Manufacture of a bamboo fly rod

With the following breakdown I want to try to show how a bamboo fly rod is made, I do not pretend to show everything, it is just an overview of how it is made, on this subject there are quite a few books written by people very famous in the manufacture of rods who of course have much more knowledge than me.

Whenever you read a new one, you learn something different, you have to keep in mind that this is a work of craftsmanship so each person has been copying the methods of other people but also innovating or giving solutions to the problems that have arisen, to achieve the end that is pursued, which is none other than to make a personalized rod both in action and aesthetics which fulfills in the best possible way the function for which it is made, which is none other than fishing.

At this point the following question must be asked: Why invest so much time and work in making a bamboo fly rood, if there are already made of fiber and even cheaper? There are many reasons to use bamboo, but this depends on each person, their appreciation and taste for things.

Possibly he who can have a good car of the present ones will be happy with the benefits and service that gives him, but the lucky one who has a car of the years 20 and has it in good state, every time that goes out to walk with him will feel some sensations that none of the present ones gives them. If I already know that the current one runs more, that it has fewer breakdowns, that it spends less on maintaining it, etc.. A bamboo fly rod unlike fiber is unique, because there are no two the same, even if you try to make two the same there will always be differences because no matter how much you tune in the final measures will never be equal and that without taking into account that you are working with a raw material that is not stable, because there are always differences between the bamboo you choose to make it.

There are many more factors that will differentiate the final result, if you add that you can customize almost everything, action, length, sections, color of ringing, handle, reel holder, name engraving or whatever you want and of course the most important thing for the person who makes them is to fish with his own rod, if we add the taste for natural as is bamboo, because we have a highly satisfactory result. Also it is necessary to say that as that old car, the bamboo needs some special cares or precautions, anyway they are basic cares, in the section 16 they are detailed. This does not mean that they are very delicate because there are bamboo fly rods one hundred years old and still fishing. 2. Cutting a rod In this chapter is described as starting from a bamboo fly rod about 50 m / m in diameter is sectioned to form the rods we need, 6 for each stretch of fly rod we want to do, once sectioned we will do different phases until we get to form a hexagon with these rods.

The first thing that is done is to choose the fly rod that we are going to use, to observe that it does not have defects and if it has that they are located to be able to despise that part, it is necessary to have present that all the rods of a fly rod must leave of the same piece, to avoid differences. Subsequently we proceed to lower the knots, this is done with a fine file and careful not to damage the bamboo fibers, the fly rod will be open because they are opened to acquire them so that they do not have tensions and prevent it from opening itself by undesirable places. Next it is sectioned in narrow rods must have between 6 and 8 m/m wide, depending on the diameter of the fly rod more or fewer rods will come out. In order to section them, a knife blade or other similar thing that does not have a sharp edge is introduced, because it is not intended to cut, but rather that the fly rod is opened in a parallel way to its fibers.

First we will cut the fly rod in two halves, making a cut in the frontal part of where the first one is made. Once the fly rod is separated proceed to remove the knots inside, is done by hitting a little with a hammer, then can be finished with a rasp. The two halves are divided into four and the four into eight and so on until the width we are left. When it is divided in four to have more precision in the cuts it is better with the fly rod supported horizontally to be opening it with the help of a sharp screwdriver, it is introduced by the knots hitting it with a mallet and turning the hand is opening the fly rod and doing it little by little we avoid that some strip is opened by undesirable places.

Once separated all the fly fishing rods are finished filing the knots inside to leave them at the thickness of the rod approximately and can be finished from the outside, but this with great care. This way we will have the rods formed, these rods will be quite crooked and the knots will have irregularities, especially in the part of the knots is where the curves are most accused, because it is there where the fibers In this way we will have the rods formed, these rods will be quite twisted and the knots will have irregularities, especially in the part of the knots is where the curves are most accused, because that is where the fibers are intertwined and therefore will not be straight. 3 and 4.

Flattening of knots and straightening of rods In this phase we will straighten as much as possible the rods and flatten the knots. This is done by applying heat to the bamboo fly rod can be done with an alcohol lamp or any other heat source, to be possible that it does not stain and can be easily controlled, today the best is a pickling gun. First heats the part of the knot, turning the bamboo and trying not to burn excessively, once hot and quickly so that it does not cool is introduced into a pressure screw, is kept a few seconds and that part will have remained right, The curves that are not in the knots and some of the knots that are not straight are straightened with a lot of patience applying heat and forcing them with the hands.

The straightening of rods is quite tedious work, we have to bear in mind that to make a two-section rod we need 12 rods, I work with two more, I have them in reserve in case the brushing process deteriorates any, if we take into account that each rod generally has three knots and with this alone, we will have work for a while. It is very important to straighten the strips as best as possible, because it will depend largely on the ease of work in later stages and avoid tensions in the rod once finished. 5.

First brushing of rods For this purpose a series of molds or guides are needed to give hexagonal shape to these rods, as several are needed and the work does not require great precision, as it is not a final stage generally these molds are made of hard wood or other material that is hard enough to be able to brush over it. For this purpose I use a piece of kitchen worktop, has the surface of Formica hardened. In this worktop there are four different grooves, each one for different phases, the purpose is that from here the rods come out in the shape of equilateral triangle. The first of the grooves to use is a rectangle whose height is used to brush the rod on the opposite side to the cuticle and thus leave it at a thickness determined in my case 4.9 m / m.

The second is also a rectangle but milled perpendicular to the previous one and serves to fix the width of the fly rods, in the brush the rods only on one side and get to leave them at 6 m / m which is what has the rectangle and at the same time that part or side that is brushed already remains with a fairly regular surface. The third one is a rectangle but milled to 30 º in which of introduces the rod supporting in its base the part of the rod that we have brushed to give it the width in the previous phase, leaving the part of the cuticle in the longest side of the rectangle, in the case of this drawing the cuticle would be supported in the left part of the rectangle, of this form when brushed to ras de la formica we will have made an angle of 30 º in a face of the rod, the height of this rectangle is of 5,2 m/m.

The height of this rectangle is of 5,2 m/m. We will have made an angle of 30 º in a face of the rod. Finally the fourth is an equilateral triangle whose height is 5 m/m, in which we put the rod so that the cuticle rests on one side and the face that we have brushed giving 30 º on the other, this way we would be in the part brush the side that has not yet touched, once brushed we would also be at 30 º so we would have the rod as an equilateral triangle. 6. Heat treatment Once we have brushed all the rods the next step is to match them in such a way that when we glue them to form the section the knots do not coincide with each other, nor are they placed anarchically, there are several formulas for their placement, I number the rods from 1 to 6 in two lots one for each section also marking which section they belong to and I place the knots of the rods facing each other two by two to the same measure and the following 5 cm. away. In this way the rod No. 1 would be to the same extent as the four, once formed the hexagon these rods would be confronted each other, and so on.

This way the rod nº 1 would be to the same measure that the four, once formed the hexagon these rods would be confronted to each other, and so on. Then cut the length of the rods a little longer than the fly rod is going to be, I work to this point with the rods much longer in order to choose the position of the knots to be possible that are not next to the plugs and especially that at the end of the prop there are no knots as it is a quite fragile part especially when brushing, Once cut are joined to form a hexagon and tied tightly, also to each bunch of six rods I add a surplus, this the bundle on the others, I do this to bake like the others, this rod is not cut to size because leaving it long I can use it for any position. In this way we will put them in the oven for heat treatment, it is about eliminating moisture and at the same time will be more right than they were and without so many tensions. I use a hot air furnace provided by a pickling gun, when I put the hexagon formed by the rods usually has 10 m/m in diameter, and I apply 180 º for 25 minutes. Before introducing them, the oven must have a stabilized temperature. To do this, the temperature must be controlled in several areas of the oven.

7. Brushing guide and tools This is the operation that requires more precision therefore it can be said that it is the most difficult, everything is important but depending on the final measure that we have left and how we have brushed the verillas, will depend largely the action of the fly rod and its quality. To do this, at least the following tools are used: Steel guide: This guide is the one we are going to use to introduce the rods and brush until we get the final measures, it is usually between 120 and 150 cm. long and it is formed by two square steel calibrated 25 x 25 m/m, these measures can vary according to the taste of each one.

These squares are joined together by a series of fixed or steel pins and by an adjustment screw and another as a separator, it means that when we tighten one what we do is to join the squares and when we do on the other we separate them, these screws are placed along the guide every 5 inches (12.5 cm.) because the planes of almost all the rods that we want to do will come to us to adjust to those measures. On one side of the guide and at the junction of both squares there is a slit along the entire guide this slit is triangular 30 º on each side and with a progression in depth of 12 hundredths which means that if we see the part of the prop would have a depth of the guide in the thinnest part of 6 tenths and for the thickest 2.04 m / m. On the opposite side of the guide there is another channel with the same progressions but starting in the thin part with the measures of the thick part of the side of the prop, since this other side of the guide we are going to use to make the section of the fly rod heel.

These measures are indicative because the explanation of how to make a guide needs a separate chapter, a very good option is to visit the next page, it explains very clearly how to build: http://www.thomaspenrose.com/bamboo.htm Carpenter's Brush: As we have to do a very precise job we can not skimp on certain fundamental tools and one of them is the brush, a good brush is the Stanley 91/2 this brush is adjustable with enough precision, has a blade inclination of 20 º and its sharpening is at 30 º. Another good choice is the Stanley 60 ½ is a little smaller than the previous (for me more manageable) brings a blade inclination of 13.5 º and a sharpening at 30 º, the problem that poses that by attacking the blade with less degrees the bamboo can open in front of the cut, can ruin the rod that is brushing, this problem is solved by sharpening the blade at 40 º. You can also have other types of brushes for coarser work, but this is optional. Comparator at least centesimal: The comparator is an essential measuring device for a good job, there are comparators of many kinds, digital, analogical thousandths, decimal centesimal etc.. For convenience speed and versatility I would recommend a digital one and that is thousandths generally we will not be able to adjust the guides to the thousandth, but your vision helps a very fine adjustment. Comparator at least centesimal: The comparator is an essential measuring device for good work, there are comparators of many kinds, digital, analog thousandths, decimal centesimal etc.. For convenience, speed and versatility I would recommend a digital one and that is millesimal generally we will not be able to adjust the guides to the millesimal, but your vision helps a very fine adjustment.

Comparator flat base: It is the foot of the comparator or its support with the flat part of below we will support it in the guide and the tip of the comparator will measure the depth of the guide since it protrudes through a central hole in the base. Palpador or tip of comparator of 60º: It is the piece that will make contact with the cleft of the guide this tip has to have 60º or is equal that the angle of the cleft of the guide, these tips are commercialized in houses of apparatuses of metrology.

Caliper foot or micrometer: it will serve us to measure the rods and for infinity of measurements but, to begin I would recommend the caliper foot and also digital because it is much more comfortable. The micrometer despite being more accurate is a more limited device in use and is not essential. Sharpening stone of very fine grain: It is the stone that we will use to sharpen the blade of the brush, there are many classes but it would be worth one that has a face with a gram of the nº 4.000 and the other thicker, also it is possible to sharpen well with sandpaper, using very fine sandpapers for the fine nº 1.500 approximately and supporting them in a flat surface (for example a crystal).

The good sharpening of the blade is essential to do a good job, the brush should cut the bamboo without making downward force to the brush, ie with its own weight, should be sharpened periodically and spare no attention to this operation. It is also convenient to buy a sharpening guide, it is a tool in which the blade is fixed and you can vary the inclination or degrees of sharpening, makes sharpening much easier. 8. Final brushing Now we will put the guide to measure, on one side serves us for the section of the heel and the other for the prop, I start with the heel, because if I make a mistake I use it for the prop. When the measure is put in the guide the final measure is not put, I taro it to 1 m/m thicker in all the stations of the guide, this allows me to take out a profile with the conicity that requires the plane but 1 m/m thicker in all the length.

There are brush strokes on both sides of the triangle of the rod, the face of the cuticle is not touched yet, there are proportional strokes for example two strokes on each side, so as to make a stop in the guide. Once finished this phase the guide is adjusted again this time to 0,05 m/m smaller than what we had put it.

Now is the time to touch the cuticle part we will do scraping, with the rod placed in the guide and using a blade of a sharp brush, putting it perpendicular to the guide we will give passes until the blade does not eat any material, it is possible that it is not completely regular, that by some place has scraped more than by another, but this is removed with sandpaper when the glue is removed, the important thing is to leave it smooth to have a good fit in the guide and not damage the bamboo fibers.

At this point we will change the measures back to the mold, putting it 0.10 m/m thicker than the final measure of the plane, brushing again and take measurements of all the rods in each season or every 12.5 cm.

If all goes well, the next step is taken, if at any point the measurements fail, the problem is analysed and corrected. You put the mold back to measure this time with the end and brushed, once finished brushing and without changing the measure of the mold places the rod on both sides and scrapes as was done with the cuticle, at this point the measure of the rods should be equal to the plane, the greater the accuracy the better, I usually work with differences of 2 hundredths. Then it repeats everything with the section of the prop, bearing in mind that we are going to work with a profile of 0.80 m / m or less for the thinnest part, we must take extreme care because it is very fragile any bad movement or mishandling of the brush can break the rod. 9.

Glueing of the rods Once brushed all the rods that form the fly rod is proceeded to glue them, for this are placed on a table in numerical order and with the cuticle part down, are fixed at the bottom with tape body in several points of its length, all together followed by each other and aligned with each other. With a toothbrush or brush that does not release hairs extends the payment for the entire surface to be glued, we must ensure that no parts are left without glue, always with great care especially in the fine part, then there is a comparative photo of the rods with a tip of a very fine marker to appreciate its fragility.

Once extended the glue is joined in the form of hexagon and passed through the tying machine, in this machine is given two passes one with the exhaling each direction of rotation in this way will be tight enough and with a regular tension throughout the stretch. The tying machine is very practical because if it is well calibrated by itself eliminates a lot of tension in the fly rod, a hand tying could never be so precise, but for it is necessary to regulate meticulously the tension of the drag belt as well as the tension of the thread that is used to tie, a bad regulation would leave us the sections in the form of a spiral. Done this and even with the soft glue we try to straighten as much as possible and let it dry. Once dry the glue is removed the threads that bind it and sanded to completely remove the glue, ends sanding with 1200 sandpaper to leave the surface completely smooth.

Then you can correct sprains that may have remained this must be done by applying heat but not exceeding 80 º because we could damage the glue. The type of glue to use for the construction of fly rods is something that would need another chapter apart, generally epoxy glues are used, Araldit can be used two components, another better more rigid can be UHU also two components. 10. Adjustment and placement of the plugs Generally the plugs are of the measure that has the hexagon between faces, therefore it is necessary to adjust the profile of the fly rod to that measure or so that a hexagon must be left in a cylinder and this must be done as regular as possible, because if it is not so we can be twisted, for this the best thing is to do it in a lathe, but we don't all have one, as I don't have one, I have made a contraption that applying a drill serves perfectly for this purpose, because it is achieved that the rod turns at a sufficient speed to be able to apply sandpaper in the area that we want to lower.

Once adjusted the plug is glued inside and tied tightly to join the flaps. 11. Varnishing Once it is perfectly sanded and clean we proceed to its varnishing, this operation is quite complicated and important because its good execution will depend largely on not penetrate moisture, but it is also for its aesthetics. There are several ways to give the varnish, you can even give a brush, but is looking to leave a thin film and very uniform throughout the surface while having the least possible defects.

The simplest and most effective way is by immersion, I use a tube of 1.5 m. with a plug at the bottom, which is full of varnish "marine varnish" it introduces the stretch of fly rod and is removed from the tube by an electric motor at a uniform speed, in my case at 4cm. per minute, this way it looks pretty good, you have to be very careful in the place where you do this operation have no air currents or dust in suspension because they would stick the particles to the fly rod. The varnish ends with six coats, the first one is sanded almost completely, is like a pore cover or primer. 12.

Processing of the handle The handle can be made in several ways, for it is used cork, finished handles are sold, also raw to turn them as you want and also cork washers to stick them and do it, I use cork washers of cava stoppers, is a washer of 6 m/m thick that has stuck the stopper in the part that makes contact with the cava. I pierce them in the center and stick them then once dry the glue lijo the cork to give it the desired shape. 13. Positioning of the handle Once the drill of the handle is adjusted to the thickness of the fly rod proceed to place it next to the reel holder, the handle must have a good fit in the fly rod, so the housing drill should not be larger than the diameter of the fly rod, because if it was loose there could be loosenesses that would be noticeable when throwing.

The spool holder is aligned and all the pieces of the holder and the cork handle are glued. 14. Tying of rings The binding of the rings is a rather slow and meticulous operation, because not only is it necessary to put them at a correct distance depending on the type and length of the rod, it is also necessary to align them as best as possible, first it is marked with a very fine strip of tape of bodybuilder all the positions of all the rings and then they are put, the rings before placing them must be prepared because they always have imperfections or do not finish the ends of the temples fine enough, to avoid this problem sand with very fine sandpaper and thus you get to refine the tips and make them a seat as perfect as possible, if you do not do this you will notice much when putting the silk, put the ring and is fixed with a strip of tape body by the opposite sideburn to the one that is going to tie once tied a sideburn is corrected alignment if necessary and tied the other sideburn.

When all the rings are tied proceed to varnish the silk, this is quite slow and requires a lot of patience because there should be no excess varnish, but no areas without it, for this operation I use for the first coat epoxy glue the same as to glue the fly rod but diluted with solvent (20 drops of solvent per 4 cl.) UK with this it is obtained that the silk remains much more resistant that if it is done with varnish, once given this first hand puts the fly rod in a useful one so that it dries and it is distributed uniformly in this useful one puts the horizontal fly rod and by means of a motor goes rotating on its axis, as each section has enough parts tied each rings two more the plugs adornments etc. When giving the varnish or glue is necessary to do it fast enough so that it does not dry out while it is given because if the varnish hardens it would not spread well over the entire surface. After being dry this first coat of glue are applied two more of a special varnish for ringing repeating all operations and waiting to dry all layers.

15. Elaboration of the protective tube The protective tube can be made in many ways, the simplest is to buy an aluminum one, but for a bamboo fly rod it seems that this solution is not the most correct, especially aesthetically. The most apparent is that it is made of leather or wood, I make them of wood, with leather I have not dared yet. I do it with a 4 m/m thick wooden plank from which I cut some slats and make a hexagon with a technique similar to how the fly rod is made. The wooden or leather tube apart from being aesthetically appropriate and original provide a good place to store the fly rod as they are natural and breathable materials and more insulating against heat.

16. Advice to conserve in good state the Sugar Fly rod. Do not expose it to high temperatures for a long time, for example leave it inside a car exposed to the sun, the temperature reached would be high enough to damage it.

2.Whenever you are not fishing, it is best to have it protected inside its case and tube, this will prevent unwanted accidents, especially when travelling by car.

3. Once the fishing day should be dried with a cloth and keep it in its tube and always in a straight position, keep in mind that if the prop was forced into a bad position, for example by a wrinkle in the case, the prop for being the thinnest and most delicate part could bend.

4. Do not store it in humid places. 5. From time to time observe carefully that the varnished surface has no bumps or lack of varnish, if so could penetrate water or moisture and eventually deteriorate.

6. Pay special attention to the plugs, at the beginning of each fishing day should be applied virgin wax or Vaseline, this will get a good grip and at the same time get in and out well.

7. If you ever try to unplug it offers a lot of resistance, do not try to remove it by twisting the two parts of the rod, torsion could remove the rods quite easily, you should always pull frontally so there is no danger of them peeling off. If it still does not come out you can try to do the following: With bent legs the rod is passed behind leaving the plug centered between the legs at the height of the knees in that position the rod is taken with both hands glued each to his knee on the side and force is done by opening the legs, this way we add the strength of the hands with that of the legs, if we do not manage to unplug it anyway we must take it home very carefully placing it in the car in a position that is not hit with vibrations and potholes, and once at home we can try it with some lubricant (oil three in one) by pouring a little into the groove of the two plugs and putting the vertical rod with opening of the female plug upwards and leaving it a good time for the oil to penetrate. If all this does not come out can also try to heat the female part of the plug with a lighter or something similar and so hot try again, always be careful not to go over with the heat.

8. Another bad habit that does not favor the rod at all is when we move by the river and hook the fly in the ring fly carrier if we over-tension the line we will be curving the rod, if this operation is repeated a lot and for a long time could be curved towards that position.