Hopefully there are a few of you who have dabbled enough with split bamboo blanks and rods to afford me a little assistance. I am contemplating eventually building my own cane blanks but, for the time being, feel purchasing a few blanks and building rods would be a better idea rather than putting-the-cart-before-the-horse. I am unfamiliar with bamboo rods = have never built one but excited to learn and then experience that vintage feel and look. But I have a few questions;
• The old Heddons had 1/8in wide thread bands spaced about every inch along the entire rod, assumably to keep the six splines bound together. Are those thread bands required, suggested, or unnecessary on a modern cane rod built with modern adhesive technology?
• I have read that the points of the hex are milled down to accept a ferrule. To me, that would introduce really great stress-risers at the ends of the ferrule. Is that the prescribed method? A rigid NS ferrule inherently exerts concentrated stress on the blank at either end of the ferrule without the addition of stress risers. I am hoping to employ one of my CARL FG sleeve ferrules (but six-sided on the cane rod) but the build method typically requires starting with a blank which has not been cut.
• Along similar lines as the ferrule, what is involved to mount round reel seats and cork grips to a hex blank? Actually, I will not be using a formal seat in favor of a Tennessee handle with my own tapered CF/Kevlar rings to accommodate either a spin or fly reel. Again, I cannot imagine milling off the points of the hex to install the cork without compromising the butt strength of the rod. But then, six crescents of epoxy between the blank and cork won’t be visually appealing either. Do the bamboo gurus hex-ream their cork?
Any worthy words of wisdom will be greatly and graciously appreciated.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

there are forums that deal with Bamboo only , you might get better coverage with your questions there , could be wrong ,

William Sidney
AK

Thank you, Bill. You may very well be right, but I wanted to start with the venue I am comfortable with and which has offered so much assistance in the past. I realize the bamboo aspect of rod building is certainly more finite than CF or even FG but I have got to start somewhere so tag, you guys are it!!! I am hoping for some insightful tips from Tom and other veteran rod crafters.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

REC makes a lightweight nickel/titanium alloy snake guide which is very flexible. Seems like they would be ideal for a bamboo rod.

Mark

- The intermediate, the 1/8" wide or less, wraps were to help hold things together, but are not needed for modern bamboo rods as the glues and adhesives available today are superior to what once was. Nonetheless they look neat!

- Yes, the points of the hex are milled down for a continuous and consistent glue fit with the ID of the ferrule. Yes, stress has and maybe always will concentrate at the ferrules regardless of blank material, ferrule material and design, etc. And thus the need for ferrule reinforcing wraps. Suggest you study modern NS ferrule design history before assuming you're ferrule design is superior. Lots of books and resources available on the topic.

- I don't understand how it is the cork to blank adhesive for the grip or reel seat will be visible. Does not compute for me. But to answer what I think is the question, no, there is no rounding of the hex points to mount the grip or reel seat. Cork is reamed similar to fitting for a round blank, and yes, there will be crescent shaped adhesive between the cork and the bamboo. If a reel seat is too small the barrel can sometimes be reamed a bit. It the reel seat ID is too big then a bushing is made of tape or other material, again similar to a round glass or carbon rod.

I repaired/restored several old inexpensive bamboo fly rods for friends, Basically replaced grips, reel seats, and guides. They come out very nice, and they where fun to fish with. So a bought a couple of bamboo fly rod blanks from Angler’s Roost, did Some research and then tried my hand at building them. It was a fun project and they came out extremely well and I have enjoyed fishing with. I did not try to reinvent the wheel, I just tried to build according to what worked for more experienced bamboo rod builders. However, When the blanks came in with their supposedly matching nickel silver ferrule, I realized immediately that the ferrules would not fit, then I realized that the blank sections were longer then they should have been, and that the nickel silver ferrules did not fit together. I called Johnnie at Anglers Roost and he told me that everything was the way it was supposed to be, The blank sections needed to be trimmed appropriately to obtain the proper length and diameter for the ferrules. The corners needed to be rounded off to fit the ferrules, and the male ferrule needed to be lapped in order for it to mate with the female ferrule.. So it was not like putting a kit together. Doing the appropriate research was important. I used online Hexrod ( [www.hexrod.net] ) to get taper information for the rods I built. I also used various other bamboo rod building sites to get information. I glued the ferrules in place using ferrule cement (aka, hot melt tiptop cement ). For the grip and reel seat I just reamed to fit and glued in place. Used Snake Brand hex winding checks. ( [store.snakeguides.com] ) for a nice finished look for the cork handles. Also used the Snake Brand snake guides. Different from building a graphite or fiberglass rod, but not all that difficult once you realize what needs to be done. Take the plunge and try it. The blanks are $150 each and the nickel silver ferrules are $33 ea.
PS - You can get them much cheaper when there is sale at Anglers Roost.
Norm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2018 11:49AM by Norman Miller.

Mark

Start here

[www.tapatalk.com]

Hex shaped winding checks are one option available to transition from cork to blank. When using a round winding check, the gap can largely be obscured with a trim thread wrap up against the check, or one end of the winding for a hook keeper started directly ahead of the winding check. The residual gap is very minimal with either of the last two methods.

Proceed with caution as playing with bamboo is a whole new element of addiction.

Pesco Ergo Sum

Thank you Phil, Donald and Norman for taking the time to assist.
Phil, this rod will bill used more as a spinning than fly rod, at least when used by me (remember the Tennessee handle). I have come to understand spinning guides are better suited to a fly rod than the inverse. Hence, I will either use my go-to KL-Hs or possibly Minima ZVs.
Norman, yet again our thoughts parallel each other. I purchased the blank from Johnny at Angler’s Roost. Wendy, his associate (wife?) informed me he had been a “pretty bad” car accident, yet had correspondence with him a few days later. None the less, I did not want to bother him with cane rod questions while he recovered so, hence, I’m leaning on you guys. At $150.00/blank, you must have opted for the flamed version as compared to my blonde version. Thanks for the referral of hexrods.net.
Donald, I am confident with your opinion the multiple, narrow thread wraps of yesteryear are no longer required considering the use of modern adhesives. Whew! While, as you stated and I agree, “…they look neat” the (any) rod will perform better without the additional, cantilevered weight. Special thanks for the tapatalk.com reference. Extremely good to know if I cannot employ a CARL. Beautiful craftsmanship! As for the CARL ferrule system, yes, I am convinced it is superior to a rigid metal ferrule, possibly even a tip-over-butt. I am in the process of fabricating a precise, rigid and infinitely adjustable fixture to fully utilize Dr. Hannerman’s CCS, AA, and now recent CCF to precisely measure and assign static as well as dynamic values to any blank or rod, including pre and post cutting involving the installation of a ferrule. Inform me if interested in the findings. But there are at least two notable attributes to the CARL system which do not require specialized testing; A typical CARL ferrule weighs 2g whereas an aluminum ferrule weighs 9g; a CARL ferrule is flexible whereas metal ferrules virtually are not. There are other inherent, advantageous design features but that basically spells it out; lighter yet affording exceptional strength while minimally affecting the natural flex curve of the rod.
Thank you to all for assisting my journey down yet another path of rod building. I am humbled by the graciousness of so many within the membership. This site may be heaven on earth!!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Bruce,
Thank you for your input as well. I may have to investigate yours and Norman’s suggestion of HexChecks (hey, that would be a good marketing name) for a cane rod application. I typically avoid winding checks because I do not see the point and they add weight, but that is only my personal opinion and obviously, many others use them. I am actually considering adding a cork ring which has been hex reamed (although I am certainly far from being a guru) to either end of the Tennessee handle. I enjoy habitually make things more difficult than necessary. But I think it would look very nice, especially at the butt with the exposed end grain of the bamboo with no gap to the surrounding cork.
Additionally, I sincerely appreciate your warning, “Proceed with caution as playing with bamboo is a whole new element of addiction”. Your alert is acknowledged but may be too late.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

As a side note. I used one of Mark’s fiberglass rods fitted with his CARL ferrule and I was very impressed with the way the ferrule performed. Even caught a few fish with it before sending it back to him. Really did give the rod a one piece feel, and in my opinion was far superior to any metal ferrule, and may have better than a tip over butt ferrule.
Norm

Norman,
I am appreciatively humbled with an approval of the CARL ferrule system from such a respected, veteran rod crafting maestro. Thank you so much!!!

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.