Local Bamboo Rod Makers?

I am also gearing up to make a bamboo rod, this will be my second rod. For years I wrapped an occasional plastic rod, all the while lusting over my fishing buddys collection of 40 plus Bamboo. I found another freind who restored them, and then started building them. So bought and old rattler Japanese rod, and refinished it. It came out good enough to hang on the wall. Since then I have restored or refinshed around 20 or so. Then I got interested in building. The guys on the Bamboo listserve, gave me the idea to build a PMQ. (where you dont have to have a set of forms). So I built one, and it turned out pretty good. So I have Ordered a set of forms, (from Bellinger) I already have the plane and I am building a heating oven. And a binder, and I'am sure that I'll find a number of other tools in time that I can't "live" without! I live withen Walking distance of the Naches and Tieton River, plus I am retired. So having time to build and Test the rods I build is'nt going to be a problem. So its off to work I go!

Troutcreek, welcome aboard!

That's great Joseph! Keep us posted on your progress.:thumb:

:ray1:Let's not forget photos!:ray1: Post up some shots of your craftsmanship! Making a bamboo rod is an accomplishment to be proud of.

Being new to this, I am also interested in seeing photos of your shop, tools, works in progress, etc.:thumb:

This is a 7' hollowed 3 wt. - 2.8 oz.
The hard drawn ferrules and reel seat were made in my workshop and the guides are snake brand.

I'll post up a few pictures of my last make, "The Raffle Rod".

Mike

Rod Building Tools,
I am currently traveling and don’t have many photo’s. These are pictures of my planning forms and heat treatment oven; I don’t think the oven was quite finished at the time of this photo. The oven is a hot air circulating oven that maintains a very constant temperature.
I made the forms myself and at the end of the process I promised myself that if I ever needed another set I would just buy them. When you balance the cost of the raw materials, time, and blisters from draw filing a set of Bellinger forms is pretty reasonable.
Ray

Troutcreek,

About your oven...you describe it as a hot air circulating oven. What is the source of heat? Heat gun?

Lonnie

Is it Mumbles? Sorry Ed I couldn't resist.

:rofl::rofl::clown::clown:

Mike

Well played Mike!:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Lonnie,
The oven is based on a design by Don Anderson. It is heated with a pair of 60” electric heating elements with an internal fan that pulls air from one end pushes it past the heating elements and enters the other end. 1 element in manually controlled and used for initial heat up (turned on and off with a switch). The other is controlled via a PID temperature controller.
Ray

I thought I'd throw up a few photos of the rod binder that I recently completed. Well, almost completed. I still have to add the hold down clamps for the UHMW rod tracks. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.
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I'm currently working on several other tools & jigs. The next big project will be an oven. :thumb:

Very nice Lonnie!
What.......no particle board?
:rofl:

:rofl::rofl: Never again! That stuff should be outlawed! :rofl::rofl:

Nice workmanship on the binder.

Chris Bogart from Virginia wrote a very good paper on how to set up a Garrison Binder. Thought I'd post a link in case anyone is interested.
http://www.canerod.com/rodmakers/tips/binder.htm


Tom

Great work on the binder. I'd like to start building boo rods. Need mo' money!

Nice work Lonnie! Are you sure you want to get glue dripping all over that? I am curious as to how you created the recess in the UHMW rod tracks?

I just got started on rod #10, a special number I am making for my good friend Kent Lufkin. It's a convex taper based on a Ray Gould taper, 7'10" 5wt.

Mike,

You mean I might have to slop glue all over this thing? :rofl: I made everything (other than the wood torsion box) from either stainless, aluminum, UHMW or delrin, and it can all be easily removed and dropped into a bucket of soapy water or held under the garden hose. Providing I use a water based glue it should clean right up. :thumb:

The UHMW is 3/4" thick. I wanted the groove to be 3/4" wide and 5/8" deep. This would leave me 1/8" of material below the groove. As luck would have it I found a 3/4" core box router bit with a 5/8" cutting length...perfect. I chucked the bit into my router table and used a couple of feather boards...one to hold the UHMW down right over the bit and one to press it into the fence at the bit. Then I simply started running the UHMW sheets through the router a little at a time until I had reached full cutting depth on the bit. It worked fantastic. UHMW machines really easily with woodworking tools (but it is messy as hell!). I added the 3/4" x 3/4" aluminum angle on top of the tracks just to give the UHMW some rigidity and hold it straight.

Thanks for the compliment!

I made some more sawdust in the shop......

This is a planing jig I just finished. It is basically a clamping jig that will hold a bamboo strip on edge so that each edge can be hand planed to a dimension that will fit in the roughing beveler. The clamping force is simply applied by the cam levers forcing a clamping block against the strip. The second photo is an end view showing how a strip sits in the groove.
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This is an attachment I made for my heat gun. It is a mini oven for heating nodes for flattening. The strip rests on two steel rods inside the tube. When it reaches the desired temp....
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It is removed and clamped in one of these vises. I can have two strips going at once to save time.
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This is a simple cradle for hold a full culm of bamboo. The blue cord is draped over the top of the culm and has a loop in the end where I can put my foot and apply pressure to the cord, which clamps the culm in the cradle. This allows me to do the initial work on the nodes like filing/sanding while using both hands.
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