Bob Clay instructional videos

[oddsnrods]

I remember being daunted even by the little in- depth information I found (pre internet) when I started out, that I doubted if I should continue, now it would be even worse with information overload from all sides.

Wearing my 'educator hat', and nothing to do with rods, my job is to show enough to inspire a student, help and guide them along the way, their confidence and experience hopefully grows and off they go, learning further and most importantly here- doing it their own way.

Generally speaking, 'this is how I do it, so you can too'- videos, books etc. may be insightful, even well intentioned, however some involved methods and principles may only serve to confuse and discourage those starting out.

Wayne Cattanach's little book Handcrafting Bamboo Fly Rods, distilled much information out there (at the time) for me enough early on; my interest then pulled me along to eventually learn how to do it- 'my way'.

After so many years at this hobby, with one or two always on the go (more or less), to make a rod all you really need: bamboo, forms, block plane, home made heat gun oven, sandpaper, glue, some thread (for hand binding), dial and depth gauge.

At the end of the day, you may well be surprised to find rod-making is a relatively straightforward process.

Malcolm

[Canewrap]

"At the end of the day, you may well be surprised to find rod-making is a relatively straightforward process."

Absolutely, when I started out there wasn't as much out there about rodmaking and some it was just because we've always done it that way.
To me, the only part that really takes time to learn is straightening nodes and learning just how much heat is too much and how much you can stress it before you hear a crack. It does take a couple of rods before you get your process dialed in and because bamboo is a natural material, there are just some days when a strip will completely refuse to cooperate. But, as it turns out there are a lot of different ways to accomplish the same thing. It's a craft.

[Jdcross]

We had a Q and A Zoom session with Bob Clay last night which was part of the online course
I found it interesting and informative.
Good to meet other interested parties as well