Len the bamboo is from a box of 10mm flooring that a neighbor gave me after she got done redoing her kitchen floor. Cutting bamboo is hard on blades luckily this particular pattern is not too rough on the blade. I cut one of those intersecting word art signs a little while back and had to use several blades to do it. They dull fairly fast. As for taking a finish, no problem if you seal the bamboo first. I generally use tung oil to seal then top coat.
DW