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| All of the bamboo that I use is purchased from Charles H. Demarest Company in New Jersey. The bamboo is shipped in 20 pc. bales wrapped in burlap and bound with sisal twine. After getting the load home from the freight terminal, I take a close look at each piece for any serious flaws (usually there are none) and then date each piece and start a drying check - a major split at one end of the 12' culm. This initial split will serve as a point to release pressure as the culm dries and usually will run the entire length by the time it is chosen to turn into a fly rod. The culms are kept in the basement, neatly tucked between the floor joists patiently waiting for their moment in the sun. |
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I begin all rods by carefully selecting the best culm of bamboo for the specific taper to be made. Here you see two full culms - one larger diameter better suited for a longer heavy rod and a second smaller culm on the left that will require a little more effort to straighten during the process. |
The bamboo is first cut into approximately 6' lengths, split into four 180 degree halves. The next step is to rough file the nodes - one of many steps to manage these little devils. |
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A close up side view of a node. You can see the power fibers running through this area and the raised node relative to the outside surface (Enamel side) of the bamboo. |
The bottom half of this photo shows the node after the rough filing. After all of the nodes are dressed the bamboo is ready for flaming. |
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The next step in the process for most of the rods I make is flaming. I use a propane torch to further dry the bamboo as well as provide the dark mottled color of the finished rod. |
As you work the torch down the piece of bamboo you can see steam escape from the cut end. You know the torch is doing it's job. |
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The next step of the process is to work the bamboo down to the small strips called splines that will be eventually planed into tapered triangles and glued together to form the hexagonal rod. Each 180 degree half is now split into thirds and then each third into four small strips. |
The bamboo is now hand split into 24 strips from the lower half and 24 strips from the upper half. From these strips (for a 2 pc. rod) the 6 best lower strips are picked to make the butt section and the 12 best chosen from the top half to make the 2 tip sections of the finished rod. Manipulating the split against the froe guides the split down the bamboo resulting in straight, consistent strips. |
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| After selecting the best strips to work with, I arrange them to stagger the nodes and trim them to rough length. | In the two photos above I have marked the nodes on the inside (pith) side of the strips and then determined the distance to equally stagger the nodes so that on the finished hex there are two nodes on opposite sides of the hex at equally increasing intervals from the butt to the tip. | |
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Here I am once again working with the nodes - almost the last time. This is called "Pressing" and is necessary to force the fibers into a straight continuous section - consistent with the fibers on either side of the node. The area is heated to soften the resin in the raw bamboo and then the node area is gently compressed in a small vise. Before and after shown above. The strip is allowed to cool for a minute or so and you are ready to move on - get out the cutting tools! |
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Shown above are the first two planing cuts made to rough plane the strips into straight triangular sections. On the left is the first roughing form and the "as split" strip of bamboo. The purpose of this cut is plane one side of the strip at 60 degrees to the enamel side (the enamel or outside of the culm is never touched until the final light finishing after the rod is glued). On the right the green strip is now placed in the second rough form which is a 60 degree groove and both sides away from the enamel are planed to a straight section at a rough dimension ready for binding and heat treating. |
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| We have skipped a few steps - touch-up straightening, binding and heat treating - but I was anxious to get to the good stuff. Here we are using a block plane to finish the straight triangular strips almost down to the final dimensions. To complete the strips, I use a scraper to get a smooth finish and close control over the final dimensions of the finished tapered strip - see the next photo. |
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In this photo, I am finishing a tip section using a Lie-Nielsen scraper plane. The steel form has been set to the final taper depths by adjusting the socket head cap screws you can see in the photo and tightening a set screw from the opposite side of the steel form to set the opening width of the V-groove to the desired dimension. The taper is called out at 5" intervals as shown marked up on the tape next to the form. I use the scraper to remove a very fine shaving. I gradually work down the bamboo strip until I am lightly skimming over the surface of the steel form. |
| Here is an example of the type of shavings the scraper removes - approximately .oo2" thick. The tip section has been reduced to .034" which will result in a finished hexagon of .068" across the flats. This rod will end up being a 7' - 4 weight with a fairly fast, light tip. The exacto knife is for reference - you can barely see the very small 30 degree angle surfaces at the center of the steel forms which create the tapered - 60 degree equilateral triangle strip, 1/6 of our final hex rod. |
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The two tools used to finish the strips, both from Lie-Nielsen. In the foreground is a low angle block plane used to get the strips to within about .025" of final dimension and the scraper plane used to bring it home. |
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When all the strips are at the final dimensions, they are taped together in the correct sequence and then the tape is cut and the bundle is opened flat and cleaned to prepare for glue up. Here we are using a firm toothbrush to spread the adhesive - I use Nyatex Epoxy, and make 3 passes to work the glue into strips and make sure both sides of all six strips get a consistent coating before binding. I only plan on gluing once - better safe than sorry! |
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After the glue has been spread, I lift the strips and carefully roll them back together and begin binding the section with heavy cotton thread. The binder is turned by hand and the white drive thread pulls the red binding off the spool at a constant tension while rotating the bamboo at about a 3/8" pitch. |
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The glued blank is loaded into the binder a second time only now the drive thread is in front of the blank which pulls the binding thread in the opposite direction and completes the binding or clamping of the six strips while the epoxy cures. |
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After the second trip through the binder, the blank is inspected, straightened and hung out to dry. After about 24 hours, the epoxy is dry to the touch and the saturated binding thread is removed and replaced with clean thread. The blank is again checked for straightness and then oven cured for approx. 3 hours to heat set the Nyatex epoxy, permanently! |
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A closer look after oven curing. I am now removing the clean binding thread and getting ready to finish sand the rod blank. This last step cleans the excess epoxy squeeze out as well as removes the enamel from the original outside diameter of the culm and finishes the flat surfaces of the hex rod. |
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Time to start putting it all together. In this view the ends of the blank have been dressed on a lathe (turned from a hex profile to round) at the proper size to accept the ferrules. I have also selected the reel seat, marked the final assemble lengths at the handle area and prepared this section for the cork rings. The masking tape you see on the one section is used to protect the hex surface from the lathe chuck jaws. |
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Nothing fancy here - except getting the stack of rings in the right place. Each ring is cleaned and individually glued to the blank. I add a little cork dust to the epoxy to assist adhesion as well as slightly color any visible glue lines. |
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After all the rings are slid into place, the "Cork Press" is used to put the squeeze on things. Hard to see, but the two tip sections have been lightly dressed and the tip tops trial fit and ready to glue. |
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Just about finished with attaching all the hardware. Here the two male and the female ferrules have been glued and pressed into place. The serrated tabs are carefully aligned to the hex flats and then hand bound with thread to tightly secure the ferrule to the rod. I use West Systems epoxy for the grip and all hardware. If repair is necessary, careful application of heat and gentle persuasion will release all of the hardware. |
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With everything set aside for the epoxy to cure, I have a little time to catch up on turning reel seat fillers, building ferrule plugs and maybe just horsing around in the shop for a bit. This is a slice of Claro Walnut Burl I picked up from a mill in California. Was a bit surprised when a 40" X 50" slab of tree showed up in the driveway, but I should have enough prime Walnut Burl for quite a few rods! |
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After a couple hours on the band saw and drill press we are ready to have some fun on the lathe. Always anxious to get close to the finish diameter to see whether we have a figured reel seat filler or just another piece of fireplace kindling. |
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Getting close now. I turn the fillers to just under finish dimension, then stabilized with Pentacryl wood treatment before finishing with high gloss lacquer or soft luster Tru-Oil and wax. |
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Hard to appreciate in a small photograph, but a small sample of the filler inventory. From left to right, Birds-eye Maple, Madrone Burl and Big Leaf Maple Burl. |
To be continued . . .
