Hand Planing Bamboo for Switch Rods

It’s been a very busy past several days for me in the rod shop.  I’ve started two 10′  6″  5 wt switch rods and have been planning the bamboo strips for the butt, mid, and tip sections of both rods.  It always amazes me how much bamboo shavings come off these thin strips from the planning operation…a mountain of shavings!  And, using a small block plan to do this isn’t exactly an ergonomically friendly process so I take breaks often.  I finished the planning this morning…here is what it looks like!

Hand Planing Bamboo

Hand Planing Bamboo