This past December, Mary Ann decided she wanted to build her own bamboo fly rod. She has watched me for years and she has several of her own rods that I have built, but this would be the first one she built all on her own. She chose to build a medium-fast action 8′ 0″ 6 wt rod. There are many steps to building a custom bamboo fly rod but here is her build process captured in a just few photos. Enjoy.
First step – Selecting the raw bamboo culm.
After the bamboo culm was cut to length, it was time to split it by hand into thin strips
Splitting thick strips into thinner strips.
After heat treating the strips and running them through a beveler to rough out the 60 degree angles, it was time to hand plane the strips down to final taper dimensions.
Measuring the final strip dimensions for accuracy.
The finished strips are ready for gluing.
Applying the glue to the strips.
Running the Glue Binder.
Gluing on the Ferrules.
Gluing on the Cork Grip.
Sanding the Cork Grip
The rod needs to get signed with Pen and Ink.
Hand Varnishing the Rod.
TIme to wrap the guides and varnish the wraps.
The finished Bamboo Fly Rod.
The finished Bamboo Fly Rod.
Awesome! I think a two-harder is next on the list!