Khan Lao — a Two-Metre Bamboo Pole with Shark's-Mouth Points for Carrying Many Rice Sheaves at Once

"The wood used for the khan lao is straight bamboo; each khan lao is about 2 metres long. The bamboo is dried in the sun or may be heated over a fire; the nodes are shaved smooth with no splinters; then a knife is used to point both ends of the bamboo, which is called the shark's mouth." (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, author ธันวดี สุขประเสริฐ (Thanwadi Sukprasoet), CC BY 4.0)

Choose a straight, fully mature bamboo, cut it about 2 metres long, and dry it in the sun or heat it over a fire.

Shave the bamboo's nodes smooth along its whole length, with no splinters.

Shave both ends to slanting points, slanted alternately, about 20-30 cm long, sharp enough to pierce a sheaf.

Real photos of a คานหลาว (khan lao) (Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, author ธันวดี สุขประเสริฐ (Thanwadi Sukprasoet), CC BY 4.0)

Push the end of the khan lao into the middle of a rice sheaf, at the lower part where the sheaf is tied (kanet khao); push several sheaves onto each end and carry them to the rice pile. Besides rice sheaves it is used to carry seedlings, vetiver, cogon grass and bundles of grass.

If made of fully mature bamboo and kept well, safe from borer beetles, it lasts at least 5 years. Farmers seldom use the khan lao now, as threshing machines come to the rice floor in the field. Source: Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, database of traditional everyday objects, "คานหลาว", author ธันวดี สุขประเสริฐ (licence CC BY 4.0), citing สนม ครุฑเมือง (Sanom Khrutmueang) (2534 BE). **Limits.** The source gives no bamboo diameter; the size in the model is an example.