Building A Custom Cane/Bamboo Fly Rod Step By Step
Part # 2 Selecting, Splitting And Preparing A Bamboo Culm For Your Rod
Tonkin cane comes only from a very small region of about 30 square miles in China along the Sui River bordering the provinces of Kwangsi and Kwantung. It is harvested in it’s eight year, washed, graded then bundled and bagged for export.
The one remaining importer in the U.S. is Charles H. Demarest Inc. It is available in two grades determined by the diameter of the but section. The smaller 1 3/4 - 2 ". The larger being 2 - 2 1/2" . The smaller is used for lighter weight rods and the larger for heavier rods like a 7- 8 wt. It is sold in bales of 20 but can be bought in single culms. It comes in 12′ lengths but must be cut in half for shipping and is only shipped UPS.
When you get your bamboo, you may need to season it a while. The first thing you want to do is look for blemishes or marks. If there are any bad spots gouges, cracks, insect damage or unsightly watermarks, you will have to decide whether or not you can work around them. The bamboo I have gotten has been well inspected and graded and I haven’t come across any that where unusable. If you do get a bad one, just set it aside. It will make a great rod tube.
The next step is to make a drying split. This will allow your bamboo to season properly and stop it from splitting in other locations. You will need some kind of splitter. The traditional tool is called a froe, but any thick spined knife blade will do. I use an old clever and my moose dressing knife and they work fine.
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A Traditional Bamboo Froe
My Bamboo Froe
Here are the basic tools you will need for dressing your cane strips.
Start your drying split in the but end by placing the blade nice and straight against the end of the pole and give it a whack with a block of wood of a soft head hammer. Drive the split just past the first node. If your in a hurry to get started like I was, I quick seasoned my first two culms by making my drying split and then I slid the whole pole on my curing oven at 120o for 24 hrs.
After the pole has been seasoned you will need to flame it. First you will have to decide whether you are going to make a blond, dark cane or flamed colored rod. Using your froe, split your pole in two equal halves starting in your drying split . If you are making a blond colored rod you will need to flame it on the pith side but you need to be careful because it can catch fire on you. Have a bucket of water or extinguisher handy just incase. If you are making a flamed rod you will flip the two halves over so they are round side up and flame the enamel side. Using a simple propane bottle torch hold it so that the flame is just touching the pole. Starting in the middle and working out. This will do two things. It will strengthen and stiffen your rod and it will drive the moisture out the ends. You will find more on this subject In any of the available books on the market, but I have covered the basics
Next you will want to split your pole into equal sections. You will need six pieces for each section of your rod. If you are making a 3 PC 2 tip rod you will need to split your pole into 24 equal pieces. Below is a diagram taken from Wayne Cattanach’s book "Handcrafting Bamboo Fly Rods" showing how to properly divide a bamboo pole, and how they will come together after equalateral planing to form a rod section
Once it is split into sections you will need to straighten the pieces and prep the nodes. This is the part most rod makers detest. It is probably the most time consuming and unpleasant part of making a rod. Personally myself I don’t mind it at all. In fact I rather enjoy it. What I do is turn on the TV, crack a six pac and relax man!. The key is patience. Take your time and don’t rush it. At first you will think it is a never ending job but you will soon start to see results. The procedure is really quite simple.When you apply heat to bamboo it becomes very malleable. You can bend and twist it easily like soft warm plastic.
When it cools down it will retain it shape. First start by dressing your nodes. I start by removing the inside of the nodal dam using a heavy rasp. This works very fast and cuts very smooth and clean, but be extra careful you are not cutting too deep into the power fibers or you will ruin the strip.
Inside Dam
Removing The Dam With A Wood Rasp
Strip With Inside Dam Removed
Once you have removed the inside of the dam you will need to dress the outside. This is a little tricky and needs to be done very precisely. The outside of the dam is nothing more than a little lip. Right underneath are the most crucial power fibers and great care must be taken not to cut into them. What I have done is flipped the jaws of my vise over so the knurled side faced in and the smooth side faces out. Then I filed a small notch in the jaw to accommodate the lip of the node. I then heat the node section with my heat gun until it becomes pliable and clamp it tightly in the jaws pressing the node flat.
Notch In Vise Jaw
Pressing A Node Flat After Heating
First on it’s flats, then on it’s sides. Once it is cooled, I take a bastard file and gently using only forward strokes I file away the remaining lip. Once all the nodes on a strip have been prepped, I then go back and straighten all the bows and twists in the sections between each node. At the same time with a fine sanding block 120 grit, I gently sand away about half of the enamel . Using this procedure I keep working the piece as many times as I need to get it perfectly straight. Slow and steady wins the race.
Outside of Dam Lip
Pic showing a properly dressed strip on the left and an unfinished strip on the right.
Part # 3 Prepping your planes and rough planing a set of blanks
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