Where does one find bamboo blanks? with furrels
I am poor and cannot afford to have the equipment to make them.
I am interested in building from that point (guides, wraps, finish, etc)

although i'm sure you'll get some direct references to your post, may i suggest reading and then posting your question over at the classic rod forum: [p205.ezboard.com]

i've suggested people look to this site for info in the past many times (sometimes to my detriment :-) so i hope it's ok here.

eric
fresno, ca.

What size rod are you looking for? Line weight? How many tip sections? 3 or 2 piece rod. What kind of ferrles, nickel plated brass or nickel silver or marine grade brass? Got any certain taper in mind? You want a fast, medium or slow action rod? Light or dark flamed cane? What node spacing are you looking for? Or would you like a nodeless rod? Do you want a trirod, quad, hex, or pent configuration? You want it in the string or varnished and straightened? What type of finish do you want on the blank, if any, as then you could do your own. You got a price range in mind? What type glue was use, is it hollow built?

I know makers who prices range from $150.00 for a 2/1 unferruled, and go up from there. Good NiS SuperSwiss ferrules go for $24 and up per full set. (plus shipping) Then you got to cut the ferrule station, and then lap the male ferrule to fit.

Just a couple of question you want to ask yourself and the maker of the rod.

You can email me privately if you have any questions, I will try help you if I can.
mrparramoure@yahoo.com

Tight lines to all ~ ~

Golden Witch [listed on the left] sells blanks.Also a fella from MI. by the name of Mark Fitch pro duces some of the Best looking blanks you will see,he sometimes list them on @#$%&.I have built on both and was pleased.

Jim,

If you are really poor and not just kidding us I think you need to stay away from bamboo. Cheap it is not. Except maybe the junk stuff. LOL

Mike Oliver

Jim, you will have a ball. Mark Fitch sells blanks on @#$%& already ferruled starting at about $200. If you get in a pickle call me, as I have some extras Fitches at about $225 each. Also if you are interested, I just got a ferruled blank off @#$%& for $100 which should build out to about a 7 foot rod. More details if you want it. Don

Jim, You might try Headwaters Bamboo. They have 5 sizes of bamboo blanks with ferrules installed. The price is $275.00. I have not built one of these, but I have seen the blanks and they look decent. Their website is. www.splitbamboo.com Take a look.

Sounds like you wish to experiment a bit? A really good way to do this is to look for old used bamboo equipment, this kind of stuff can be found at flea markets, yard sales, @#$%& ,and the like. You can take an old piece tear it, down clean it , and now you got what you want a bamboo blank with ferules etc at a reasonable price, and with a little patience and practice you can crank out a real nice piece.
Good luck,
Larry

everything that is being said about mark "fitch" is true except the spelling of his name. it is mark FRITCH. go on @#$%& and do a search either for
"bamboo blanks" or "mark fritch". he sells his blanks from time to time and his work is exceptional.

Larry. No it is Fitch. His email is fitchm57@yahoo.com. I am not in total agreement about rebuilding beaters. You will likely end up with a much better looking - beater.

i'm new to this so take what i say with a grain of salt. unless you're very very lucky and find something original which is mindboggling improbable, i wouldn't waste time on a "beater" found at a flea market or yard sale. it might look good once you're done with it, but like don suggests, it would still be a beater. from what i've gathered from months and months of reading, bamboo rods are everywhere, but most of it is junk. the whole thing which separates a fine quality bamboo rod from the junk is the craftsmanship in building the blank and the taper of its construction, both of which are missing in the junk you'd find. it's the craftsmanship and taper design which makes fine bamboo something to desire and fish. if you're the kind which feels you must do dry runs before the real roject, then these yard sale rods would work.

also, you should be aware that there is a rising tide here in the states against rods and blanks manufactured in asia. in the recent past (not sure about right now, today) these asian companies were seling rods and blanks copying tapers and designs of US domestic bamboo makers. of course, it's generally the US domestic bamboo community that is up in arms over these companies they say are ripping them off. i tend to side with the domestic makers by the way.

eric
fresno, ca.

Right you are Eric. It REALLY annoys the bamboo crowd to see Asian sweatshops copy American tapers [and reels, for that matter]. But the good news is that many American makers, like Mark, are bound and determined to offer a blank that is price friendly rather than see us flooded with foreign imports. But of course there is a lot of handwork involved in any bamboo blank, even a bad one, so the American makers cannot just give them away. Jim - Art is being modest, he does a bunch of re-builds and he might just sell you a serviceable ferruled blank for you to finish, one that doesn't merit anything but a modest investment in new parts and labor. His expertise could keep you from being badly burned. Don

you are correct. I got the name wrong. first mistake i have made this year 9and all of last yea).

i have his copy of a paul young perfectionist taper 4/5 7'6". it is becoming my favorite rod. great roll caster. very smooth. the price was very good and the workmanship was supperb.

Thanks a bunch to all the responders. I feel that I am on the right track now.
Good information for the most part.
As with all inquiries, I can keep the good advice and trash the rest.

Why is "copying tapers" an issue. It seems like most cane rodmakers are copying tapers, whether they are in America, England, Asia, or Timbuktu. Some makers, including Mark Fitch and Golden Witch, sell their own self-designed tapers in addition to copies of famous tapers. If people are offended by the perceived (and maybe not reality) sweatshop aspect of Asian blanks, that's another issue. But then, I don't hear people complaining all that much about that. It seems to be the copying and the price. And, by the way, not every factory in Asia is a "sweatshop". Many are legitimate factories doing legitimate business. I say, let your money flow to whomever you prefer. I personally prefer to give the business to a guy who runs a small operation, has a name, and lives and fishes in a place I can relate to. However, it's just money and fishing rods so I think we should all acknowledge that and not further contribute to the elitism and exclusivity that runs rampant in the bamboo world.

Mark Fitch is a great craftsman and a real nice guy to do business with.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2006 10:48AM by Steve Kartalia.

steve, i probably should have clarified a bit and overall, maybe should never have commented since i'm just getting into bamboo. copying tapers, or building on well-known and not so well-known tapers is something every rodmaker does. there are a few tapers out there whose designers have asked not be mass produced and used only by the small-time craftsman, etc. the bamboo community honors that request.

many craftsmen wrap a rod in a signature style. it may be based on a classic taper, but the modern maker would wrap it in a certain style to distinguish it from an original. many take classic tapers and modify them to their own design. these are practices well-known and seemingly considered ok.

some of today's makers are setting themselves apart from the "pack" by creating great tapers of their own and using new production methods. from photos i've seen (and we can leave the asia aspect out for argument's sake, i'm not against asian products at all, everything i see around me is probably made elsewhere) and arguments domestic makers are making, these imported rods are not crediting the original designers (fly being very traditional, that is an affront) and going to the extreme of wrapping the rods to mimic rodmakers' signature wraps without disclosures. at the beginning, these imported rods showed their origin with bad glue lines and generally poor production quality from what i read. these days, they have learned and improved and it's generally hard to tell the difference just by looking. casting is a different story. these imported rods are being sold online (some of the websites have no contact info except for an email address, and the great price) and on @#$%&. to the beginner, they are indistinguishable. they will catch fis and honestly there are some who rave about these rods.

the threat to domestic bamboo rodmakers is not only personal but hits the pocketbook of a craft with a long tradition. it's a "global economy" for sure, and to quote the godfather, strictly business, nothing personal maybe, but that's not the domestic (non-asian) rodmaker's take on it. they are truly "up inarms" about the situation and have gone to the extreme of creating an organization to fight these rods throug education. ABRA i think is the name and they've taken out a ful page ad in one of the major fly mags.

i could be off with some of this stuff so correct me if i'm wrong. it's a relatively free world and we can do what we want in choosing our purchases. i just wanted to bring the issue to the forefront and let people know what is going on at this time.

best regards,

eric
fresno, ca.

Eric. Actually, the bamboo guys get even madder if the Asian factory does call it a "Payne 98 taper", etc. Steve, seems to me that a lot of the debate is over the mass produced factory rod versus the hand-built rod. Similar to the debate over the Mom and Pop fly shops and the big box companies. There is a lot of hand work involved for a bamboo rod, and the return calculated as an hourly wage is low even for the American craftsman. There is some irony in the fact that American rods massed produced earlier in our history are not the subject of the same antipathy directed toward the Asian markets. Personally, I make the deliberate choice to support the American craftsman. It is super nice to get to talk directly to the maker.

Eric, thanks for shedding more light on the issue. I didn't realize there was such a calculated and deliberate effort out there to do this. Although, when there's money to be made, I guess that should come as no surprise.

Don, after I read Maurer and Elser's book, I got a good appreciation for how many hours go into a hand-planed, quality bamboo rod. Obviously, most do it for the love of the craft. Even at $1000 per rod, they don't make much of an hourly wage for such a high skill level, at least by American standards. Also, that double standard between the mass produced American rods and the mass produced Asian rods is not lost on me either. I think from an objective standpoint, it would be hard not to acknowledge that there are a lot of very high quality products and impressive detail work done in Asian factories. Some countries may not have a highly paid workforce but that doesn't mean they don't have a highly skilled workforce. Some of the things you can buy in gift shops around the world for a couple dollars just blow me away with their quality and attention to detail.

it seems to me the whole business of making and selling fine bamboo fly rods is steeped in tradition and probably doesn't make much sense in a profit or business sense. many probaby do it from a cnverted garage out of love and probably have never done a business plan, nor fully calculated the actual costs, including providing for the future and self-established health care coverage, retirement, etc. i'm just guessing though, basing it on a similar industry i'm involved in, photojournalism.

looking at how other products have developed over the decades when encountered by mass production and/or cheaper labor forces located overseas, it seems it's a lost cause in the end. but still, i like the idea of working with a maker in my country, who may fish the same species i do, on similar water, who can work on modifying a rod or blank to my wishes (balanced with his/her knowledge). and i like the idea i'm furthering the life of a trade that has been handed down through generations of linked makers, tied closely together by a community which sems to thrive beneath the radar of many. those attributes i value may be what kills it in the end.

steve, don't take my words as gospel on the situation. i'm preparing to order my first bamboo blank and have gathered what i've shared through internet reading, which can be suspect in of itself. those interested should conduct their own research on the subject.

eric
fresno, ca.

I just received my copy of Jeff Hatton's book on fly rod history and believe me, the Asians wouldn't have to go far to match or surpass the cosmetics of most older American made rods. The hobbyists and the few full timers are keeping the faith and build to extraordinarily high standards, but I don't see how we can remain competitive at the low end of the market. But we on this site already know about this from our discussions of graphite factory rods.