I was in Hong Kong several years ago and saw some of the scaffolding up close.
As a former Boy Scout with a lot of experience in knots/lashing etc, I was VERY curious to see what kind of ropes, knots and lashing they use.
Turns out it's just some flat nylon ribbon and mostly a couple quick wraps and overhand knots.
Really is amazing that it all stays together. I imagine the friction between the ribbon and the wood surface of the bamboo must be high enough to be "sticky".
hunglee2 · 2h ago
bamboo scaffolding might be one of those examples of where a superior local solution gets replaced by an inferior, yet more scalable generalisable solution. Bamboo is organic, therefore non-standard, therefore harder to track, measure, quantify, maintain - everything you want to do in health and safety, organic material will frustrate. So even though it is better solution in so many ways (cheaper, lighter, flexible, green, man-portable etc) because it is non-standard it ends up being considered unsafe
genter · 2h ago
I dunno. Framing lumber is organic, yet we have systems to grade it and charts to show how strong it is (taking into account random imperfections).
kijin · 1h ago
Yeah, since they use so much bamboo, it might be feasible to grade the pipes by thickness and/or some other objective measure of strength. Heck, they probably already do, informally.
As for imperfections, the bamboo masters seem to know how to (over)compensate for them, i.e. they build the scaffolding to withstand several times the expected load. As would any good engineer.
AlecSchueler · 48m ago
> Heck, they probably already do, informally.
I feel like I'm seeing more and more of this kind of conjecture on HN about things that are quite easy to verify.
It also surprises me that anyone would assume they're either operating without any standardisation or that they'd only be doing it informally. It's China, first of all, and it's the 21st century.
It doesn't say bamboo is inherently unsafe, it says due to a shortage of bamboo meeting the required standards (4 years old, 7.5cm for vertical and 9cm for horizontal supports) and construction sites using substandard bamboo as substitute have resulted in collapses in heavy weather conditions.
It's easier just to require steel than to play bamboo police.
Waterluvian · 3h ago
I’m curious what the failure modes are. Is it because of the bamboo or because of the way they’re fastened? Or something else.
contingencies · 2h ago
A shame that only zipties are mentioned with no discussion of traditional rope materials. It was interesting to see the Cantonese theater discussed. There is a very active Bangkok Chinese cultural and financial support for Cantonese theater. Every year, around Chinese New Year time, numerous stages are constructed (sometimes with forecourt gates) across the city and Cantonese opera performers are flown in from mainland China. Catch it while you can.
lionkor · 2h ago
If you look at the pictures where it says "zip ties", they clearly are not zip ties. They are long strands of bamboo.
__mharrison__ · 43m ago
I was in Hong Kong (first time) a week ago.
The bamboo surprised me, so I took a look. I didn't see any zip ties. It looked like it was lashed together with the nylon ribbon that is often used in packing.
Really amazing to see it on 20 story buildings.
foresto · 1h ago
The ribbons don't look to me like bamboo. Another commenter here (alexpotato) says the ones he observed up close were nylon.
As a former Boy Scout with a lot of experience in knots/lashing etc, I was VERY curious to see what kind of ropes, knots and lashing they use.
Turns out it's just some flat nylon ribbon and mostly a couple quick wraps and overhand knots.
Really is amazing that it all stays together. I imagine the friction between the ribbon and the wood surface of the bamboo must be high enough to be "sticky".
As for imperfections, the bamboo masters seem to know how to (over)compensate for them, i.e. they build the scaffolding to withstand several times the expected load. As would any good engineer.
I feel like I'm seeing more and more of this kind of conjecture on HN about things that are quite easy to verify.
It also surprises me that anyone would assume they're either operating without any standardisation or that they'd only be doing it informally. It's China, first of all, and it's the 21st century.
The guidelines from the local government are available here: https://www.bd.gov.hk/doc/en/resources/codes-and-references/...
The bamboo is specified by genus, age, drying time, thickness etc. with exact tolerances given for variation.
So the steel is cheaper than bamboo?
The truth is: it is simply not as safe as metal. E.g. bamboo scaffolding has been outlawed in Shenzhen since 1994 [0] due to safety concerns.
[0]: https://www.sz.gov.cn/zfgb/2008/gb622/content/post_4950758.h...
It's easier just to require steel than to play bamboo police.
The bamboo surprised me, so I took a look. I didn't see any zip ties. It looked like it was lashed together with the nylon ribbon that is often used in packing.
Really amazing to see it on 20 story buildings.