Prototype

Last weekend I paid a visit to my forest plot again. The plot next to it which was clean and grassy apparently hasn't gotten rid of the bamboo roots. A couple of bamboos have started shooting up in that plot. The family owning it comes by several times a year and all family members help and maintain it. I don't think I can achieve a bamboo-free plot on my own.

Left edge: my plot. The rest: neighbor grass field. See the lone bamboos?

I have started to think about what can be made from all the bamboo I have... Things that I can make and get better at making, and maybe end up selling.
So far I came up with these that can be more or less realistic: Cup, wind chime, bird feeder, planter, flute, towel hanger etc.
I decided to make a prototype flute just to see. So I picked a couple of bamboos with me home from the forest plot. My plan is to make both a normal flute and a japanese shakuhachi.

bunch of young bamboos

Hopefully by making these I will learn a couple of things. I start with the shakuhachi. The bamboos are not cured cause I figured it would be easier to work with. But maybe I am proven wrong along the way.

Cleaning the bamboo with Tora-chan helping me

Shakuhachi needs to be made from root end of bamboo for some reason. And it needs to be a certain diameter so it is really not easy finding a proper piece. I was super lucky to even find this one in my whole forest plot. Will have to be careful not to break it. I cleaned up the root and cut it a bit to size, and this is what I ended up with. I have to add that I have no idea how to play the instrument, so I probably will not notice if I mess it up.

Looks a bit like a leek

I made a hole through the nodes as well. This is as far as I got in the weekend cause I kept taking breaks to play with the kittens.
To be continued.