Chinese Bamboo Antique Furniture

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Bamboo Architecture

--------------------------------------------Bamboo Door & WindowsBamboo Door &Windows

Shutters for doors and windows are also made of bamboo. These are of three basic types: shutters that slide across the chair03.jpg (45551 字节) opening, hinged shutters or pivoted shutters. The window shutters either slide across the opening or are hinged at the top and swing up to open. All shutters are normally mat panels framed by bamboo splits with diagonal bamboo braces. The sliding shutters for both doors and windows are hung from a whole bamboo member located above the opening and fixed sufficiently away from the wall to permit free movement. The sliding detail is composed of either a whole bamboo or longitudinal half fixed to both vertical sides of the panel and extending above the top edge. These verticals have circular or elliptical holes through which the fixed horizontal member supports the shutter. The holes are large enough to permit easy sliding.

In the hinged shutter, the hinge used is normally made by binding the shutter either to the post or a beam, using lengths of split cane or metal wire. In the case of pivoted doors, the pivot detail is a large diameter whole culm length with diaphragm retained, which receives the whole bamboo member fixed to one side of the shutter. The vertical member rests inside the supporting member on its diaphragm and the inner diameter of the supporting member is larger than the vertical member fixed to the edge of the panel to permit easy rotation. The pivoted door can use the pivot detail both at the top and bottom of the door. In cases where the detail is only used at the bottom, cane loop hinges are used along the edge of the door shutter. Hence, such shutters work on a combination of the pivot and hinge principle, with the pivot detail preventing the shutter from sagging at the hinges.