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• Choice of the bamboo culm
• Planing to build a bamboo fly rod
• Bamboo heat treating
• The final cutting for building a bamboo fly rod
• Hollow building bamboo fly rod
• Gluing your bamboo fly rod
• Linking the pieces of bamboo fly rod
• Hand grasp for fly rod
• Guides for bamboo fly rods
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• Varnishing the bamboo fly rod
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EXCERPTS CHAPTER I

CHOICE OF THE BAMBOO CULM

Over the years, many different woods and bamboos have been used as material for making flyrods.

Over one thousand  species  of bamboo  have  been  identified  but only one,   a  cultivated  variety  known  as  "Tonkin Cane," has thé inherent characteristics which make it generally recognized as the best natural fibre from which to build flyrods. In spite of its name Tonkin Cane does not corne from Tonkin but from a small area about a hundred miles northwest of Canton. In 1931 F. A. McClure, an Associate Professer of Botany at Ligan University in Hong Kong, became interested in its unusual characteristics and. travelled up the Sui River from Canton to the area where it is grown, a twenty-five square mile oval overlapping the provinces of Kwantung and Kwangsi. McClure was so taken with the Tonkin Cane that he named it Arundinaria amabilis, "the lovely bamboo."
 
Everett GARRISON & Hoagy B. CARMICHAEL

Reading the Master's Guide of Garrison and Carmichael from which we extract this excerpt, gives us interesting information about the planting and cultivation of the Tonkin Cane. 

This includes the maximum height it can reach, its selection and all the treatment processes prior to exportation to Europe and America.  Nevertheless this information is not very useful to us as we do not control the origin of the  culms we are using and therefore must trust the importers.

Bamboo retailers and importers

Instead of giving addresses which could become obsolete by the time this book is published, I can only direct you to the internet where you will find many sites devoted to the split bamboo and the suppliers.

CANE SELECTION CRITERIA

Properties

Whatever their origin, the bamboo we use is always "Tonkin Plant" and we just have to check the canes for hidden faults notwithstanding the care taken by the suppliers.

From one end to the other the bamboo cane is made of long cellulose fibres filled with lignin, that take the shape of tubes in which the water for the plant's growth flows. 

The finest and most concentrated fibres are on the periphery of the cane and these are the best for the fly-rod builder.

The criteria would be to get a section having the maximum external concentrated primary fibres with the maximum thickness possible.

A bamboo of good quality has a diameter of between 4 and 6 centimetres with a primary fibre thickness of between 2 and 6 millimetres (photos 1.1.1 and 1.1.2).

First you must inspect the vicinity of the nodes in order to detect the transverse cracks caused by the heat treatment made at the plantation.

I think that the quality of the cane is less important than the density of the primary fibres and the node gaps.

The node gaps are largest at the high end of the pole but the fibre density is the weakest.  A good gap value and one that is most desirable is generally between 35 and 50 centimetres. 

(...)

Defects

We must distinguish between the visual faults and the structural ones, the first being only aesthetically awkward whilst the second are often unacceptable.
(…)

STRAIGHTENING

I cannot put too much emphasis on the importance of this operation, which governs all the cutting process.

Obtaining the straightness from all the lines of sight is essential.

A useful tool can be formed from a hard wood sticks in which we make slots of various widths.

This enables the strips to be very accurately straightened (sketch 1.16).

I must give some explanation about the straightening, which many of us tackle in different ways.

Many people straighten their strips only at the node positions and this process cannot be avoided. 

The straightening must however be made more on the outside face of the bamboo nodes.

If a warped strip is agreeable enough conform to the finishing mould, a flatness defect on the outside surface will lead to under sizing while cutting the two other faces (photos 1.17, 1.18.1 and 1.18.2).
There must be no final undulations adjacent the node or for a distance of at least 10 cm on either on the node (photo 1.22).

Straightening the outside face is very easy when at the strips stage.

It is necessary to first straighten longitudinally in order to correct the "elbows".

Then continue to heat at the node positions (outside face up), in order to straighten laterally with regard to the future triangular form and if necessary push a hollow using the thumbs forcing from bottom to top (photo 1.19).

One can also use a vice with flat pieces of wood between the jaws to firmly clamp the strips. (sketch and photo 1.21.1 and 1.21.2).

1.20.1 and 1.20.2. Three quarter and profile views
of node prepared for vice straightening.

To level the "splintered sections" of the node I look at the side of the node and then trim the inside tender part with a file in order to mirror a hollow on the inside facing the outside bump.

Clamping in the vice will ease the bump and cause it to vanish. That is to say trim the tender part in order to get a strip with an even thickness (photos 1.20.1 and 1.20.2). Coming back to the straightening, obviously some constraints were released after the first splitting and oven treatment, and the rough strips may still have a warp.

1.21.1 Straightening system for the outside part
of the nodes by clamping in a vice.

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Bamboo fly rod building ©2010