the creative process

I use Tonkin cane culms imported from China and supplied by Bamboo Australia near Eumundi in Qld.  Dried culms are selected for fibre density and lack of damage or leaf nodes.  I keep a stock of culms in the workshop suitable for many years worth of rod production.   The culms are split, and burned on the inside to drive any residual moisture out of the fibres.  Depending upon the look and feel I am intending, the split culms are flamed on the outside as well to varying extents.  The bamboo is then split by hand into strips.

Strips are selected for a rod and spaced for node placement.  I always use the Garrison style '6 cylinder firing order' node placement as it seems the best distribution of non-conformities in the fibres.  After node placement, lengths are measured and cut oversize to the rod section lengths.  Nodes are then filed and sanded off each strip to flatten it substantially, and each strip is straightened over a heat gun.   Each strip is then rough planed by hand to an equilateral triangular section.  Care taken with these seemingly rough initial steps has a great bearing on the quality of the finished product and so this is a slow and methodical process.

Once all the strips for a rod are prepared, the taper planing can begin.   I fabricated my own steel planing forms, borrowing heavily from design cues of Garrison, Wagner and Bellinger etc.  They are adjustable to within 0.02mm with care (less than one thousandth of an inch in rod building units) and a depth dial micrometer with a 60 degree cone probe is used to set the taper depths at 5 inch intervals along the length of the rod section to be planed.  Rod Lengths are marked on the form and planning can begin.  Surprisingly, if all the previous steps have been done carefully, the planning of the taper is relatively easy.  A few hours can see 6 strips completed. Strips are generally left 3 or 4 thou oversize as the outside enamel of the bamboo will be removed later, slightly reducing the outside dimension to the specified shape.

Strips are then glued together using a high quality epoxy glue and a binding machine to wrap the strips with string tightly into a hexagonal rod section.  The lengths are immediately checked and corrected for twisting and straightness and hung up for a few days to allow the epoxy to harden fully.   Following this wait, the binding string is removed and the glue and outer enamel of the bamboo is scraped off using a metal scraper. A light sand ensures the rest of the enamel layer on the outside of the bamboo is removed.  The transformation from bamboo sticks to a fly rod blank is complete!  It really is like magic.

I finish all my rods by hand rubbing between ten and fifteen coats of Gorilla Glue on the blank.   Used this way, Gorilla Glue forms a very hard, very smooth clear polyurethane coating that looks fantastic and is very durable (and only takes a few days to apply).  Ferrules are fitted by turning the ends of the sections and epoxying the ferrules over each length of the rod.  Guides and reel seat type is selected and cork handle shaped (or an off the shelf handle is used if suitable).  Some of the reel seats you will see are are fabricated by me from 18% Nickel Silver or Aluminium, others I buy off the shelf. The reel seat and handle are glued on the blank and the line guides wrapped using a wrapping machine I built myself many years ago.  I sometimes use colour preserver, and sometimes not - depending what look I want.  Rod wraps are sealed using two coats of CTS Crystal Coat rod building epoxy and a day or so of drying time later the rod is complete.  Simple!

I also make the rod socks supplied with the rods and the aluminum rod tubes for sale here.  They are very cool, but this is done mainly to save expense and add to the unique character of the rods here.