Completing my BF Bamboo rod #2

After completed this BF bamboo blank, I was out of ideas how to finish it off. Cork grips is getting boring.

I came across Miyuki's rod and his great looking wood grips, I said to myself... " I have to make one like that.." and I was also thinking of a simple wrapping just like Calviello's rod. After all, my BF bamboo rod were modeled after his BOBFS bamboo rods.

Anyway, I just put the 2 ideas together.

I do not know much about the types of trees available in Malaysia, so I just use any tree or wood available. It turned out to be okay, I guess.

I matched the wood insert with the wood grip.

Full wrapping on the bamboo ferrule part. I was not sure of the color of the Gudebrod nylon thread used as it was purchased quite some time ago and the color code was not stated on the 50 yard spool, but it look nice after a thin coat of epoxy was applied on it.

Normally for the bamboo rods I built, I will only apply a thin coat of epoxy on the wrapping then follow by several coats of varnish. I do not like to have high built on the wrapping for bamboo rods.

I found that single color wrappings are dull and decided to do black trimmings at the end of each wrappings.

 

Again, this is the end of another bamboo rod making journey of mine for the time being...

It was fun lathing the wood grip and the wood insert on my hand drill, not much difference from lathing cork rings. But I have to use more sand papers.

Lesson learnt during the process of making this rod was.... " DO NOT OVER DO THE HEAT TREATMENT ".  This bamboo blank almost caught fire in my DIY oven. I was trying to darken the blank by heating it longer, the blank got darken but it almost went up in smoke..

BF Bamboo rod #2

This will be my 4th built and the 2nd one for the year 2010. It was faster this time as the rough strip were done last year. This will be another integrated bamboo ferrule bamboo rod based on Sir "D"  7' 4wt taper.
I have to modify it slightly to incorporated the swell for the bamboo ferrule and swell at butt section.

 This blank was made from bamboo from Bernam river and the power fiber of this bamboo looks promising.

Construction of the bamboo ferrule was easier this time compared to my 1st BF bamboo rod after I understood the construction concept.

 Finally, the BF bamboo rod blank #2 is completed.

Fruits of my labor..

Bamboo rod making, a hobby I picked up 2 years ago after I bought 3 bamboo fly rods through the internet. I was fascinated by their workmanship and how they transformed culms of bamboo into fly rod, the time and labor spent to make the rods.

As modern technology sets in, making these bamboo rod seems to be easier. There are mills that can produce tapered bamboo strips within minutes.One need to invest on the equipments if they want to produce their rod commercially. These rod making machines are indeed expensive.

However, there are still some bamboo rod makers who prefers to craft their rod using traditional methods, splitting the bamboo manually and planing the strip on the planing forms. This is more labor intensive.

My 1st bamboo rod took me almost 12 months to complete as I have to make the tool and equipments for rod making along the process. Adding to that, my slow learning curve of rod making and a lot of trial and errors.

The 2nd rod was a bit faster, it took 6 months to finish. I learned new things along the way. It was an integrated bamboo ferrules rod. Very interesting project. Never knew they did that... never even knew this can be done..

The 3rd one took about the same time, maybe slightly faster. It's a "node less" bamboo rod. Some of my friends call it "chopsticks" fly rod because the strips are made of multi piece of 8' ~ 9' bamboo jointed together. Great concept. But I do not know how long could the joints withstand the stress and the force during fishing even though I did scarfing between every guides on the rod.

It has been a fun journey minus the sweat and body ache. I would say the 3rd rod will not be the last rod I make.......
 

The end of my nodeless construction for bamboo rod - my #3 built

It's almost to the end of this project.. the rod wraps just need a few coat of varnish and that's it. Another great learning process in bamboo fly rod making.

I guess I will be planning for my 4th one soon....................................

Lathing reel seat and cork grip for the "node less" boo

Last weekend, I managed to finish the reel seat and grip. Got a cheap stainless steel rings for the sliding band.


Not bad, considering it is dirt cheap.. but looks kinda neat.

Lathed the grip and then fitted in..



I have decided not cap the end of the butt. I just applied 2 coats of clear epoxy to seal the ends.


Next for the guides....

Nodeless construction for bamboo rod - continued

Finally ... my "nodeless" bamboo rod is taking shape....



Extra precaution have to be taken during the planing of the bamboo strips as the strips are made of multiple short length of bamboo glued together..


The planed tip and butt section was glued, bind and was left to set for 48 hours before the thread was removed and the excessive glue stripped.



Completed my nodeless bamboo rod blank..... now for the finishing part...

Bamboo from Bernam River

I have been trying to make bamboo rods from bamboo of different area and of different species. It is difficult to differentiate the exact species of bamboo, I must say.

The only method to check whether the bamboo is suitable to make rod is to examine the cross section of the bamboo before I start the process.

I harvested a few culms of local bamboo from Sungai Bernam a couple of months back. The fiber looks dense and very promising. But the color is brownish when it's dried, even when not flamed.


So, the project started. This bamboo is more manageable than the previous bamboo harvested from Sungai Batangsi in Semenyih. It is straighter and have lesser nodes.



The bamboo was flamed and hand split to about 20 strips.

The next step will be straightening. This time, it will be much easier.................