Some time ago Linda Nakamura posted a query on the conservation of a bamboo
cord "bowstring".  I posted the query to Conservation On-Line (CoOL) and the
following responses were received (it is possible that more will be
received).  I hope that these will be useful (and my apologies to those who
subscribe to both lists -- the responses in favor of my passing Museum-L
queries on conservation issues to CoOL far outweighed those that said it
would not be useful).

Wendy Claire Jessup
President and Conservator
Wendy Jessup and Associates, Inc.
210 Little Falls Street, Suite 203
Falls Church, VA  22046
(703) 532-0788
(703) 532- 1661 (fax)

Date: 4 Apr 97
From: Niccolo Caldararo <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Conservation of bamboo

Wendy Claire Jessup <[log in to unmask]> forwards this:

>    From: Linda Nakamura <[log in to unmask]>
>
>    How does one conserve a cord of bamboo that functions as the
>    "string" used to propel an arrow?
>    ...
>    It is getting dry and I was wondering how to deal with the
>    bamboo. How do I rehydrate it to increase its flexibility?

The most comprehensive work on bamboo that I have come across has
been done by Hu Jigao mainly with archaeological objects recovered
from excavations.  This work is concerned with dehydration,
consolidation and repair and includes experimental work.  I would
advise you look at the Chinese publication Kaogu (Archaeology) in
which Jigao's work has been published (in Chinese).  I have a
translation of a 1980 article of Jigao's which may be of use.  It
reports the use of beeswax, and mastic resin as a reagent for some
surface repairs which they found was stable in their storage and
exhibition conditions and did not change the appearance of the
surface at the time of treatment or after.  While I have a higher
regard for treatment methods that have reported durability, I am
hesitant to recommend treatment without seeing an object.   I have
seldom applied treatments to bamboo objects, generally I've opted
for "no treatment", in some cases B-72 in a slow evaporating solvent
provides a flexible repair that lasts and results in little surface
change.  Still, I would urge you consult Kaogu, there are recent
copies at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Niccolo Caldararo
Conservation Art Service


Date: 4 Apr 97
From: Barbara Appelbaum <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Conservation of bamboo

Wendy Claire Jessup <[log in to unmask]> forwards this:

Aside from what rehydrating bamboo might mean, I believe that the
issue of trying to keep components of objects that were flexible
when they were in use still flexible in the museum is unnecessary.
In many cases it is also technically inappropriate because it
involves adding materials (in the past including lanolin, glycerine,
etc.) to the original. There are no clear test results showing that
these materials work in the long run anyway.  The important tactic
when dealing with components of artifacts that become more brittle
as they age is to insure that as they stiffen they stay in the
configuration appropriate to the object.  Leather boots and shoes
often stiffen as they age; the purpose of stuffing them is to assure
that they stay in the right shape and don't become stiff while they
are squashed. For bow which are kept strung, it is also important to
deal with the effects of tension.

B. Appelbaum