How to hollow a bamboo?

[Nice65]

I’m looking to thread an electrical cable down a couple of bamboo garden oil lights to make a more permanent fixture.

Any bright spark got an idea how to pierce the walls between the compartments?

 

[sunndog]

Steel rod? Lamp iron/road pin kinda thing

Could even make a rudimentary drill bit out of one

 

[Keith_Beef]

Bit of steel conduit (a bit longer than the length of bamboo pole you want to pierce through) with saw teeth cut in one end.

 

[Billy-o]

3D printer?

 

[Nice65]

Yeah that’s the sort of thing. There must be a way to take the compartment barriers back enough to thread a cable easily. Like a bamboo blowpipe.

I’ve got a couple of led bulbs that look just like flaming lamps. So I want to mount them to look authentic without trailing a cable.

 

[Billy-o]

They aren't quite straight, bamboo canes. I wonder if one of those long bendy springs plumbers etc use for bending pipes might help

 

[chas brookes]

a length of rebar or mild steel with a chisel point ground on the end, used as a drop weight should punch its way through easy enough. Or you could use a large wood nail inserted in a smaller diameter piece of bamboo

 

[Nice65]

I’m quite tempted to get a 12mm ballbearing red hot and see how far it gets.

 

[Billy-o]

A squirrel might do too, or a troupe of trained and determined mice ... warming them up might help. Never know

Have you thought of experimenting with your airgun? ... warming them up might help

 

[daveO]

Air rifle?

 

[Robson Valley]

What's the ID of the bamboo? That might determine your choices.
I like the plan to use a long rod or tube with teeth in one end to saw through the septa..

 

[Janne]

I have used a rebar, cut by the builders the way they do. This creates a kind of edge.
Then I just rotate until I go through.
The remaining sides of the septum I just remove with a sawing action with the rebar.

 

[woodspirits]

Don’t know about bright spark you don’t mention how long the bamboo will be? anyway this is how I would do it. As mentioned cut the end of a 20mm rebar at an angle with a grinder to give it a chisel/cutting edge, break through each segment with just the weight of the bar and force. Replace the bar with metal or plastic tube, thread the cable into the tube and withdraw the tube when through.

 

[bobnewboy]

Put the bamboo in a vice or clamp. Heat the end of the rebar or similar long piece of metal over a gas ring, watching out for your fingers, and burn your way through the internal dividers. Keep heating and burning from both ends until you have the required clearance.

 

[Nice65]

Don’t know about bright spark you don’t mention how long the bamboo will be? anyway this is how I would do it. As mentioned cut the end of a 20mm rebar at an angle with a grinder to give it a chisel/cutting edge, break through each segment with just the weight of the bar and force. Replace the bar with metal or plastic tube, thread the cable into the tube and withdraw the tube when through.

It’s one of those garden spirit burners. Split and spread at the top with a metal bottle and wick. Probably about 4’ tall, internal diameter would be about an inch.

I have plenty to be going on with, many thanks to you guys. Red hot rebar is favourite so far, I’m not going to faff about with cutting teeth. It’d be simpler to have someone weld a hole cutter on a length of steel. I’d only purpose build a long hole saw if I had loads of them to do. Burning it is, more fun too.

 

[sunndog]

Welding holesaws?

Nah just take your length of rebar 30 second grind to put an edge on it then straight in the drill chuck.
Could always do that and still heat it up lol adds a bit of excitement

 

[Janne]

I use the same source for my bamboo. Excellent, cheap.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I’m not going to faff about with cutting teeth. It’d be simpler to have someone weld a hole cutter on a length of steel. I’d only purpose build a long hole saw if I had loads of them to do. Burning it is, more fun too.

If you have a bit of steel conduit laying around, it's good enough. After drilling out the bamboo, you'd be able to chop off the last inch of the conduit, with the teeth, and use the rest of the conduit as normal, AND you'd have a handy little hole saw for the future.

I have a Nicholson hole saw, the shank is hexagonal, I think... that would fit in commercially available extension bars.

 

[Broch]

Traditionally (and how I was shown as a kid to make blowpipes) the bamboo was split, the walls scraped out so the inside was absolutely smooth, and the bamboo was bound back together. It would look quite good IMHO. We always used a type of raffia but natural cord of some kind would look good too.

 

[Nomad64]

£2.27 gets you a 400mm long drill bit which will get you most of the way through if you go from each end and with a bit of improvisation should get you the rest of the way!

https://www.toolstation.com/extra-long-flat-wood-drill-bit/p97335