Tag Archives: bamboo rod building

Recovering from the holidays!

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I’ve had a very busy holiday season with several rods and nets heading out the door, as well as participating in multiple virtual rod building/fly fishing events.  So, I haven’t posted for a few months.  But, I’m back in the normal swing of things in the workshop now.  I normally try to keep a handful of completed rods and nets in my inventory for those folks who call me up looking for something but can’t wait for a few months for me to get a new custom rod/net built for them.  The holiday rush put a noticeable dent in my inventory so today I started on a new rod and a net…it’s always a fun time to get started and “split some bamboo”.  Newly split strips for a 7′  9″  4 wt. Spring Creek Series rod and a new 27″ bamboo trout net are now on my workbench…starting to make progress.

Bamboo strips for a new rod and a net net.

New Tool Arrives

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It’s always fun when a new tool arrives in the workshop. After years of procrastinating, I finally ordered a new dust collection system from JET for the shop, and it came this week After some assembly, it’s now ready to suck like crazy.

It’s here!!!
Some Assembly Required…
All set up and ready to run.

Bronze Finish on Snake Guides

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I’ve always used snake guides on my bamboo fly rods that have a bronze finish. I’m not fond of a chrome finish on guides, and the bronze finish blends very well with the color of bamboo. Unfortunately, bronzed guides are no longer available so I’ve been working for the past couple of weeks to do my own bronzing on my guides. The early results are looking very promising, but I still have a little more testing to do. So far, I’ve come up with a very slight bronze color, all the way to almost black, playing around with time and temperature in the bronzing solution. Here is an example of my test samples:

Bronzing test samples.
And the finished product wrapped on a new rod!

My Recent Rod Building Student’s Experiences

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I recently completed one of my bamboo fly rod building classes with a local Bend resident, Joe. He chose to build a very nice 7′ 6″ medium progressive action 5 wt rod. Joe was quite meticulous in his building efforts, and his new rod came out great. He paired his new rod with a Hardy-built Orvis CFO reel…pretty sweet.

Joe’s new bamboo fly rod

Joe got the chance to take out his new bamboo rod a few days ago on the Middle Deschutes River. Here are his great comments about his experience: “And there I was, catching a nice 14 inch rainbow at Steelhead Falls on a bamboo rod that I made, with great tutoring, and a fly that I tied. Great fun. Man, that rod flexes down to the cork. VERY COOL. Thanks a bunch, Dave! That’s about as good as it gets.”

New Nets and Rods in My Inventory.

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It’s been a very busy last couple of months in my shop. In addition to attending The Fly Fishing Show in Denver 2 weeks ago, I just completed two new bamboo trout nets and a new 8′ 0″ 5 wt Spring Creek Series Bamboo Fly Rod that will all go into my inventory. I always try to keep a handful of rods/nets available for immediate purchase. I’ll have these items on display at my booth at the upcoming Fly Fishing Show in Pleasanton, California in 2 weeks. Hope to see you there.

New Bamboo Trout Nets and a new 8′ 0″ 5 wt. Spring Creek Series Bamboo Fly Rod.