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Bamboo in or around 24


Dog
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I make kite spars  from bamboo and my supply of bamboo is running out. I would like to use locally grown bamboo - I have seen some lovely large bamboo groing in private gardens.

I would like to aquire/swap some bamboo and bamboo to grow.

I preferably need bamboo that has nodes at least 350mm to 500mm apart. I do not mind green bamboo as am prepared to dry it.

I am visiting the bamboo garden that is supposed to have the largest collection of bamboo in France at the weekend. I will let bamboo lovers know what it is like.

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[quote user="Mik from LA"]It is Dick van Dyke singing "Me ole bamboo" in a strange accent.

What sort of kites do you make?

I thought they were all high tech these days with carbon fibre spars?
[/quote]

I make Indian fighting kites - bamboo is a much better material than carbon fibre in many ways and better to work with.

Indian fighter kites are one of the oldest kites in the world and can be controlled with just one cotton line. They weigh just a few grammes and yet can fly kilometres away.

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[quote user="Dog"]

[quote user="Mik from LA"]It is Dick van Dyke singing "Me ole bamboo" in a strange accent.

What sort of kites do you make?

I thought they were all high tech these days with carbon fibre spars?
[/quote]

I make Indian fighting kites - bamboo is a much better material than carbon fibre in many ways and better to work with.

[/quote]

And you don't see so many carbon fibre trees nowdays [;-)]

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[quote user="Lisleoise"]I have plenty of bamboo as do my neighbours and it regularly needs thinning/cutting back as it grows over night. Email me (if possible) or PM me. I'm in NW Dordogne in between Riberac and Brantôme.
[/quote]

 

I was flying in Lisle from the bridge by the campsite the other week diving down over the river and buzzing the mill/restaurant.

I am not far away (approx 20k) near Font de L'Auche.

What are the distances between your nodules if you do not mind me asking?

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[quote user="Anton Redman"]PM me if you run out of supplies we are about 20 kilometres west of 24[/quote]

Thanks for the offer - if you do not mind me asking what is the max distance between your nodules?

 

PS Nodules are the growth rings.

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[quote user="Dog"]

[quote user="Lisleoise"]I have plenty of bamboo as do my neighbours and it regularly needs thinning/cutting back as it grows over night. Email me (if possible) or PM me. I'm in NW Dordogne in between Riberac and Brantôme.

[/quote]

 

I was flying in Lisle from the bridge by the campsite the other week diving down over the river and buzzing the mill/restaurant.

[/quote]

Was that in a helicopter?  If it was I remember it well - you woke me from a much needed siesta in my hammock!  You were wearing a red T-shirt with the side door open, you were that close!

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[quote user="teapot"]

And you don't see so many carbon fibre trees nowdays [;-)]

[/quote]

Surely all trees are carbon fibres ?

 

Hey Dog, I'm sort of in the opposite direction to you as regards kites.

I just successfully bid for a 13 m2 (yes 13 !!) kite off ebay for a whole £36, no spars at all [;-)]  Now I'm just welding together an ugly buggy as 'proof of concept' and going to give it a go.

Now if I could just find 3 old wheelbarrow wheels.........[Www]

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[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

[quote user="teapot"]

And you don't see so many carbon fibre trees nowdays [;-)]

[/quote]

Surely all trees are carbon fibres ?

 

Hey Dog, I'm sort of in the opposite direction to you as regards kites.

I just successfully bid for a 13 m2 (yes 13 !!) kite off ebay for a whole £36, no spars at all [;-)]  Now I'm just welding together an ugly buggy as 'proof of concept' and going to give it a go.

Now if I could just find 3 old wheelbarrow wheels.........[Www]

[/quote]

 

Parafoils are fun - I am sure you will find a buggy on ebay,  if not buy two more similar sized foils and fly them in tandem and you will make some big jumps or maybe fly.

I do not dislike modern hitech kites but they do not have the simplicity and purity of a bamboo and paper kite that can fly from your hand at any distance and is not limited by length of line.

I used to like flying 4 line kites especially in interesting places such as bridges where you can dive into the water go under, fly under the water and pop out elsewhere. I did have a couple of embarassing moments such as getting a crowd of 2000 people plus 6 police cars, 3 fire engines and two TV crews turn up when I got stuck on the rifle of a war memorial in IOM.

PS I hope you got some flying lines with your ebay bargain or they could cost more than you paid for some good ones.

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[quote user="Lisleoise"][quote user="Dog"]

[quote user="Lisleoise"]I have plenty of bamboo as do my neighbours and it regularly needs thinning/cutting back as it grows over night. Email me (if possible) or PM me. I'm in NW Dordogne in between Riberac and Brantôme.
[/quote]

 

I was flying in Lisle from the bridge by the campsite the other week diving down over the river and buzzing the mill/restaurant.

[/quote]

Was that in a helicopter?  If it was I remember it well - you woke me from a much needed siesta in my hammock!  You were wearing a red T-shirt with the side door open, you were that close!
[/quote]

Not guilty - I think it would not be too easy to fly a kite from a helicopter - I have flown from cross channel ferries and out of a soft top car. Buzzing and hitting hot air ballons is fun and I have had some near misses with Hercules transport planes. I even got rumbled by the Italian Airforce in Italy - I was flying a very large kite and it showed on their radar, they sent out some jets and helicopters. Be careful in Italy if you like putting a camera in your kite as it is illegal.

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Hee hee, that sounds like fun.

Actually I like flying any sort of kite.

You've now set me thinking about your kind of kites, especially the little ones.  Can you point me at a website for more info please?

 

As for lines, yeah they can cost a lot.  I actually made my lines myself.  I had a spool of Fastflight bow string I was given.  Amazing stuff, rated at 58Kgs breaking (static) per strand, no stretch, no creep and unaffected by temperature.  I use the uncoloured stuff for my bow but the spool I was given was red.  Now for a reason best known to the manufacturer, the red dye is water soluble and since in competition one wears white..... well you can guess the rest.  So, I found out on You Tube how to make rope and with my trusty electric drill and the hook form a coat hanger, I soon had 30 metre lines (6 strands for power, 4 strands for brake) with the power lines at over 300Kgs breaking.  They actually work amazingly well.  I may put how I did it on instructables.com if I get around to it.

 

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Will walk down to the woods as soon as I have recovered. Of all the things the French use inches for why did they have to build my unstable stable block out of 6 inches by 12 inches by 24 inches cast concrete blocks ?

Have had a brief look round nothing bigger than 200 mm at top pond but will check depper in wood tommorow when it has stopped raining

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[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

Hee hee, that sounds like fun.

Actually I like flying any sort of kite.

You've now set me thinking about your kind of kites, especially the little ones.  Can you point me at a website for more info please?

 

As for lines, yeah they can cost a lot.  I actually made my lines myself.  I had a spool of Fastflight bow string I was given.  Amazing stuff, rated at 58Kgs breaking (static) per strand, no stretch, no creep and unaffected by temperature.  I use the uncoloured stuff for my bow but the spool I was given was red.  Now for a reason best known to the manufacturer, the red dye is water soluble and since in competition one wears white..... well you can guess the rest.  So, I found out on You Tube how to make rope and with my trusty electric drill and the hook form a coat hanger, I soon had 30 metre lines (6 strands for power, 4 strands for brake) with the power lines at over 300Kgs breaking.  They actually work amazingly well.  I may put how I did it on instructables.com if I get around to it.

 

[/quote]

 

Have sent you a pm.

Top marks for making your own line. Now you know why your were given the red line!

We recently went to a chateau with lots of  medeavil weapons and they were selling rather home made crossbows for 20 euros plus - I refused to buy one for my nephew and niece, since then we have been making them. Things are getting a bit dangerous as our latest model is a bit powerful and will go through tin cans. I am trying to get my six year old nephew to treat them with some respect.

I predate buggying and kite surfing - over twenty years ago I was using big kites to tow me across bays in Brittany - I was just in trunks in the water and realised I needed a keel or dagger board as I could not tack - sadly never got the time to take it further.

I like kites they are very relaxing...

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[quote user="Anton Redman"]Nothing bigger than 250 mm sorry[/quote]

Thanks for checking. It is useable at that node distance but it means I have to have a node in the centre of my bowspar which adds some weight and can be a weak spot.

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[quote user="Dog"][quote user="Lisleoise"][quote user="Dog"]

[quote user="Lisleoise"]I have plenty of bamboo as do my neighbours and it regularly needs thinning/cutting back as it grows over night. Email me (if possible) or PM me. I'm in NW Dordogne in between Riberac and Brantôme.

[/quote]

 

I was flying in Lisle from the bridge by the campsite the other week diving down over the river and buzzing the mill/restaurant.

[/quote]

Was that in a helicopter?  If it was I remember it well - you woke me from a much needed siesta in my hammock!  You were wearing a red T-shirt with the side door open, you were that close!

[/quote]

Not guilty - I think it would not be too easy to fly a kite from a helicopter.

[/quote]

Doh [:$]  Flying...kites [Www]

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[quote user="Dog"]

I do not dislike modern hitech kites but they do not have the simplicity and purity of a bamboo and paper kite that can fly from your hand at any distance and is not limited by length of line.[/quote]

I am curious now. If not limited by length of line, are they radio controlled or expendable?

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[quote user="Mik from LA"][quote user="Dog"]

I do not dislike modern hitech kites but they do not have the simplicity and purity of a bamboo and paper kite that can fly from your hand at any distance and is not limited by length of line.[/quote]

I am curious now. If not limited by length of line, are they radio controlled or expendable?

[/quote]

People often think they are radio controled as it is difficult to see the flying line as it is just cotton, they cannot believe you can control a kite to ascend, descend, turn right or left or spin either right or left with just one line.

They are not limited by length of line in the same way that most steerable kites are. With two or four line kites they can be controlled - (four lined kites can fly backwards) but they are on fixed length lines, you cannot bring line in or pay more out.

With an Indian Fighting Kite you can have many kilometres of cotton on your reel you can be flying 3 metres away and then very soon be a couple of kilometres away. They are the fastest rising kite(though not the fastest in pure speed).

They weigh from about 8 grammes upwards.

They were used in warfare with a burning taper to set fire to enemy buildings, to find artillery distance and can be used to send messages - all over large distances. They are also good for building bridges to get a line over a gorge and then pull over ever thichker lines.

In India they are flown from rooftops, they have the first 10 metres of line cover in glass cutting line, you taunt the opponents kites and invite them to 'tangle' then the fight is on and you must cut your opponents line. When it is cut and the kite drifts away you chase the loose line in a circular motion and grip the line and reel the opponents kite in, stealing his kite.

It is difficult to control more than one kite on a line and often rogue fliers will cut your line and steal two kites. The most I saw in India was 7 kites stolen on one line. Kites that are not caught in the sky are chased by children - The Kite Runner is an interesting book and film that shows this activity.

Apart from flying from roofs there are teams in leagues that fly larger fighting kites from the ground - say by a river. Sometimes on roofs and in team fighting the flier has a reelman to pay out and reel in while the flier controls the kite.

It's a bit like conkers in the sky.

PS They are sort of expendable in India as the kites flown from rooftops only cost a few pence.

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This is getting surreal!

This is a quote from Wikipedia:-

There is an ongoing battle - religious, emotional, and political, on

the subject of kite fighting and flying. From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban

government in Afghanistan outlawed kite fighting and kite flying by

declaring it "un-Islamic". After the fall of the Taliban government,

kite fighting has returned to the country with vigor.

I knew our boys were fighting for a good cause

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[quote user="Mik from LA"]Wow, that is incredibly interesting! I now have a million questions but do not want to hijack your bamboo supply thread. I will google the subject. If you can point me in the direction of a good source of info I would be grateful.
[/quote]

Ask away - if it involves Indian Fighter Kites it contains bamboo and is on loosley on thread... plus we fly on thread...

http://www.fighterkitecentral.com/ American site - the guy who runs it makes videos of how to make fighters.

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