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Pratt converts bamboo into attractive and unusual wall planters, flowerpots, ash trays, birdhouses, corncob holders, table planters, flower hangers and many other useful and decorative articles.

"I accidentally stumbled into this hobby of making items from cane trees when my flowerpots kept getting blown or knocked off the porch by children and broken," says Pratt. "I grew tired of buying new pots all the time and replacing the broken ones so I looked around for a material from which to make some unbreakable ones. It was then that I hit upon the idea of making some flowerpots from the cane poles growing in the backyard."

Many people have the idea that bamboo trees grow only in one size—the size from which fishing poles are cut. Actually bamboo grows in about four different diameters and reaches a height of fifty feet or more. One size is no bigger around than a common lead pencil. This size is quite popular in the state of Florida in holding up vegetable and flower plants—protecting them from being blown over by the strong winds.

Then comes the fish pole size with which almost everyone is familiar. Bamboo also grows in a size almost as big around as the wrist of a man, and then in the large size—about four inches in diameter.

"Bamboo trees do not grow as other trees do," says Pratt. "They do not get larger around as they grow taller. They come out of the ground pointed and grow around five inches a day, until they reach the average height. During this period of growth, they do not sprout leaves or branches, but when they've reached their full growth in height the branches and leaves start to form. Every joint of the bamboo tree has a slight curve on each side, and three limbs grow from these joints on alternate sides. Leaves sprout from the limbs.

"The branches and leaves don't start, however, until the second season of growth. The stump left after cutting a bamboo tree down dies, but a new tree springs forth from the roots.

"In my work, I use mostly three-year-old bamboo trees. Bamboo trees sell for twenty-five cents to $2 each, standing, and I make long drives to gather and find just the right type for my work. In one section of Florida I have discovered a place about 100 feet wide by four blocks long of solid bamboo trees."

Pratt cuts the bamboo trees down when they are dry, for if they are cut green, in the process of drying they will shrivel and split.

THE FIRST flowerpots Pratt made were a great success for they were unbreakable when they got pushed over by the children. They saved him money and at the same time attracted attention from the people who visited his home.

"The folks visiting me asked if I would make them some, too, and I did," says Pratt. "They also suggested other articles I might make for them from the bamboo trees, and one order led to another. I found the bamboo wood interesting and fascinating to work with and soon I was head over heels in creating bamboo novelty items."

One day Pratt loaded his car with wall and table bamboo planters and he and a friend headed for Hot Springs, Arkansas, to visit some friends and relatives. They had planned to present the bamboo articles as gifts to them, but en route they stopped at a restaurant in Tennessee. The owner of the restaurant was attracted by the bamboo planters in the back seat of the car and asked Pratt if he would sell them to him.

"I agreed to sell at a very profitable price, and he took all I had except four pieces," says Pratt. "When I got back home I set to work making the bamboo novelties on a larger scale and really set out and visited the gift shops and stores with the idea of selling to them.

"Just about every shop proprietor I visited was fascinated by the novelties I made, but the idea of having them made from native bamboo seemed to intrigue them even more. They knew bamboo doesn't grow everywhere and that the tourists go for the unusual and novel items (with a Florida flavor) to take back home as souvenirs.

"The store proprietors seemed to be very correct in sensing they'd make a good selling item, for now I have my bamboo articles offered for sale in hardware stores, auction houses, nurseries, gift shops, restaurants and other stores. In fact, I'm now making over twenty-five different items for sale, created from bamboo."

"I use about seven different type and size saws, three knives and a hammer in doing most of my creating in bamboo," says Pratt. "No two articles are the same color and size. Bamboo varies in colors from blond to spotted, dark and almost black, so a group of these articles makes an interesting display."

ONE OF the most popular and attractive bamboo items is the table planter. This is how Pratt goes about making one:

He first selects a piece of the four-inch diameter bamboo and cuts off a piece at the first joint of the length. This piece will measure about 15½ inches long, and will be hollow inside.

The next step is to make a lengthwise opening about two inches wide and nine inches long in an oval shape in which the plants may be placed.

Pratt uses a rotary hook saw on a ¼-inch drill to cut this opening quickly and easily in the dry bamboo.

Next, he cuts a piece of four-inch bamboo down the middle about ten inches long and bolts this to the bottom of the larger piece to form the base or "legs." The open, split end of the piece of bamboo (just cut) faces downward on the table, while the rounded outside part is bolted to the 15½-inch piece. Pratt drills two tiny holes through the bottom of the larger piece, to joint the ten-inch bottom piece to it. He uses about one-inch size stove bolts in this process, and inserts them about 1½ inches from each edge of the bottom piece edge to join the two together.

Before Pratt can use a piece of bamboo he has to trim off small limbs at each joint and file these parts smooth and then lots of sandpapering by hand follows over the entire piece. He uses several types of sandpaper for this job—starting with coarse and graduating to a very fine sandpaper.

After the bamboo article has been sandpapered very smooth, clear varnish is applied and it is left to dry. After it has dried thoroughly another coat may be applied.

Table planters this size are sold for seventy-five cents and $1 each. If Pratt devotes one entire day to making just table planters he can turn out several dozen of them. The following day he sands and varnishes them.

Recently Pratt made a huge table planter to order for a night club. It is like the miniature table planter just described, except it is eight feet long, with seven openings or joints for the plants. It also has three bases to stand upon.

"I have also made wall planters seven feet long which are placed vertically in the corner of the room and display artificial or real plants," Pratt says. "Of course they are more expensive but they are very appealing and decorative."

Pratt keeps from 1,200 to 1,500 bamboo articles on display in his home at all times.

THE LIMBS at the joints on the four-inch bamboo trees are about fishing pole size, and Pratt takes the section next to the tree and makes very clever corn holders from it.

"The corn holders are made so that the sweet corn-eater doesn't burn his fingers and get them all buttery when eating corn," says Pratt. "The corn holders are about two inches long and an inch wide, and are purposely left with their natural rough finish. This gives the corn eater a chance to keep a firm grip on them when eating corn."

After Pratt has cut a piece of bamboo about two inches long from the trunk of the tree-extending out onto the limb, he pounds a ten penny nail about a half an inch into the holder and cuts off the head of the nail. The protruding end of the nail then is sharpened slightly to make it easy to insert into the end of the corncob.

Pratt can turn out many dozens of these corn holders in one day, for they don't have to be sandpapered like other bamboo pieces. They are left rough and just given a coat of varnish. He sells them for $1.20 a dozen.

AMONG PRATT'S other attractive and useful bamboo articles are ash trays. One of their great advantages is that they are unbreakable. They are fashioned from four-inch bamboo trees and cut off at the joint (to form the bottom of the tray). They are about two inches high. On the bottom, Pratt glues a piece of green felt to protect furniture from being scratched. To the side of the ash tray, Pratt nails a tiny bamboo piece to hold a cigarette and keep it from falling inside the ash tray.

Pratt's tiny wishing wells are also quite popular.

The base of the wishing well is made from a round, three-inch diameter piece of bamboo mounted on a three-by-four-inch piece of wood. The roof of the wishing well is supported on strips of wood ten inches long and about ¾ of an inch wide.

An attractive little pail is hung from the roof of the wishing well by "rope" made from strong twine. A handle to let the pail down into the wishing well actually turns and allows the bucket to fall to the bottom of the well. The handle is made from very strong wire and strung through a small piece of hollow bamboo. The handle for the bucket is made from very fine wire and tied, onto the strong twine serving as the rope. The wishing wells sell for $1.50 apiece.

"It is very difficult to state just how long a time a particular bamboo piece will take to complete," says Pratt. "You see, one piece will need lots of sandpapering while the next piece may need very little. Then, too, I don't complete pieces like the wishing wells in one day. Instead, I cut out many sets of the wishing wells the first day (to do away with changing saw blades, etc.) and then the next day I assemble these and the next day I will follow up and varnish them."

FOR MOTHER'S Day Pratt has shipped his bamboo pieces to as many as sixteen states. The day this writer interviewed him he was shipping pieces to New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Ohio. But his greatest sales are right in his home state of Florida, both to tourists and to hotels, restaurants, night clubs and the like, and to shops for resale.

On each bamboo creation, Pratt glues a tiny, gold seal that reads "Souvenir of Florida." Souvenir hunters in Florida are his best customers and they don't stop at buying one or two of his articles. They buy a number of them—many of them saying they are doing their Christmas shopping early and want to take back something different and unusual for gifts.

"My bamboo hobby has graduated from the card table out under the lemon tree to the garage," says Pratt. "There I have lots of room and have my tools set in order for making the various items."

Pratt says you can't use a miter box or power driven saws on the bamboo material very well as it splits so easily. Therefore, he had about seven different hand saws with different size teeth that graduate slowly from large teeth to very small.

"I use several different knives made of hard steel which the shoemakers use in their shoeshops," says Pratt. "These knives have different shapes of blades, and every place that is sawed out in the bamboo has to be trimmed off with the knife to eliminate the jagged edges."

Pratt works in the afternoons for a Tampa restaurant and spends the mornings working in his garage turning out articles from bamboo. He is unmarried, and says he finds the greatest share of his happiness making and turning out his bamboo creations.

"My biggest order to date has been for 400 pieces from a gift shop located near an airport," says Pratt. "The table and wall planters are the fastest selling items and they're the ones I like to work upon the best."

THOSE WHO are interested in obtaining and buying bamboo as a craft material may order it from Scully's Bamboo Craft, 5200 West Columbus Drive, Dept. S, Tampa 7, Florida.

If you wish to discover other markets offering bamboo for sale, you may write to the Chamber of Commerce of Tampa, Florida, and they'll be glad to send you it list of addresses.