As this week comes to an end, a couple of students taking bamboo rod making classes at Raine Hollowbuilt Fly Rods have spent well over 40 hours of class room instruction building their own bamboo fly rods.  Starting with a culm of bamboo, these two hardy fellows have progressed through all the stages of a traditional build and are finishing up on their first bamboo fly rods.

Luke flames culm for bamboo fly rod

The  image to the left shows Luke starting the week flaming his culm of bamboo.

Luke chose a medium flame for his bamboo fly rod, while Jim preferred a lighter color.

Jim, shown below,  was impressed by the amount of water both liquid and vapor that escaped from the culm during his three-part tempering of the bamboo.

Jim tempering culm of bamboo for his bamboo fly rod

This started the fun for the week!  More to follow.