young recounts his history in building bamboo surfboards – starting back in 1970 and finishing his first surfboard two years later. He has some really interesting points about his experiences with bamboo:
- After over 10 years of bamboo board making, I would estimate that each layer of rotary bamboo veneer is roughly as strong as one layer of 4 ounce unidirectional fiberglass.
- Two layers of bamboo veneer with grains crossed (Eco-Logic 3.2 mm bamboo plywood has 7 layers of crossed grain bamboo veneer), epoxy laminated and vacuum bagged uses less resin than a hand laid-up 8 oz. fiberglass.
- These are truly “green” boards – the sanding dust is not itchy, the foam dust is recyclable, and the renewable bamboo fiber trimmings decompose into soil.
- Epoxy has very few volatile fumes, is stronger and is used more efficiently than polyester resin in regular boards.
- Very little epoxy winds up on the floor and very little acetone is used in cleanup.
- Polyester resin does NOT bond well to bamboo plywood.
- Pre-laminated bamboo panels have water absorbing problems too, often due to funky, non-waterproof glues and voids (Eco-Logic bamboo plywood panels use water friendly glues).
