Eventually going to build bamboo rods. Want to know the best places to find bamboo and if , what the different kinds are. I still have a lot of research, but want to find out how much the bamboo is going to cost and what quality it is, if there is any.If there is any books that you would recommend, that would be nice. Feel free to E-mail, if needed.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2006 11:05AM by Eric Brockman.

Golden Witch to the left has everything you need.

Eric. Learning to build a bamboo rod from scratch takes a considerable amount of time and a substantial investment. Have you thought about buiding out a ferruled blank? If so, there are some makers that offer them at a very reasonable cost.

Never heard of a ferruled blank. Just was thinking about building bamboo. Haven't got to look up much about the tools, but have seen quite a bit of the process though, and I think it would be a good challenge. I know it takes a lot of time though.

I am doing the same, but for the first rod plan to build from a ferruled blank. But, do the builders prefer to sell the finished rod or are they happy to sell as a blank? Maybe its my imagination but I've gotten the impression so far that business is so good that they'd rather sell the finished rod than blank. Maybe I'm wrong, its happened before. I can't afford the finished rod really, plus being involved at leats partly with building the rod is part of the fun for me.

Tim Kelly

Tim. I think you are on the right track. If you have not heard of Mark Fitch on @#$%&, look him up. Sells ferruled blanks regularly there and they are very nice. Mark impregnates his blanks, so they are ready to wrap. As to the builders, some will not sell you a blank because their reputation is on the line and a badly finished blank indirectly occassions negative PR streamside. But a great many mid range builders do sell blanks and list them separately on their sites. Expect to pay 250 to 500 dollars for a decent blank.

Eric;
As was said, start with GoldenWitch, they wil sell you culms in various grades singly, most of the other suppliers only deal in minimum orders, I think Demarest requiers at least 3 and Andy Royer won't sell less than 10. I will also say this, finishing out a blank will save you some money over buying a finished rod, but building your own won't, specially if you figure in what your time is worth. It will be cheaper to buy a very good rod than it will be to buy or make all the tools needed to build a decent rod, the only good reason to make a rod is because you want to make it yourself, not to save money.
john