The kitchen island in the River House will be supported by four 5″x5″ columns. I am making them out of 3/4″ thick bamboo plywood using a lock miter joint at each corner. Pictured above is a cross-section of the joint taken from a thin slice I trimmed to square up the end. It looks rather complicated but can be made with a specialized router bit. Setup is a little tricky but once bit height and fence depth are properly adjusted things move along with little additional fuss. The only negative side to working with bamboo is that it dulls cutting tools very quickly. By the time I machined the 16 panels I needed, my once very sharp miter bit was groaning at the prospect of more bamboo. I must say, I am very pleased with the way the columns turned out and am now planning on using this joint for the construction of the stair treads and possibly for all drawer boxes as well.