Engineered bamboo furniture with mortise and tenon joints

Abstract

Engineered bamboo furniture having components joined with mortise and tenon joints is made by fabricating the components of engineered bamboo, forming corresponding pairs of complementary mortise and tenon joints on the components, and assembling the parts into a finished article of furniture by bonding the respective tenons of the components in the corresponding mortises of the components with an adhesive. The engineered bamboo material is made by treating elongated flat strips of bamboo with high temperature steaming and drying, carbonizing, dehydrating and starch-removal processes, and then laminating the strips to each other using an adhesive under high pressure to form structural sheets or panels of different types, e.g., face-bonded sheets and/or edge-bonded sheets, which can be laminated to each other to form board-like and plywood-like structures. The mortise and tenon joints on the components may be square, trapezoidal, circular, elliptical, or arcuate trapezoids.

1 . A method for making engineered bamboo furniture joined together with mortise and tenon joints, the method comprising: 
 making furniture components of engineered bamboo;    forming corresponding pairs of complementary mortise and tenon joints on the components; and,    assembling the components into a finished article of furniture by bonding the respective tenons of the components in the corresponding mortises of the components with an adhesive.    
     
     
         2 . An article of furniture made in accordance with the method of  claim 1 .  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the article of furniture comprises a table, a chair, a cabinet, a bed or a shelf.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein making furniture components comprises: 
 providing flat, elongated strips of bamboo, each strip having a pair of opposite wide faces and a pair of opposite narrow edges;    treating the strips by high temperature steaming, high temperature drying, carbonizing, dehydrating and starch removal processes; and,    laminating the strips together with an adhesive under high pressure.    
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein laminating the bamboo strips together comprises: 
 depositing an adhesive on the opposite wide faces of the strips;    arranging the strips in a layer such that their respective wide faces are disposed in opposition to each other and respective longitudinal fibers of the strips are disposed parallel to each other and,    adhering the respective opposing wide faces of the strips to each other to form a face-bonded sheet.    
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein laminating the bamboo strips together comprises: 
 depositing an adhesive on the opposite narrow edges of the strips;    arranging the strips in a layer such that their respective narrow edges are disposed in opposition to each other and respective longitudinal fibers of the strips are disposed parallel to each other and,    adhering the opposing narrow edges of the strips to each other to form an edge-bonded sheet.    
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising laminating a plurality of the edge-bonded sheets together to form a panel.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the respective longitudinal fibers of the bamboo strips of each sheet are disposed parallel to the respective longitudinal fibers of the bamboo strips of adjacent sheets.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the respective longitudinal fibers of the bamboo strips of each sheet are disposed perpendicular to the respective longitudinal fibers of the bamboo strips of adjacent sheets.  
     
     
         10 . A method for making engineered bamboo furniture components, the method comprising: 
 providing flat, elongated strips of bamboo, each strip having longitudinal fibers, a pair of opposite wide faces and a pair of opposite narrow edges;    treating the strips by high temperature steaming, high temperature drying, carbonizing, dehydrating and starch removal processes;    depositing an adhesive on the opposite wide faces of a first group of the strips;    arranging the first group of strips in a layer such that their respective wide faces are disposed in opposition to each other and their respective longitudinal fibers are disposed parallel to each other;    adhering the respective opposing wide faces of the first group of strips to each other to form a face-bonded sheet;    depositing an adhesive on the opposite narrow edges of a second group of the strips;    arranging the second group of strips in a layer such that their narrow edges are disposed in opposition to each other and their respective longitudinal fibers are disposed parallel to each other;    adhering the respective opposing narrow edges of the strips of the second group of strips to each other to form an edge-bonded sheet; and,    laminating the face-bonded sheet between two edge-bonded sheets to form an I-type panel.    
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the respective longitudinal fibers of the bamboo strips of the face-bonded sheet are disposed parallel to the respective longitudinal fibers of the bamboo strips of the edge-bonded sheets.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the respective longitudinal fibers of the bamboo strips of the face-bonded sheet are disposed perpendicular to the respective longitudinal fibers of the bamboo strips of the edge-bonded sheets.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising laminating a plurality of the face-bonded and edge-bonded sheets together in an alternating order.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein each of the edge-bonded sheets comprises blue bamboo strips, each having an outer skin facing outward from the I-type panel.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the corresponding pairs of complementary mortise and tenon joints on the components are square, trapezoidal, circular, elliptical, or arcuate trapezoids.  
     
     
         16 . An article of furniture, comprising: 
 a first component made of engineered bamboo and having a tenon formed thereon;    a second component made of engineered bamboo and having a mortise complementary to the tenon of the first component formed therein; and,    means for adhering the tenon of the first component in the mortise of the second component.    
     
     
         17 . The article of  claim 16 , wherein at least one of the first and second components comprises: 
 a plurality of flat, elongated strips of bamboo, each having a pair of opposite wide faces,    the strips being arranged in a layer such that their respective wide faces are disposed in opposition to each other and respective longitudinal fibers of the strips are disposed parallel to each other; and,    an adhesive disposed on the opposite wide faces of the strips and adhering the respective opposing wide faces of the strips to each other to form a face-bonded sheet.    
     
     
         18 . The article of  claim 16 , wherein at least one of the first and second components comprises: 
 a plurality of flat, elongated strips of bamboo, each having a pair of opposite narrow edges,    the strips being arranged in a layer such that their respective narrow edges are disposed in opposition to each other and respective longitudinal fibers of the strips are disposed parallel to each other; and,    an adhesive disposed on the opposite narrow edges of the strips and adhering the opposing narrow edges of the strips to each other to form an edge-bonded sheet.    
     
     
         19 . The article of  claim 16 , wherein at least one of the first and second components comprises: 
 a first plurality of flat, elongated bamboo strips, each having longitudinal fibers and a pair of opposite wide faces and arranged in a layer such that their respective wide faces are disposed in opposition to each other and their respective longitudinal fibers are disposed parallel to each other;    an adhesive disposed on the opposite wide faces of the first plurality of strips and adhering the respective opposing wide faces of the strips to each other to form a face-bonded sheet;    a second plurality of flat, elongated bamboo strips, each having longitudinal fibers and a pair of opposite narrow edges and being arranged in a layer such that their respective narrow edges are disposed in opposition to each other and their respective longitudinal fibers are disposed parallel to each other;    an adhesive disposed on the opposite narrow edges of the second plurality of strips and adhering the opposing narrow edges of the strips to each other to form an edge-bonded sheet; and,    an adhesive laminating the face-bonded sheet to the edge-bonded sheet.    
     
     
         20 . The article of  claim 19 , wherein at least one of the first and second components comprises a plurality of the face-bonded sheets laminated to a plurality of the edge-bonded sheets in an alternating order.