building my own deck.. bamboo?

[great escape]

I am in furniture design class now and have some spare time/ energy, so I want to make a sick new deck for when spring hits and everyday is a good day for cruising. I was planning on just using ply, but trying to get some good flex, not sure how though because im not sure if I have anything other than 3 ply pieces, and 6 seems thin whereas 9 is much too thick. If I can dig up some 2 ply pieces I will possibly make it 8.

Although this is an easy method, I really want to look into making a board of something other than plywood. Bamboo is looking so gorgeous. Does anyone have any tips/etc on building out of Bamboo, or maybe another exotic wood. I'm not sure how hard it is to do a glue-up etc with bamboo, and the sturdiness of it. I would have to urethane it I am guessing? not sure. I am planning on probably 8.75 w 40ishL and am dabbling with the idea of a swallow tail. this board will probably be just for cruising around town and maybe a little carving. Thanks heaps for any advice

[numba1wonga]

i've never heard of a deck being made out of bamboo, but i'm guessing you can't build it like you would build a deck out of plywood. the bamboo is too curved and hollow. also, i think bamboo is pretty flexy, as in if you stand on your board, it will sag to the ground and we will both cry. keep in mind that i'm assuming bamboo is flexy because i saw crouching tiger hidden dragon and those things bend over like a cheap floozy. maybe you could build it as a v-lam board with some fibreglass. a board made of bamboo would be pretty damn...well, pretty. ok, so i don't know the properties of bamboo that well. there are a couple of trees on campus and now i'm going to go play with them.

the best cruiser board would be a pintail/thin box thing made out of plexiglass with a removable lid and live fish inside. then when ladies look at you and say "my goodness, are those fish?" you can say, "yeah baby, lick it." then the fish would smile and nod and everyone would know how it goes.

out of curiousity, where are planning to get bamboo? most of the bamboo i see around here is pretty thin and they just look like poles, as opposed to bamboo in chinese forests and such. those things are thick. thick like...thick poles.

[great escape]

If i do use bamboo, I will probably see if I can special order it from my class's wood supplier. I am still reseaching, but am pretty sure I can do some kind of glue up that I could then plane down to make flat that will be pretty sturdy but still with some flex. I am also now toying with the idea of just using ply and doing a bamboo-ish veneer on it, but thats kind of just faking it, which im not too down with

and seeing as I'm a girl I need something different that won't have JUST the ladies asking "are those fish?" Then again, maybe my kind of dudes will love fish. On the clear note, I have been eyeing the FLEXDEX clear 29, it looks so sexy

[VolvoGuy]

Wonga, are you a moron? Look at fatboy decks, and some sector nines. Um, look! Bamboo!!! And they aren't made of the poles, it's V-lammed.

Sorry dude i have no constructive advice for you, i just wanted to shut down wonga.

[100% Proof]

My advice is to experiment and be creative.
You will never find all of the answers online and you will never learn as much unless you try it out for yourself and learn from your mistakes.
Of course get as much info. as you can from SF and other sites so you don't blow all your cash learning.
From my experience you will not always get straight/direct answers from forums. So go out and try what you have planned and let us know what happens!

[numba1wonga]

Wonga, are you a moron? Look at fatboy decks, and some sector nines. Um, look! Bamboo!!! And they aren't made of the poles, it's V-lammed.

Sorry dude i have no constructive advice for you, i just wanted to shut down wonga.

ok, so they're v-lammed. i mentioned that in my post. and no, i've never seen a bamboo deck so my bad. care to post some pics?

[Momona Boe]

[etienne]

If i was where you are i would try cutting a deck in your local bamboo plywood.