The Bamboo Fence: Beauty Meets Strength

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Our favorite bamboo is Tam Vong (Dendrocalamus strictus). We call it "solid bamboo," and it is indeed solid at the bottom of the pole, while toward the top its walls are very thick and the hollow small. Native to India and Vietnam, Tam Vong will not split and can be drilled and nailed like 2x4s.

Use a nail gun to attach Tam Vong pickets to a stringer. Or predrill and screw or nail. If you prefer, you can also cable tie or wire Tam Vong like ordinary poles.

Bamboo Hardwoods ( www.bamboohardwoods.com ) carries Tam Vong in sizes from 1" x 6' to 2" x 20'. We build our furniture, parts of our houses and most of our fences from Tam Vong at our factory in Vietnam.

What Steps?

1. Gather materials.
• Posts: use natural posts with the bark peeled off, 4 x 4s or peeler poles, treated. (A peeler pole is the core that is left after ply veneer has been peeled off a log, commonly Douglas fir.)
• Stringers: use 1 1/2" diameter, 10'- long bamboo poles or 2 x 4s
• Pickets: use 1"-diameter bamboo poles
• Fasteners: for options, see "Attaching the Pickets" above
• Concrete

2. Stain posts dark brown (traditional Japanese posts are darkened with fire).

3. Set posts in concrete.

4. Drill holes for stringers in outside posts.

5. Set ends of stringers into holes of outside posts. Rotate stringer so straightest plane faces viewer. Pretrial: nail or screw middle of stringers to inside posts.

6. Cut the top of each picket just above a node where the pole is solid so the picket is closed to water. Cut this way, the picket will last longer and look professional. If you cut the picket at the internode where the pole is hollow, you create a cup that will fill up with water and rot the pole. Cut the bottoms of pickets.

7. Attach the pickets to the stringers. Be sure the straightest plane faces the viewer. Use either cable ties (zip ties), wire, string or wire plus string to attach the pickets. If using Tam Vong pickets and stringers, you can use a nail gun.

Tools:
• paint brush (for staining posts)
• post hole digger, level, wheel barrow, shovel (for setting posts)
• chop saw or hand saw (for cutting bamboo)
• plyers/wire cutters (to cut and twist wire around bamboo)
• scissors (for cutting string or cable ties)
• pin nail gun (for attaching pickets to stringers if using Tam Vong bamboo)

- Daphne Lewis

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