Saturday found us out across the street casting Gene and Wayne’s bamboo fly rods.    Both of the new rod builders ended up with beautiful fly rods-rods that were instant family heirlooms, and would turn the head of anyone that happened to walk by.

Wayne casting his newly-completed fly rod

Gene casts his newly-built Garrison 212e

Comparing the two newly-built rods was an interesting affair.  The Upper Sac Special felt smooth and throughout its length and the Garrison 212e was obviously stronger in the butt.  Gene had remarked during planing that Waynes numbers on his planing form were almost identical to his.  But what a difference in the actions! After giving their rods a thorough work out,   Gene and Wayne put their rods in the tubes, and were on their way home!

Cork grips and ferrules, sanding and dipping were done and now the fun part of wrapping their rods was on the schedule.

A combination of YLI and Pearsalls threads made the color of the bamboo really stand out.  After the non-stop build days of Sunday through Wednesday, a little sit down time was in order.  Because of the tapers Gene and Wayne chose, they were able to use size 14 ferrules made right here at Raine Hollowbuilt Fly Rods!

Wayne wraps his bamboo fly rod

Gene wraps his bamboo fly rod

Well, Wednesday was a blur!  Wayne and Gene got their bamboo rod sections glued up and they came out of the binder straight!

The instructor forgot the camera, so no photos  of Wednesday.

Here is one of Wayne admiring the efficiency of the air vise when it comes to straightening nodes:

Look ma, no hands!

The “straightening suite” used in the rod building class is simply top-drawer!  The combination of heat gun, Waara node press and air vice makes the classic work of node straightening a breeze!

It’s important to realize that heat gun temp and length of jaws on the air vises play an important role in “getting it right”.

We don’t saw strips.  We don’t grind down enamel here at the school.  No short cuts!  All of the steps are “Old School”, guaranteed to give you the look and performance equal to the masters of 60 years ago!

There is nothing that puts a smile on a rod makers face faster than the happy little sound of a sharp plane iron zipping across a section of bamboo!   Plane, plane, plane!!  Both Gene and Wayne enjoyed the day, amazed at the tiny strips  needed to glue up into their tip sections.

Planing bamboo strips into tip strips

By late afternoon, Gene and Wayne were close to being done with the hard part of the job, when it comes to building  a hand planed bamboo fly rod.

Gene and Wayne’s rod building started out with a flurry of activity Monday morning.  After selecting culms and tapers the previous day, the two new rod makers went to work!

Wayne and Gene marking the inside of the culms

Removing the inside of the node flush with the pith

With only two students in the class, there was plenty of instruction and each question was answered immediately!

Gene preps his strips prior to roughing

The work progressed quickly, with the emphasis on straight, straight strips!  Easier to work, and the way to a straight bamboo fly rod!  The large belt sander was only used on the pith side of the strips, to remove the “bumps” created by the inner nodes.  All the culms are split into strips by hand, ensuring that the “grain” is followed.  This is “Old School” in the finest sense of the word.

Last weekend started out with a bang when Gene and Wayne arrived in town to attend their rod building class.    Sunday afternoon had both students selecting their culms, after casting a couple of rods to decide on which taper to use.  Wayne selected my Upper Sac Special, and Gene decided to build Garrison’s 212e.

Selecting culms for rod making class

Wayne had driven 600 miles to get to the class…..and Gene drove 2000 miles to attend!  Both students liked the look of the gold toned rods, and off they went to split and straighten.

Here is a picture of Luke with his brand-new split bamboo fly rod that he made in my February class.  Luke and Jim kept long hours and were both able to complete an extra tip section, in addition to their two piece, one tip rods, that they took from culm to completed bamboo fly rods in just a week!

Luke and his finished rod from class

Your week is my week, and I’m there as long as you need.  If you want to plunge ahead and start a second tip for your bamboo fly rod, let’s do it!

There was a lot going on this past Wednesday when it came to rodmaking! Here are some more images of Wednesdays rod making class:

Setting planing form in rod making class

Left: Luke is setting up his planing form for the butt sections.

Jim setting up planing form in rod making class

Taking lots of bamboo off the strips in rod making class

By late afternoon, Luke and Jim had started to get the strips of their rods down to final dimensions.

Wednesday was indeed a long day during this week of rod building.   Both students learned the complex art of straightening and pressing nodes the Garrison way.  No shortcuts here.  Just learning the artisan’s craft.

No shortcuts here!  Hand splitting bamboo, hand straightening bamboo and hand planing bamboo for classic fly rods is how I do it here!  If you saw your strips, and grind them flat, you are not getting your monies worth.  The goal of my classes is to get the students up to speed and experienced in the classic Garrison method of rod construction.  After taking my class, students cans buy the minimum of equipment, and produce a fantastic bamboo fly rod on their own.

Luke getting his strips arrow-straight for his bamboo fly rod

After much work, and oven tempering, the strips are ready for the planing forms!  Here Jim is getting ready to plane out the butt strips for his bamboo fly rod:

Jim is seeing his bamboo fly rod take shape

The rest of the week is easier.  All of the heavy lifting has been done by Wednesday!

The real work begins!  Here Luke and Jim are hard at work during their week long bamboo rod making class.  Tuesday is splitting, straightening and pressing bamboo strips.

Luke is splitting cane for his bamboo fly rod

The phrase “hand split bamboo fly rod” takes on a special meaning after spending some time reducing the width of the strips with just your hands!

The art of splitting cane

Careful instruction yields outstanding results.  Both Jim and Luke had outstanding control over the widths of their strips after just a few tries.  Controlling the width of the bamboo makes the subsequent operations easier and faster.

STAY TUNED