At the request of several folks, I’m now conducting one-on-one bamboo fly rod building classes at my shop. I recently completed a class with Charlotte, a local Bend resident. She worked very hard throughout the class and finished with a fantastic 8′ 0″ 6 wt bamboo fly rod from my Signature Series of rods. Here is her entire rod building process documented in photos.
Getting started selecting the bamboo
Marking the culm for splitting
Making the first split
Making big strips into small strips
Running Bamboo Strips through the Bellinger Beveller
Hand planing strips to final dimensions
Gluing the cork rings on the finished blank for the grip
Wrapping the winding check and guides
And the finished bamboo fly rod
Testing her new bamboo fly rod out on the Fall River
