Getting started?

[SAFisherman]

Hi guys what are the basic tools I need to start building rods? I know I need planning forms, planes, blades for splitting the bamboo and a thread wrapper. What else do I need? And with regards to forms could I make the first ones out of wood? Thanks in advance.

[henkverhaar]

Planing form and a decent plane are probably the only things that are truly indispensable. You can use an old folding knife, outdoor knife, or even a bread knife for splitting (although I use a dedicated froe/machete), you can rough with your planing form and plane (or make a rough form from hardwood using a router) (although I now use a Baginski beveler). You can probably dress nodes using a stove and any old press/vice (although... you get the point - the adjustable paint strippers by Bosch or B&D seem popular all around). You probably already have a file lying around. You do not need a binder (you can hand bind, although it always gave me the cramps), nor a wrapper (for guides - you can wrap using a fly tying bobbin holder (what you would call a 'bobbin'). You do not even need a heat treating oven, if you use the 'inside flaming' approach to heat treating popularised by Darryl Hayashida.

So get a planing form, a plane, some sharpening stones, and a bunch of bamboo culms and start tinkering. Everything else will follow (or not ;-) )

Oh, a lathe of some sort (I use wood lathes) does come in handy, but again, is not necessary...

[SAFisherman]

Thanks. This helps a lot .

[aboehm]

I was in your shoes a few years back. The approach I took was to build or buy equipment and tools as I moved through the process of making a rod. I had two kids in college at the time--both in private, four-year liberal arts colleges--so finances were tight. I had to take my time and depend on ingenuity. What I'm laying out below occurred over a two-year period.

The first thing I did was make my own metal planing forms following the instructions on Thomas Penrose's web site. You might discover, as I did, that 3/4 square cold-rolled steel bars were a whole lot cheaper than going the hardwood route. I won't say much here about making my forms (you can send me an email with questions if you want), but there are a number of tweaks you can make to these instructions that will render the job somewhat easier. Also, don't let the Penrose instructions intimidate you. I had no prior experience working with metal and I turned out a good set of forms. As I worked on filing, drilling, and tapping the forms, I bought a dial indicator, indicator base, and an indicator standard from JD Wagner.

Next step was to buy some culms. I got the "starter" package from Golden Witch Technologies. Then I went to a big box store and bought a new Stanley 9 1/2. I had to flatten the sole and file some burrs off the throat. I also bought only one waterstone, 6000 grit, and relied on the chain auto-parts stores for 1,000-, 2,000-, and 3,000-grit sandpaper to get the blade sharp. The stock blade, however, is gawd awful bad for bamboo work. I found I had to resharpen it about every five minutes, so I bought a Hock blade.

I already had a mallet and a suitable kitchen knife as well as a drill-press vise (bought to make the forms), so I began splitting. I had plenty of files on hand to file down the nodes.

Straightening the nodes came next. Because I planned on making a heat-gun oven for heat treating, I bought a decent adjustable-temperature heat gun, but you can get by with an alcohol lamp or a backpacking stove that uses denatured alcohol (aka "spirits" in the UK). I epoxied wood strips to the drill-press jaws because the jaws weren't smooth.

Although I eventually made wood roughing forms, I initially used my metal planing forms as my roughing forms. You just open the forms to the same width/depth at every station.

At this point I made a Garrison binder with some scrap wood and parts and pulleys from a hardware store. I probably spent no more than $20 to make it. After binding, I built a heat-gun oven using stove pipes and rivets. I bought a couple of cheap cooking thermometers at the grocery store, but eventually upgraded to an inexpensive digital cooking thermometer with a probe atg a cooking and housewares store. The oven is simple. You can find plans here: http://www.fneunemann.com/index.php?id=40

After cooking the bamboo and in preparing to plane strips to taper, I got a decent dial caliper for around $80. You can probably get a serviceable caliper for a lot less, but I wanted confidence in measuring strips as I neared my final dimensions. I used a lot of razor blades as scrapers to reach target dimensions, and a hard rubber sanding block and 320-grit sandpaper to remove excess glue.

I don't have the right kind of work space for a dip-tube system, so I used a wipe-on varnish to seal the rod.

Looking back at my initial rod-making experience, I think the two most expensive items I bought were the heat gun (around $90) and the dial calipers. And I already had common, household hand tools I'd acquired for various home repairs--electric drill, files, rubber mallet, a woodworking chisel, hacksaw, etc.--that became rod-making tools. All told, I think I probably spent less than $350 on tools and fabricating equipment to make my first rod. And since that first effort, I've upgraded my shop: a half-dozen old Stanley planes acquired on eBay, more Hock irons, a better home-made binder, etc. But I'm still using my original metal forms, heat gun, oven, etc.

There's a lot of small stuff I haven't mentioned that required hunting around various local stores. But I took everything one step at a time and enjoyed most of the work. It took a lot of steady patience, but so does making a split-cane rod.

Finally, I read some of the books on rod making before I started. My wife gave me a copy of the Garrison/Carmichael "Bible" for Christmas and I bought Wayne Cattanach's and George Maurer's books. I found Maurer's book the easiest for me to follow, but drew from the other books, too, and sort of synthesized an approach to the process. At any rate, I've had fun and you should, too. Good luck to you.

[cutthroatkid]

I did pretty much what a former poster did, except I bought a planing form. I got used stanley 9 1/2 planes on e-bay and tuned them per the instructions in Cattanach's book (the section on planes is worth the cost of the book). I hand bind, and made a heat-gun oven which works well. The only thing I would add is that I've found a good cabinet scraper to be very useful. When sharpened with a bead it removes transparently thin coats of enamel and is really good for some final work where occasionally nodes are difficult to plane correctly. I've also never used a beveler, preferring to plane the initial strips rather than deal with dust.

If price is no object you can buy an oven, beveler, binder, and milling machine, a metal lathe to turn ferrules and reel seat hardware, and a wood lathe to turn the reel seat spacer. This however isn't really necessary.

[oddsnrods]

I would add that if you make a vertical heat gun oven, from plans in the Planing Form, it is not much extra work to insulate it. The result being that it warms up more evenly, retaining much of said heat rather than it shooting out of the sides. The added bonus being the warmed up outside case will not burn, if you happen to brush up against it..

Malcolm

[SAFisherman]

Thanks guys this all helps me out a lot.

[SAFisherman]

One extra thing. It might be a dumb question but what other bamboo can be used other than tonkin?

[kermit]

I would say to read some of the published rod making books. I think "The Lovely Reed" is one of the best. Most all of the books start out with a full list of things that you will need. Practice, then practice some more. Whether you plan on making only a few rods or a lot of rods, buy the best equipment you can afford. It will pay off in the long run.

[henkverhaar]

Moso bamboo, Madake bamboo, Calcutta bamboo, Guadua (a South American species). The Japanese use several different species.

I personally have experience with Guadua, and while it is coarser than Tonkin, it IS suitable for making bamboo rods. Perhaps not delicate 2-weights, but 4-6 weight rods turn out fine...

[LeeO]

A couple of suggestions if you are struggling to find equipment. You can flame rods with a propane torch for heat treatment. I actually do a combination of flaming and heat treatment in a section of black iron pipe that heat with a torch. I struggled with sharpening stones and switched to sandpaper on a piece of marble tile. You absolutely must have a sharpening jig for your plane iron.

After trying several finishing methods I now use Gorillia Glue and have a small can of polyurethane for the wraps. Super easy.

[SAFisherman]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[flyguyfishing1]

Hello board! I've been fly fishing central PA since '95. Over last six months or so I have been researching and reading books regarding building cane rods. I had hoped to get started this winter, but life happens. However, it is clear to me, I will enjoy the process.

Apologies for posting on older post, but I am going to accumulate/build tools as needed. aboehm's post is similar to my plan, but I already have planing form and probably will invest a little more than he did initially.

My question concerns my first rod's materials. For my first rod, I am looking for something fishable and durable with little value on aesthetics. Should I start with B grade Tonkin or will it be more difficult to work with. Are there good suppliers of quality ferrules that are not too expensive?

I am on a budget, but do not want cheap materials that will only cause frustration while learning the craft. I am also predicting quite the learning curve, so I prefer to start with materials that won't hurt the bank too much if I need to totally scrap and start again. Trying to find that balance.

Any advise would be appreciated.

[henkverhaar]

For your own use, B-grade tonkin should be fine. Usually the only 'issues' are cosmetics, fiber density/thickness, and number of useable strips you can split from a culm...

[trland]

Check out Rush River Rods for really good ferrules that won't break the bank.

[flyguyfishing1]

Thanks henkverhaar and triand. Exactly the info I was hoping to get!

Of course I would welcome more suggestions.