Experimental investigation of the shear performance of bamboo scrimber beams reinforced with bamboo pins

•A new type of bamboo scrimber beams reinforced with bamboo pins was proposed.•Shear behavior of bamboo scrimber beams was investigated.•The bamboo pins were found to be able to resist parallel-to-grain shear failure effectively.•An analytical model was established for predicting the shear capacity of bamboo scrimber beams.