Bamboo slide rule

Not made in Japan

When talking about bamboo slide rules you immediately think of the Japanese Sun Hemmi. But there is also a Dutch bamboo slide rule. 

The "Collection of Objects from the Dutch East Indies" of the NIOD (Dutch Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies) contains a 40 cm slide rule made out of 3 layers of bamboo with 8 nails on top and bottom.

The slide rule was made in May 1944 by B. Koppen in the Internment Camp of the 15th Battalion + 1st Depot Battalion, Anti-aircraft Artillery, Tjikoedapateuh (Bandung).

So there is a link with Japan...

NIOD has a handwritten manual of the slide rule, which was later typed out. The slide rule was used to distribute the daily soup, which was supplied in pans of varying sizes, into 143 portions. The slide rule contains a linear scale in centimeters, to measure the pans, and a D scale. The slide contains a B scale (shifted over π/4) and a C scale.  According to the manual, the ruler is made of pagger-bamboo, which is a piece of the fence, using a penknife. The "nails" are pieces of electrical wire for which holes have been drilled in the ruler with a lot of effort.

You can see the slide rule  and its manual at the website of the NIOD.