Article Number: 3380
Dansk Hardwood launches strand woven bamboo line, Takes environmentally friendly product to the next level
By Steven Feldman
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA— Dansk Hardwood, the manufacturing/ marketing arm of North American distributor Buckwold Western developed eight years ago to supply the retailer with unique and affordable products, recently expanded its offering with the launch of Bamboo Fusion, a strand woven bamboo line.
Bamboo is technically a grass and one of the strongest materials in the world. It has a tensile strength superior to cold rolled steel and a compressive strength higher than concrete, said Bruce Buckwold, president of Buckwold Western. “But Bamboo Fusion is truly unique. This product is exotic, environmentally responsible, outperforms virtually everything else in the market and yet is affordable.” He added that it is twice as hard as red oak, extremely stable, UV light resistant, termite proof and hypoallergenic.
Bamboo is recognized as an environmentally friendly, sustainable and renewable resource. However, Buckwold believes Bamboo Fusion takes that to the next level. It is manufactured exclusively from the pole of the Moso bamboo plant, which grows wild in the mountainous regions of China.
“It is the only bamboo which is suitable in our manufacturing process due to its natural characteristics,” Buckwold said. The pole of the Moso bamboo plant grows to full maturity and size in approximately five years and as it starts to die, a new pole naturally regenerates from the culm of the plant. One culm can produce up to 200 poles in its life cycle. “Cutting the bamboo pole at the end of its natural life cycle is a sensible use of nature’s resources —unlike logging a hardwood tree that can live for hundreds of years.” Because the plant shoots up poles randomly and continuously and a pole can’t be used until it reaches full maturity, poles are individually selected.
The natural canopy of the plantation or forest is never disturbed, he said. Clear cutting is not an option as the pole is of no value until it reaches the end of its life cycle.
What’s so special about strand woven bamboo vs. traditional bamboo? The traditional bamboo flooring product is essentially manufactured by gluing sections of material cut from a bamboo pole in patterns and layered either vertically or horizontally. The cell structure of the plant is left virtually intact.
“While some people would disagree, we believe many of the concerns and problems associated with traditional bamboo floors are the result of the large cell structure of bamboo, combined with the amount and type of adhesives used to bond the pieces together,” Buckwold said.
While traditional bamboo floors are an environmentally sustainable flooring alternative, the amount and type of glues used in the manufacturing process are not always certified or guaranteed to be as environmentally friendly. For example, traditional bamboo floors aren’t recognized by LEED in the indoor air quality area as they do not pass the stringent testing requirements. On the other hand, Bamboo Fusion is LEED qualified in two areas: Material Resource Credit and Indoor Environmental Quality Credit.
The manufacturing process
The patented process and technology used to create Bamboo Fusion slices or shreds the bamboo pole into long strands, which are then air dried. The dry, shredded filaments are immersed in a water-based, environmentally friendly resin bath that fills and encapsulates the open cells. The strands are then air dried again. Finally, the dried strands are measured by weight and placed horizontally in a large hopper and fused together under the tremendous force of a giant 2,500-ton cold press into blocks. The fused blocks are left to stabilize and are then processed like traditional hardwood timbers, cut to size, kiln dried, etc.
The kiln-dried planks are then manufactured into flooring material. Through the shredding, gluing and pressing stages, the cell structure of the plant is virtually eliminated, fused together into a solid natural flooring material that is harder, stronger and more stable than traditional hardwood floors and traditional bamboo floors.
There is minimal waste and pollution created in the production of Bamboo Fusion. Virtually 100% of the pole is utilized in the manufacturing process, and the limited amount of waste is used in power generation and by other industries. Bamboo plantations reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main contributor to climate change. Because of the speed of growth of bamboo, it removes more CO2 from the atmosphere over any given period than a timber forest.
Patent protection
There are two methods of producing strand woven bamboo: hot press and cold press. There is a registered patent in China that Style Ltd., a public company in Australia and the patent holder, covers both the hot press and cold press technologies. There is also a U.S. patent, which is owned by Teragren. Only products manufactured and licensed with both these patents are beyond challenge at this time.
Bamboo Fusion is a licensee of both patents using the cold press technology. “This is important for two reasons,” Buckwold said. “Nobody wants to get embroiled in patent litigation, but more importantly, only products with both patents are manufactured utilizing the cold press and proprietary resins that produce the hardness and indoor air quality certification.”
To that end, Style Ltd. states, “Manufacturing similar bamboo flooring products outside the scope of Style’s registered patent results in a product that cannot reach our high levels of quality and performance. For example, lower pressure leads to a product with lower density, resulting in softer surfaces and greater propensity to scuff and scratch. A higher proportion of glue used in the final product leads to greater emissions of potentially harmful chemicals. Only Style’s patented production process can create a product with such excellent characteristics.”
While Style uses the cold press to produce Bamboo Fusion, manufacturers who employ the hot press method are not necessarily outside the scope of the patent.
Bamboo Fusion is also the first and only licensed Uniclic solid strand woven flooring. “We went to Unilin about two years ago and asked whether it would be possible to use its self-locking system on strand woven bamboo,” Buckwold said. “So it developed a Uniclic lock for the product. We now have the exclusive Uniclic license for strand woven bamboo from Unilin.”
Last September, Dansk introduced Bamboo Fusion Professional Clic. “The product is so hard and stable it was a natural for locking technology and a floating floor installation.” It passes Unilin’s requirements for joint strength and is recommended for commercial applications. “We refer to the Professional Series Clic as the green installation: no glue, no nails and the floor can be reused anywhere in the home or office.” The product is available in 2-, 4- and 6-inch lengths and a 5-inch-wide board.
Because of its density, strand woven bamboo is extremely difficult to stain. But after years of development and through advances in technology, Dansk at Surfaces introduced The Exotic Collection, five stained colors of Bamboo Fusion. “Additional technological enhancements enable us to offer not only color but also the selection of varying degrees of character in the floor,” Buckwold said. Today Bamboo Fusion offers a sophisticated collection of color and character ranging from the look of a traditional bamboo floor with bamboo nodes or knuckles to the clean look of a solid, tight-grained classic floor.
Proprietary finishes developed specifically for Bamboo Fusion makes the floor durable enough for commercial installations. Dansk offers a 5-year limited commercial finish warranty and 25-year limited residential finish warranty.
Buckwold believes Bamboo Fusion offers tremendous opportunity for the retailer to present a green product that is affordable, beautiful and superior in performance to both traditional hardwood and conventional bamboo floors. “Consumers are concerned about the planet,” he said. “Bamboo Fusion is quite affordable—certainly costing less than most exotic hardwoods. It is available in traditional tongue-and-groove construction in a 31/2-inch-wide board that can be glued or nailed and a 5-inchwide Uniclic construction that can be floated.”
Merchandising
To facilitate the selling of Bamboo Fusion, each sample board offers a room scene of the actual color of the sample and a concise presentation of the qualities, features and benefits of the product. As well, the performance of Bamboo Fusion (solid construction) is compared to traditional bamboo, solid oak and engineered oak floors in a good/better/best chart.
Other merchandising aids for Bamboo Fusion include hanging banners, desktop easels plus brochures. An architect folder that offers all the technical information, test results, warranties and performance characteristics is also available. To gain retail presence, industry veteran Frank Hearst was recently hired as vice president of sales for the Dansk Hardwood International Division. He is charged with establishing distribution throughout North America and providing the knowledge and training to educate the distribution networks sales force.
Buckwold said the goal is to have its North American distribution network complete by September. Currently, TriWest has the line in the West; Wanke Cascade and The Cronin Co. represent Dansk in the Pacific Northwest and Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas; Belknap White covers New England and New York; Suncrest carries the line in Florida; and north of the border the line is carried by Buckwold Western in Western Canada and Omni in Eastern Canada.
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA— Dansk Hardwood, the manufacturing/ marketing arm of North American distributor Buckwold Western developed eight years ago to supply the retailer with unique and affordable products, recently expanded its offering with the launch of Bamboo Fusion, a strand woven bamboo line.
Bamboo is technically a grass and one of the strongest materials in the world. It has a tensile strength superior to cold rolled steel and a compressive strength higher than concrete, said Bruce Buckwold, president of Buckwold Western. “But Bamboo Fusion is truly unique. This product is exotic, environmentally responsible, outperforms virtually everything else in the market and yet is affordable.” He added that it is twice as hard as red oak, extremely stable, UV light resistant, termite proof and hypoallergenic.
Bamboo is recognized as an environmentally friendly, sustainable and renewable resource. However, Buckwold believes Bamboo Fusion takes that to the next level. It is manufactured exclusively from the pole of the Moso bamboo plant, which grows wild in the mountainous regions of China.
“It is the only bamboo which is suitable in our manufacturing process due to its natural characteristics,” Buckwold said. The pole of the Moso bamboo plant grows to full maturity and size in approximately five years and as it starts to die, a new pole naturally regenerates from the culm of the plant. One culm can produce up to 200 poles in its life cycle. “Cutting the bamboo pole at the end of its natural life cycle is a sensible use of nature’s resources —unlike logging a hardwood tree that can live for hundreds of years.” Because the plant shoots up poles randomly and continuously and a pole can’t be used until it reaches full maturity, poles are individually selected.
The natural canopy of the plantation or forest is never disturbed, he said. Clear cutting is not an option as the pole is of no value until it reaches the end of its life cycle.
What’s so special about strand woven bamboo vs. traditional bamboo? The traditional bamboo flooring product is essentially manufactured by gluing sections of material cut from a bamboo pole in patterns and layered either vertically or horizontally. The cell structure of the plant is left virtually intact.
“While some people would disagree, we believe many of the concerns and problems associated with traditional bamboo floors are the result of the large cell structure of bamboo, combined with the amount and type of adhesives used to bond the pieces together,” Buckwold said.
While traditional bamboo floors are an environmentally sustainable flooring alternative, the amount and type of glues used in the manufacturing process are not always certified or guaranteed to be as environmentally friendly. For example, traditional bamboo floors aren’t recognized by LEED in the indoor air quality area as they do not pass the stringent testing requirements. On the other hand, Bamboo Fusion is LEED qualified in two areas: Material Resource Credit and Indoor Environmental Quality Credit.
The manufacturing process
The patented process and technology used to create Bamboo Fusion slices or shreds the bamboo pole into long strands, which are then air dried. The dry, shredded filaments are immersed in a water-based, environmentally friendly resin bath that fills and encapsulates the open cells. The strands are then air dried again. Finally, the dried strands are measured by weight and placed horizontally in a large hopper and fused together under the tremendous force of a giant 2,500-ton cold press into blocks. The fused blocks are left to stabilize and are then processed like traditional hardwood timbers, cut to size, kiln dried, etc.
The kiln-dried planks are then manufactured into flooring material. Through the shredding, gluing and pressing stages, the cell structure of the plant is virtually eliminated, fused together into a solid natural flooring material that is harder, stronger and more stable than traditional hardwood floors and traditional bamboo floors.
There is minimal waste and pollution created in the production of Bamboo Fusion. Virtually 100% of the pole is utilized in the manufacturing process, and the limited amount of waste is used in power generation and by other industries. Bamboo plantations reduce atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main contributor to climate change. Because of the speed of growth of bamboo, it removes more CO2 from the atmosphere over any given period than a timber forest.
Patent protection
There are two methods of producing strand woven bamboo: hot press and cold press. There is a registered patent in China that Style Ltd., a public company in Australia and the patent holder, covers both the hot press and cold press technologies. There is also a U.S. patent, which is owned by Teragren. Only products manufactured and licensed with both these patents are beyond challenge at this time.
Bamboo Fusion is a licensee of both patents using the cold press technology. “This is important for two reasons,” Buckwold said. “Nobody wants to get embroiled in patent litigation, but more importantly, only products with both patents are manufactured utilizing the cold press and proprietary resins that produce the hardness and indoor air quality certification.”
To that end, Style Ltd. states, “Manufacturing similar bamboo flooring products outside the scope of Style’s registered patent results in a product that cannot reach our high levels of quality and performance. For example, lower pressure leads to a product with lower density, resulting in softer surfaces and greater propensity to scuff and scratch. A higher proportion of glue used in the final product leads to greater emissions of potentially harmful chemicals. Only Style’s patented production process can create a product with such excellent characteristics.”
While Style uses the cold press to produce Bamboo Fusion, manufacturers who employ the hot press method are not necessarily outside the scope of the patent.
Bamboo Fusion is also the first and only licensed Uniclic solid strand woven flooring. “We went to Unilin about two years ago and asked whether it would be possible to use its self-locking system on strand woven bamboo,” Buckwold said. “So it developed a Uniclic lock for the product. We now have the exclusive Uniclic license for strand woven bamboo from Unilin.”
Last September, Dansk introduced Bamboo Fusion Professional Clic. “The product is so hard and stable it was a natural for locking technology and a floating floor installation.” It passes Unilin’s requirements for joint strength and is recommended for commercial applications. “We refer to the Professional Series Clic as the green installation: no glue, no nails and the floor can be reused anywhere in the home or office.” The product is available in 2-, 4- and 6-inch lengths and a 5-inch-wide board.
Because of its density, strand woven bamboo is extremely difficult to stain. But after years of development and through advances in technology, Dansk at Surfaces introduced The Exotic Collection, five stained colors of Bamboo Fusion. “Additional technological enhancements enable us to offer not only color but also the selection of varying degrees of character in the floor,” Buckwold said. Today Bamboo Fusion offers a sophisticated collection of color and character ranging from the look of a traditional bamboo floor with bamboo nodes or knuckles to the clean look of a solid, tight-grained classic floor.
Proprietary finishes developed specifically for Bamboo Fusion makes the floor durable enough for commercial installations. Dansk offers a 5-year limited commercial finish warranty and 25-year limited residential finish warranty.
Buckwold believes Bamboo Fusion offers tremendous opportunity for the retailer to present a green product that is affordable, beautiful and superior in performance to both traditional hardwood and conventional bamboo floors. “Consumers are concerned about the planet,” he said. “Bamboo Fusion is quite affordable—certainly costing less than most exotic hardwoods. It is available in traditional tongue-and-groove construction in a 31/2-inch-wide board that can be glued or nailed and a 5-inchwide Uniclic construction that can be floated.”
Merchandising
To facilitate the selling of Bamboo Fusion, each sample board offers a room scene of the actual color of the sample and a concise presentation of the qualities, features and benefits of the product. As well, the performance of Bamboo Fusion (solid construction) is compared to traditional bamboo, solid oak and engineered oak floors in a good/better/best chart.
Other merchandising aids for Bamboo Fusion include hanging banners, desktop easels plus brochures. An architect folder that offers all the technical information, test results, warranties and performance characteristics is also available. To gain retail presence, industry veteran Frank Hearst was recently hired as vice president of sales for the Dansk Hardwood International Division. He is charged with establishing distribution throughout North America and providing the knowledge and training to educate the distribution networks sales force.
Buckwold said the goal is to have its North American distribution network complete by September. Currently, TriWest has the line in the West; Wanke Cascade and The Cronin Co. represent Dansk in the Pacific Northwest and Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas; Belknap White covers New England and New York; Suncrest carries the line in Florida; and north of the border the line is carried by Buckwold Western in Western Canada and Omni in Eastern Canada.
 |