bamboo fly rod building classes

It was busy in the workshop last week as I was conducting my bamboo fly rod building class for two great guys (Mark and Jeff) who came up here from Davis, California. First we got them on the Fall River to test out some bamboo rods to figure out what taper they each wanted. Funny…they each like the same rod, my 7′ 6″ 5 wt Progressive Action Signature Series Rod…so that is what they each built. We spent 7 days going through the bamboo rod building process. They each had strong woodworking backgrounds so they took to the rod building process well. Their rods came out great, and they are now back in California completing the final finishing steps on their rods. Here are a few pictures of our week:

Testing out bamboo fly rods on the Fall River.

Mark and Jeff tag-teaming it on the beveller.

Jeff working hard on his hand planing of thin strips for his tip sections.

All glued up and checking for straightness.

Proud and happy students with their bamboo fly rods.

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.