I know there are specific benefits to using bamboo for chopsticks as Ryan has described but bamboo like that is not easily accessed in my area. I’m curious about trying with just regular wood. Has anyone tried that? If so I’d love to hear about how that worked for you
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I would think bamboo is best because as Ryan stated bamboo has hard size and a soft side. I would think a chopstick made of a soft wood maybe like pine fashioned in Ryan’s design would work better than a standard chopstick. I am thinking of trying it with pine or poplar,
I use bamboo crochet sticks, the big ones. Got a bunch that were on clearance at Walmart, and some old Chinese chopsticks that lost their partner (materials vary). After learning about the chopsticks that Ryan used, the benefits of how it was designed, I am starting to look for alternatives as well.
The design reminds me of my mom’s giant chopsticks for cooking back home in Philippines. They were made of “kamagong” wood. Google said it is Ironwood here. Those were tough and handled the very high heat used when stir-frying. Maybe an Asian, Chinese, Oriental store will have some. I just checked Amazon, they had the small ones.
Tim
After i made chopsticks from some bamboo i had i found them to small.so ichecked Ebay for some better and it was full of it!
Dont that recorce work in the States?
Here in Germany Ebay is the best recorce for everything u need for Bonsai!
I’m not seeing it, I guess I’m putting in the wrong search. Would you mind sending the link to the bamboo you are finding on eBay?
U wont find the qualyty Ryan has in the shop on Ebay here in germany.i think agerman Ebay link wont help u!? I searched for bomboo tube…
I’ve been thinking about making some of those chopsticks out of pieces of square wood dowels you can get at Lowes. Not sure what type of wood they have, poplar maybe? In any case, I’m sure they wouldn’t hold up as well as the bamboo, but they should still function the same - right? I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t.
That’s what I was thinking. It won’t be exactly the same and won’t have the soft/hard components but it seems like regular wood should be a decent substitute. At least a huge step better than root rakes and root hooks and more efficient than an actual food chopstick.
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Some Googling brought up this source for bamboo in the states? If you split the cost with others might make it more reasonable
Maybe painting the back side with a layer or two of polyurethane or something similar would give that hard/soft contrast, if it turns out that is really a useful feature.
After watching some of Mirai’s early repotting videos from last year I had made these for raking roots and “chop sticking” new soil. I made various sizes and lengths out of some iron wood scraps now to learn I might only have sticks. The wood is very hard similar to teak, I have more scraps and now will try a bamboo shape with Ryan’s taper at the tip. I’m concerned the hardness of the wood might not grab and push the soil mix on the bevel face as well as bamboo.
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I was able to pickup some bamboo locally from this place:
http://www.mastergardenproducts.com/bamboopole.htm
Looks like they also ship it, not sure on costs though.
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Thank you for your creativity and sharing.
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This looks to be decent prices for the large diameter and at 8ft.
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The problem with this bamboo is that the internodes are most likely too short. I already made the mistake of ordering some online. Internodes were only like 6" apart, and it wasnt cheap.
How long were the internodes???
Since it was local to me I just went and looked at what they had and chose what worked. The segments are anywhere from 8-14 inches long.
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Wow…thats good!
I would add that was what I was looking for, they have a bunch of them so I’d be sure to specify what you’re looking for if you order it online.
That’s an impressive array of sticks. I’m a tool lover. I love the lineup.
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