Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Tom Deaver has plenty of root end stock and would be happy to sell some. Prices range from 10000 to 25000 yen.

As far as I know, he checks his email fairly regularly. Try him again. He lives in southern Nagano.

I just moved to the Southern Oregon coast (largely because of the excellent bamboo grown here). 

The climate here is nearly identical to northern (north of Tokyo) Japan with many flora and fawna that is known nowhere else outside of Japan. 

The RKR Bamboo plantation in Coquille, Oregon is the usual meeting place of the Pacific Northwest Bamboo Society and they have over 140 temperate species of bamboo (including Madake').

Here's the complete info:

Carol Lee Nelson and son Len E. Nelson

e-mail:  RKRBAMBOO@MSN.COM

57098 FAT ELK ROAD   (1.85 MILES DOWN FAT ELK ROAD FROM HWY 42 S.)
COQUILLE, OR  97423

PHONE:  1-541-396-4356

THEY HAVE OVER 28 ACRES OF BAMBOO AND HAVE BEEN THERE ABOUT 20 YEARS.

they are THE place to get bamboo outside of Japan.

by the way after 2 months i will go to india  and one of the reasons is to find bamboo and a bamboo supplyer. a friend of mine will give me the address of some people who harvest for a bamboo factory. i would like to harvest it my self and prepare it. i would be very happy to send from there some packets to you fellows for a small fee. i dont think of making me rich from this. i will post it as a different post when i am already there/if i find a net of course. if sb interested send me a mail better now and with what you need. i will try my best to find and send it. if i have a wish list would also be more concentrated about this. i dont say it would be perfect but i say  for example 20 chosen by me
cut and fire cured poles for the price of one from japan.what do you think?

kyoreiflutes wrote:

I'll be curious as to what kind of bamboo you'll be getting form a place like India. I was just re-reading about the conditions that Madake has to grow in to make it "perfect", or at least, desireable, for shakuhachi. It has to, I believe, grow on a hillside, with not-so-great soil that wouldn't make for good planting in general, windy conditions, etc. So I'm curious as to what both of us will find in our respective groves. I hope we find good pieces.

-E

I have looked around for bamboo in Sri Lanka and it's not good stuff for making shakuhachi. Maybe in the north of India there would be better conditions. Japanese madake seems best, even the Chinese madake is not as good. Anybody know why?

This is like how the best cigar tobacco comes from Cuba.

Are you going to be able to cure it over there? There's no chance of you getting it back over here if not. Just a heads up.

Brian, I've wondered about the Chinese Madake too. It seems to grow the culm differently, like it narrows earlier than the japanese or something. I don't know. I'm guessing it might be a combination of growing conditions and some variance in its genetic makeup.

The conditions in Oregon can be very similar to Japan, and the area the grove is in appears to be hilly. So we'll see.

-E

costademaria wrote:

i cure it and wax seal it to slow the uneven drying

Please tell me about wax sealing.

I've never heard of this applied to bamboo.

For comparison, my experience of post-harvest steps are:
1. heat and wipe over fire (aburanuki) -- some water and oils removed, turns light greenish-grey
2. hang in sun for a few weeks (hiyake?) -- turns yellow to brown (more moisture lost, I assume)
3. store under cover for a few months or years before building -- very slow, if any, visible changes and moisture level eventually stabilizes

-Darren.

i know it from working and drying exotic woods. i suggest you read thoroughfully this http://www.answers.com/topic/wood-drying  . the idea is very simple-to make the water go away from our piece at the ends,from inside and from outside at the same rate/this is not posible but we can try to get closer/ . you cut the bamboo and from the ends of the piece the water is evaporating out at too great rate to equilibrate the forces inside.so we seal it with wax. as we look at the structure of the bamboo we also can get to know that from inside evaporates faster than from outside thats why the curing-to speed up the outside. we drill also small holes at the nodes inside.but this makes the drying faster? yes but equal which is more important in our case. if we have only one node we will not drill it.   ok,you have to know that i dont sell shacks because i am learning,but i make from a green bamboo for a week  or two completely dry playable shack
1.drill the nodes , cure , wipe with burner/not big but  not small/
2.bind
3 wax
this three at the same time
4. a week at home near the oven.binded and waxed it would never brake
5.cut the utaguchi,holes...if i like it i cut the binding,very gently heat it,then bind it this time properly and finish the holes and the tuning
then after a week of playing i tung oil it with polimerising tung oil/i unbind it again/ or a simple oil/leave it binded/,depends ....  of course its not a finished shack but i am not selling this, just experimenting. not one ever brake/even from the thrown at backyard which i occasionaly put them inside near the oven trying to hear the crack,but no..
but this is me, if i give my girlfriend the torch she would burn the house :-) i mean i always try to feel the bamboo. i am working with gloves and rotating very fast the bamboo mean while regulating the torch,cooling the bamboo,then again....you know what i mean