How To Make Bamboo Mahjong Mats

When your quest to find a high-quality bamboo mat begins, the production process of bamboo mahjong mats can help you. Don’t know how? If you know about the process of making bamboo, you’ll be able to pick one that’s up to your expectations. Not all bamboos are the same, not the production processes, and not even the quality.

The production process of bamboo mahjong mats at Mesida Bamboo begins with selecting high-quality bamboo. Bamboo is then sent to the manufacturing unit, where it undergoes rigorous processing, polishing, and baking. The result is the production of bamboo chips, which are held together to produce bamboo mats. In the final step, a quality inspection is done to ensure you get the best quality bamboo mats.

In this post, you’ll find everything you need to know about the production process of bamboo mahjong mats.

Step 1. Bamboo Selection.

The production process of the bamboo mahjong mats begins with the selection of the correct bamboo. Not all types of bamboo can be used for making bamboo mahjong mats.

Generally, all the bamboo varieties have a good moisture absorption ability and are breathable. But the ideal bamboo for bamboo mats is the one that is at least 5-10 years old and has a diameter of 10cm or more.

These are some basic requirements of bamboo for bamboo mats. Besides these, things that are considered while selecting bamboo for bamboo mahjong mats include:

Tensile Strength

Tensile strength determines how much load a material can tolerate before it breaks into pieces. For the production of bamboo mahjong mats, bamboo of high tensile strength is selected to increase the durability of the bamboo mat.

Many tests prove that bamboo has high tensile strength because of the highly elastic vascular bundles and fibers that run. The estimated tensile strength of the bamboo mahjong mats is about 400N/mm2. It’s higher than most strong wood fibers, whose greatest limit is 50N/ mm2.

Compressive Strength

Compressive strength refers to the ability of a material to bear the load that can cause a change in its size. The higher the compressive strength, the better the bamboo mats’ ability to sustain their size. So, manufacturers always get bamboo of high compressive strength to make bamboo mahjong mats.

Other types of wood don’t offer compressive strength like bamboo. As a result, they can break, making them unsuitable for making mats.

Elastic Modulus

Elastic modulus indicates the stiffness of the bamboo. In simple words, it talks about the ability or ease for bending or stretching the bamboo. Due to the presence of strong fibers in the outer part of the tube wall, bamboo has a positive elastic modulus.

A high elastic modulus of bamboo allows it to tolerate more stress without bending or stretching. Moreover, a high elastic modulus indicates the high quality of bamboo, which then makes high-quality bamboo mahjong mats.

Fire Resistance

Checking bamboo for fire resistance is crucial for ensuring safety. Most bamboo has good fire resistance due to the presence of silicate acid and water. But it’s important to check it before using it to produce bamboo mahjong mats to avoid any unforeseen circumstances.

Design and Shape of Bamboo Mat

The design and shape of the bamboo mahjong mat determine the need for bamboo for production. If the size is small, fewer bamboo chips will be used. This helps to know how much bamboo should be available at the manufacturing unit.

Step 2. Sawing and Cutting the Bamboo.

After selecting the bamboo, the next thing is sawing and cutting the bamboo to make bamboo mahjong mats. The roots, joints, and tails of the bamboo are removed. It’s done because these bamboo parts are not good for making high-quality bamboo mahjong mats.

The bamboo root is too hard; internal fiber doesn’t have enough moisture and toughness. The tail part of the bamboo has high moisture, sugar, and other organic material that can favor mold and moths’ production.

While cutting the bamboo, the yellow part is removed, and the green part is used for the mat production. It’s because the green part of the bamboo is more durable, tough, does not get molds, remains cool, and doesn’t contain much water.

Step 3. Bamboo Chips Production.

When the high-quality bamboo has been collected and sawed, it’s cut to make bamboo chips to produce bamboo mahjong mats. The total number of bamboo chips required depends upon the size of the bamboo mats.

On average, three sections of bamboo produce only 140 bamboo chips. For producing a standard chair cushion, at least 150 bamboo chips are required. This rule of bamboo chips is determined before starting the production process of bamboo mahjong mats.

Step 4. Bamboo Chips Selection.

After producing the bamboo chips, they are passed through a tough selection process. This screening step helps to confirm that no broken, defective, or wrong-sized chips are used in the bamboo mahjong mats.

For this, bamboo chips are transported one by one. Each chip is scanned on the front and back. If it’s up to the standard, only then it’s forwarded to the next step.

Step 5. Drill Holes in Bamboo Chips.

Manufacturing units have specialized drill machines that make holes in the bamboo chips. These holes are used to pass the thread while knitting to hold the bamboo chips together.

The size of the hole and the position are specified. All the bamboo chips get the holes at the same position, which is important for a smooth look of the bamboo mat.

Step 6. Baking and Polishing of Bamboo Chips.

The baking process of the bamboo chips involves heating them at a high temperature. Bamboo chips are treated at 5 times higher temperature anti-chi. High-temperature carbonization during making gives the bamboo chips are good brown color.

Thus, the color of the bamboo chips you see is not due to dyeing; it’s actually due to the high-temperature carbonization. The process of carbonization works as polishing for bamboo chips.

When the bamboo comes from forests, it contains a good amount of moisture. It’s crucial to remove the moisture. If the moisture isn’t removed before producing bamboo mats, then the mats can shrink when the water evaporates.

Experts say that bamboo’s size can decrease by 17 percent when it loses water. To make sure the size and shape of the bamboo mahjong mats aren’t affected, bamboo chips are baked at high temperatures to remove most of the moisture.

Also to this, the baking of bamboo chips provides many other benefits. These include:

• No dyeing is required for giving color to bamboo mats.
• Bamboo becomes eco-friendlier and healthier.
• Sugar and organic materials that favor microbes’ production are eliminated.
• Bacteria are removed, and bamboo becomes stronger.

The final result of the baking process is coffee or yellow color bamboo chips that are moved forward in the production process.

Step 7. Final Selection of Bamboo Beads.

Bamboo chips’ color is checked in the final selection of the bamboo chips or beads for making bamboo mats. In a bamboo mahjong mat made with coffee-colored bamboo chips, you’ll not see even a single yellow bead unless it’s in the design. This step makes sure to keep the color of the bamboo mahjong mats uniform.

For this, yellow and coffee-colored bamboo chips are separated and then forwarded to the next step for joining them to make mats.

Step 8. Knitting the Bamboo Chips.

Knitting of the bamboo chips to make bamboo mahjong mats are handcrafted. Skilled artisans work to hold bamboo chips together using a needle and thread. This provides bamboo mats with great strength and a cleaned finish.

Step 9. Sewing the Bamboo Mahjong Mats.

After knitting, the ends of the bamboo mahjong mats are stitched with the sewing machine to make them more beautiful, durable, and neat. For stitching, a double-needle is used to have 22 stitches per 10cm.

As a result, you won’t see any open thread or gaps in the stitching in the final bamboo mahjong mats.

Step 10. Quality Check.

In the final step of the production process of bamboo mahjong mats, the mats pass through a quality inspection before labeling them ready to sell. The quality check includes checking the bamboo chips. Bamboo chips are checked for their color, quality, and sewing. Any open threads are removed with hands.

To learn more about the quality testing of the bamboo mahjong mats, read our blog

2 Ways To Identify The Quality Of bamboo Mahjong Mats

Bamboo mats are handcrafted to meet the quality standards that enhance customers’ experience. We have explained the production process of bamboo mahjong mats in detail in this post. By reading that, you can have an idea that bamboo mahjong mats are made using a well-regulated process.

Everything is done according to the standards, from selecting bamboo to the final quality inspection. As a result, the finished products are high-quality, safe, eco-friendly, and durable.

You can have them for any age group without a second thought. Even if you find them a bit expensive than regular mats, the quality will not disappoint you.