What are some products made by bamboo?
Bamboo forms a very hard wood, especially when seasoned, and is light and exceptionally tough. This makes it useful for many things such as houses (in tropical climates), fences, bridges, toilets, walking sticks, canoes, furniture, chopsticks, food steamers, toys, construction scaffolding, hats, martial arts weaponry, abaci and various musical instruments such as the shakuhachi, palendag, jinghu, and angklung. It is also widely carved for decorative artwork. Modern companies are attempting to popularize bamboo flooring made of bamboo pieces steamed, flattened, glued together, finished, and cut. However, bamboo wood is easily infested by wood-boring insects unless treated with wood preservatives or kept very dry (see carving, right). It has also been used as a substitute for steel reinforcing rods in concrete construction. When bamboo is harvested for wood, care is needed to select mature stems that are several years old, as first-year stems, although full size, are not fully woody and
