DISCLAIMER: When making the treatment for the bamboo, I may have forgotten to say that it is actually a mix of borax and boric acid that is used to treat the bamboo. Not just dissolved borax. Sorry for the confusion.

In Java - Indonesia, when I grew up, people use bamboo for roof tile support/frame. To preserve it, the sliced bamboo are soaked in the river/creek for months. It smells really bad and covered by the mud when we retrieve them but will last for years.

For all bamboo lovers out There, I recommend the "bamboo, gift from the gods" very thorough.

that bucket method is genius.

I grow lots of bamboo here in Georgia and use for all sorts of stuff but didn't know about these methods to preserve it. Thank you!

I just started working with bamboo on small projects. I didn’t know about treating bamboo. Thank you for the great lesson and set up. Very well done and easy to understand. I look forward to building my own pressure treating system!

Great video Amigo! i live in the Philippines 🇵🇭 now and have always been frustrated with bamboo construction and dry rot and termite damage etc. This could be a game changer!

As a 60 yo single woman, you explained that so well that I feel confident I can make this and carry out the process. Thank you so much.

This is another Informative Video. But a year ago, I had Visited my local Homestead and the Person or owner there happily greeted me and showed some similar technique of Treating Bamboos. There was a Huge Pond like structure where a Silpaulin was placed and loads of finely cut Bamboo were submerged in the Water. He informed me that He was treating those Bamboos for his upcoming Homestead Project. He had added a mixture of Lime and Salt Solution in the Water and kept it submerged for weeks. He told me those are very economical method to treat Bamboos and it really last Decades. Now here iam happy to learn New Method. Thanks!! 👍

Finally the video of the year I've been searching for. Thanks KZfaq. Man you're Hawaiian ? Bula I'm from Fiji you're a Godsend. Thanks for a very comprehensive video. God bless you my brother.

Looks like a lot of fun to build with. I've lived in Africa for 15 yrs and will be spending more time in the Philippines, lots of bamboo and plenty of workmen available in the Phil's.

Bamboo used to be one of the construction materials that are popularly known in the tropical region for houses, furnitures, home decors and many other products and this preservation/treatment method was a must and be known throughout this region! Thank you for this very informative video! God bless and wish you all the very best this 2021 and beyond!!!! Watching you here in the Philippines!!!! Aloha and Mabuhay!!!!!

Bamboo is the 8th wonder of the world. There's a book in Spanish (written by a Colombian man) called, "Bamboo, Gift from the Gods", or something like that. it's shows all sorts of building methods from several story scaffolding to actual road bridges.

Very cool mate. In India I have seen huge concrete beds filled with probably a similar solution (didn't ask about the composition then as thought its just water) with a lot of bamboos. The resulting dried ones are yellow and really sturdy. Traditional houses were build using Bamboos for structure and mud, husk, straw, lime and even cowdung. I feel so sad that now its just concrete everywhere, although there seem to be surge in traditional ways off late

Wow! Finally someone who makes an instructional video the Right way. Loved this video! You gave instructions as you constructed the equipment for the Bouchée Method And you were so thorough explaining each piece of material used. Hey thank you for the information. KEEP IT GOING!!!

Sir thanks a lot , I am in India's city called Mumbai and was very much afraid of doing Bamboo's framing dint knew How to preserve it . 🙏 thanks again for this valuable information it may help me now. May Allah the almighty have mercy upon you'll...Ameen...

Great video. FYI that's Teflon tape. Plumbers tape is metal with holes in it used for hanging pipe.

Great info here in Jamaica we have a lot of bamboo and I can use this method to preserve bamboo for basket making,thanks bro.

That bamboo had some beautiful moss growing on it

Tku for your tips on increacing shelf life on Bamboo. (Treated 109 years good 👍) Thanks saving 98 More year . Home Treatment Good News

Very good method. For processing large number of pieces together can we immerse bamboo in large tanks filled with 10% solution.

Great video very well explained , coming to you from the island of Roatan where we are transplanting lots of bamboo from other parts of the island to our home where we lost a lot of trees due to fire. Keep them coming. Thanks Scott,

Thank you for showing us the traditional and higher tech method for preserving the bamboo. Good show!

Thanks for your video, I’m in Costa Rica and I have black bamboo at my home almost 2 acres and I have a big patch of bamboo and this helps tremendously thank you.

Great video, I’m in love with bamboo done here in nsw Aust. I am growing black Asper, Latafloris, Old hamii, and Java black all in about 5 years and now have some great culms to treat. I liked and will use both methods, thanks

it's amazing to treat bamboo clearly method like this, I can learn step by step by your method. Thank you!

Very helfull this huge operation in a low cost.great idea.

So informative! I’ll go for the bucket method. Seems a lot less hassle. I’ve seen some incredible builds with bamboo. Why should anyone be homeless?

A mind of millions. Thanks for all the info.. I would definitely grow plenty of bamboo now

Nice video. Always good to see someone promoting bamboo. I posted a comment to someone interested in the submersion method (it's what I use) but both the methods you describe work very well. I also have a boucherie system but since we are off grid our pressurising is done with a bicycle pump. With the low pressure needed it's not too much extra work. One thing to point out is the age of the culms you harvest. Regardless of species they want to be minimum three years old. What species do you grow at your place?

We have plenty of bamboo but never knew how to preserve. Thank you

Wow! I thank you whole heartedly. I'm so excited. Please make more videos, you're way off explaining the process is so easy to watch. I'll learn anything you want to teach..

My first 3 houses in Columbia were of bamboo. This would have been very helpful. That was the early 70's.

I love what I've learnt about treated bamboo today I like bamboo the most. Thank you soucj for the lesson.

best penetration of treatment of bamboo i ever saw. spent many days at factories in Bali and they were all trying to treat the bamboo either serval days after cutting and even man weeks old before trying to treat in pressure vats. The bamboo in Bali even from the best factories if cut you could see it only treated the surface there was no deep penetration like you have with the pressure treatment of fresh cut bamboo. I love that use of coloring so end user and see it is treated even when cut they will see how it was treated deep into the wall fibers of the bamboo. Would love to collaborate with you on projects in Hawaii I live over on Maui.

Awesome thanks so much for your video. We just starting to plant our bamboo.

The Philippines is abundant in bamboo, We should plant more along riversides and vacant areas and make it a source of income.

Also in colombia I did a video of some bamboo construction going on. They bunched up several together to make beams. And if my memory is right they built a ring beam of them and poured concrete down the center for vertical beams.

Thank you for your kind information! Excellent to know how to treat bamboos in simple way...

Thanks for sharing your good idea with a clear, easy to understand video.

Watched your video. Was very interesting to learn this method on curing bamboo.

that's pretty helpful. ill try to remember this video in 5 or so years when my Japanese timber bamboo is ready to cut. lol

Love it, there's no shortage of bamboo here in Thailand and the low tech bucket method is great for me and not the pesky termites

The good thing about the pump method is you don’t need to break the nodes in the bamboo and don’t need to dig up a huge amount of land to make a pool to soak the bamboo in 😁

Groovy baby! Didn’t know about this ez diy method . Maybe you can show some construction methods

Thank you for posting this basic preservation method. I moved to the Republic of the Philippine Islands eight years ago and have been very impressed with the many projects bamboo may be used for. One thing you see a lot is small "nipa" huts for sale at roadside shops that can be loaded and dropped off the back of a medium sized truck. The small building is carried by a few workers to the spot where you want it. Unfortunately, little or no treatment is ever done to protect against rot and insects. Some folks will place a small sheet of aluminum on top of the cement blocks the hut sits on but that is about all. A few folks will varnish or even paint the bamboo to get the look they want and "protect it." Really, the protection should begin at the end of the pole where bugs will start the attack. Bamboo furniture is also very popular and cheap. Again, I have seen many failures where the items sat on bare ground or bare concrete and nothing but a wash of colored varnish was ever applied. When the item fails, there are usually one or more bug nests inside. There may well be many other methods that were used in the past as mentioned by other commenters before me but I do not see any in common use. I guess there is motivation to NOT treat the items and then you make yet another sale after bugs do their work? I "hear you" on many items never being in stock at the local store, the same holds true here. I have NEVER found borax for sale in the Phils and actually had my daughter bring two boxes with her when she flew over from the US for a visit. I wanted it for ant control. If you were in a region like the North East US, you can purchase agricultural boron in fifty pound sacks on the cheap. It is needed to supplement the soil for growing apples. One question if I may? Have you done any research on using a FIXATIVE agent with your treatment? That was something that had to be researched in the lumber industry before the switch away from treatments like CCA (Chromatid Copper Arsenate) and the earlier pentaclorophenol dips and pressure treatments. Boron is water soluble but with the fixative agent it will remain in the lumber and not leach out. Boron is the best choice environmentally as it is toxic to wood rotting organisms, termites and ants but is safe for the environment. Boron treated wood is even safe indoors where bugs still attack items sitting on a tile floor.

Instead of the rubber clamps, try to get hold of a motorbike tyre innertube. In Australia we use truck inner tubes to treat freshly cut trees that will be used for fencing. When you cut down your tree, square off the base of the log and pull one end of a cut inner tube onto the trunk. Use some rope to wind around the tube for 6 turns and secure. Pour your treatment chemical in the other end and clamp. Loosely secure the tube on top of the log to ensure the butt of the log is always in the chemical. Capillary action by the tree as it lays there will draw the chemical into the tree trunk. The tree is left for 48 hrs at least before taking off branches and further processing.

Very well-made video, and you seem like a really cool knowledgeable guy. And you made it easy and simple to follow and didn’t bore everyone with the hour long talk about how you have a personality and stuff. But, have you ever tried the fire curing method? I have not tried it but I am going to try it. I just find it hard to find the time to make a pressure curing system.

Good work Sean! 👍🏼🤙🏼🤗

This is great! I’ve been looking for something that I could treat bamboos in the easy way. Thank you for sharing. 🙏

this is one of the best and useful videos i ever seen in my life, thank you.

This was great! Thank you for taking the time to make videos like this!

Thank you for all the great videos! I'm learning a lot from you. I"ll be there in May of 2022, puna district.

Very well done and easy to understand.

Well done I have acre's off bamboo am needed a simple way to cure it. 😊

Awesome info, thanks! And not many cockroaches livin' around your yard.

That was very informative... Thank you... 👍

I've been looking to build a unique home back home using Bamboo there is a ton of that stuff on my property, your channel has helped me a lot in my research.

Thank you ,Sir, for sharing .Very helpful .I appreciate it very much. 👍

Thanks for sharing this info!

This is really cool, I’ve always loved bamboo.

Victor Cusack recommends the use of a Copper Sulphate solution in his version of a Boucherie system. Full plans are laid out in his book "Bamboo rediscovered". There are a few differences. With Copper Sulphate you need all plastic parts because it corrodes metals. Copper Sulphate provides protection against both borers and fungi, whereas Boric Acid is only effective against borers. Boric Acid is fine for bamboo that is to used indoors where there is low humidity but Copper Sulphate treatment is better for structural bamboo and any bamboo that is exposed to the weather.

Aloha Y'all. I hope you like the video. If you want components for pressure treating bamboo, just hit me up at homesteadinhawaii@gmail.com. I can put together a super affordable package that will get you what you need. Mahalo for watching.

Thank you very much sir to the useful information that being share with us... GOD Blessed Us💖🌈🙏🏼

Love it! When using the Boucherie method, might there be any benefit in punching through all but the last node like you do in the vertical soak method? I'm thinking that it might help the infusion of preservative to have it pressurized through the inside skin of the bamboo as well as along the fibers. Also, it would make it easier to drain & thoroughly dry the inside of the stalk (unless letting it soak out slowly is a useful part of the process).

Gracias por compartir información y conocimiento :D saludos desde Guatemala

I am a beginner in Bamboo ... tnx for theinformative video

Thank you very much for sharing this one. I’m searching for a long time! If you have any other technical ideas to use bamboo that is construction with it

great video really informative.. I know obviously pressure treating is going to be a more thorough treatment but in your opinion is it worth the extra hassle over the bucket method?

It's very informative. Im planning to have bamboo plantation.

Even lower tech, one can also use a barrel instead of the pvc pipes, with a bike valve glued to the lid, and a faucet at the bottom. Will try it shortly :)

Thank you for this video. I wish to ask two questions: 1. May I know how many bamboos can be treated by one bucket (as shown in the video) of mixture if we use air compressor method? 2. What would be the strength of air compressor machine required to treat several bamboos at a time. Thank you.

Hi and thanks for the video. When In Colombia I saw they only used a certain kind of bamboo for building. They said it was much stronger than regular bamboo. Do you know what type it is and if regular can be used to support a structure?

Thanks for the bucket tip! I live in a dry part of Australia, where too much rain diluting the solution will rarely be a problem.

The Bucket method so cool. Thanks for video

Thanks for this info! One question - you say for the boric acid method it's 10% BA and 90% water but is the percentage by weight or by volume?

Are there varieties of bamboo that are controlled growth (non-ryzome?) and suitable for TX climate? Mostly black clay soil in our area. Thank you!

Didn't know it is this easy. Thank you for sharing.👍

Hello Sir, thank you very much for your innovative solutions and presentation. Looking forward to duplicate your great projects. Jericho Magbanua here in the Philippines. Keep safe and God bless.

One more question is the dye. What is the product you have used? We have done bamboo treatment, but it was by the vertical Soak depositiin method, without a dye. So we do not know the depth of penetration.

In my place, we just soak the bamboo for 1month in the sea!

Hey, Sean, I continue to watch and learn so much from your excellent content. I'm wondering what variety of bamboo you're working with in this video. Thanks and keep up the great work!

Brilliant! Every other method I've seen involves huge pressure chambers. Basically a 5' diameter x 20' pressure cooker that forces the treatment into the bamboo while cooking and "caramelizing" the sugars, giving the bamboo a tan/brown color.

Very helpful. I was just wondering if it could work with our traditional method of curing. I was taught to soak the bamboo in clean water for a few days to allow the sap to seep out. The sap is the thing that attracts insect and fungus to damage the bamboo. Perhaps after it's dried up we could reasoak it again in treatment liquid? Might be a cheaper alternatives for people who lack or can't afford the tools like compressor and couplings.

Aloha! So you just leave it standing on a bucket like that and the whole concoction just absorbs in the whole of bamboo just like that dude?

Awesome knowledge, thanks for sharing it. Regards from India 🙏

Thanks for a nice simple clear description. Pura Vida from Costa Rica

What a very straight-to-the-point directions, especially to those who barely knew how to make anything from scratch! Thank you!

Very help full

Way fresh instructions. TY !!! :D

In Davao Del Norte in Mindanao, Philippines the locals like to dig trenches few meters below the the high tide mark. Then place the cut bamboo poles into the trench. Then cover with the beach sand. I have seen them use bamboo poles that are 2 weeks old from cutting. They bundle the poles together and covee with 1-2 feet of sand then mark the trenches with stones on top. After 2 weeks of being submerged in the wet salty sands the poles are ready. Supposidly the bamboo gets much harder and is impervious to boring insects. No chemicals used. These were old timers doing what they have been doing for generations.

Thanks for sharing. This knowledge will help me a lot.

Thanks for the valuable information

Thanks. This is helpful. I have bamboo behind my house and I'm excited to make some crafts

Thank you for this sir i will use this for my case study.

Thanks for sharing your knoledge. Much appreciated

Very helpful, not many sites have I found that give info instead of adverts for their course in BFE....

We have a lot of Bamboo and I really would like to use it more. Thank you for info.

Mahalo & Bula from the fiji islands. Thank you for sharing this!

Like the idea of low tech treatment of bamboo