To maintain the integrity of your bamboo item regular cleaning is important. The brush attachment on your vacuum is an easy way to keep it dust free. Clean any mold, discolorations, or excessive dust accumulation with a damp cloth and light soapsuds. Dry immediately and thoroughly.

To maintain its luster and life wax regularly. Any good liquid furniture wax will work. The wax will slow the rate of moisture absorption and evaporation, thus giving the bamboo a more stable environment.

If your bamboo splits it may be repaired with wood putty, the type you get at the hardware store. Make sure to get a color that will match or enhance the piece. As an example you might put a greenish fill on a yellow piece to give it extra interest.

The other issue with cracking is that it gives the piece “ wabi sabi”. This is a Japanese term for giving an item integrity and respect even though it is old, damaged or has an obvious flaw. In the words of Leonard Koren “Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things unconventional”. With my limited understanding of the word, it feels warm, and it is an item’s imperfections that give it its beauty.

If your piece gets damaged and you do not want to take it to a professional restoration person get out the drill screws and banding. Always pre drill dry bamboo and study how it is put together, then go for it.
If the piece passes on to an irreversible stage (too much wabi sabi?) than transition the piece to the garden, maybe as a folly of some sort. The main issue is to keep having fun and enjoy the piece through its transitions, which might take 100 or more years.

Right now we are experimenting with our African Queen Bamboo Bed and Bamboo Teahouse. We have planted the bed with flowers and the teahouse has clematis growing on it. We are leaving both to the Oregon rainforest winter, with lots of rain, sun, and freezing. After one year they are both discoloring and are starting to get a comfortable look. This up coming summer we will replant with more flowers and vines.