Bamboo Rod Build - Picking up Where I Left Off

[Bajema]

A number of years ago I started working on a bamboo rod. I got some planing forms, built a rough beveler, made a heat treatment oven and got to work. After getting the butt section planed life got in the way and it's all just been sitting there unfinished. Lately I've been getting the itch to get back to work on it. This morning I got the planing forms set up for the tip section and started working on those strips. I'm trying to just take it easy and not stress too much about getting everything perfect (it's my first rod after all). If I end up off on some of my dimensions by a few extra thousands, it's still going to catch fish after all. It's a Dickerson 7613, but I don't remember exactly why I picked that particular taper. I'll try to update this thread as I make progress.

 

[Mike Monsos]

7613 is a great taper, rather fast for bamboo and an easy switch for a plastic rod caster. I'd like to offer a bit of advice from my learning curve. Start planing your tip strips in the base settings in your forms. As you get the tip strips planed down to the base strips taper adjust the forms and dial them in. If you over plane a tip strip, no worries, it will be a lot smaller when you get to reset the form to the tip taper. Now plane your base strips to the taper. Plus, a benefit is that the tip strips are somewhat tapered now and much smaller than a roughed strip. The tip strips will be much closer to the form settings when you move to the tip strips.

Mike

 

[Bajema]

7613 is a great taper, rather fast for bamboo and an easy switch for a plastic rod caster. I'd like to offer a bit of advice from my learning curve. Start planing your tip strips in the base settings in your forms. As you get the tip strips planed down to the base strips taper adjust the forms and dial them in. If you over plane a tip strip, no worries, it will be a lot smaller when you get to reset the form to the tip taper. Now plane your base strips to the taper. Plus, a benefit is that the tip strips are somewhat tapered now and much smaller than a roughed strip. The tip strips will be much closer to the form settings when you move to the tip strips.

Mike

That’s a great tip. What I did today, was set the taper on the tip side, and then flip the forms over and started planing them on the butt strip side of the forms. Sounds like a similar strategy, but I think I’ll do what you suggest for my next rod.

 

[Dave Dozer]

Good luck on your first rod, and don't hesitate to raise questions if you get stuck on something. We're all happy to help out.

Dave

 

[Kado]

Sizing the strips .02 smaller got me closer to the final correct taper dimensions...probably due to glue thickness. Seeing how fine the tips of the strips get is pretty awesome.
I believe that is one of my SRC rods....casts great!

 

[Bambooflyguy]

Great you getting back in the game! Did I light a little fire??

 

[PhilR]

This is so cool to see. I remember you mentioned life getting in the way, but I wondered if you ever picked this back up again.

Btw, the mitten clamps you gave me in the secret Santa are still going strong.

 

[Bajema]

Great you getting back in the game! Did I light a little fire??

I mean I can’t give you all the credit, but you certainly through a log on the fire.

 

[Bambooflyguy]

A little fire Justin.....no credit claimed.....now get back in the shop and get that bamboo ready for spring!!

 

[Mike Monsos]

Sizing the strips .02 smaller got me closer to the final correct taper dimensions...probably due to glue thickness. Seeing how fine the tips of the strips get is pretty awesome.
I believe that is one of my SRC rods....casts great!

I also size my strips a touch under the target. For my first few rods I was constantly plus a few thou at all stations planing to the actual taper numbers. Not sure where the difference was created but after I reduced the base strips by about .002" and the tip strips by about .0015" my taper stations came in on the money after glue up. So now it's what I do for every rod. YMMV

Mike

 

[Bajema]

I appreciate these tips.

 

[Kado]

I also size my strips a touch under the target. For my first few rods I was constantly plus a few thou at all stations planing to the actual taper numbers. Not sure where the difference was created but after I reduced the base strips by about .002" and the tip strips by about .0015" my taper stations came in on the money after glue up. So now it's what I do for every rod. YMMV

Mike

Yeah…….002 not .02 : )
Slight difference!

 

[Tim Cottage]

I have a slightly different perspective on reducing your strips to match your intended numbers. It goes something like this.
As long as your strips are accurate I'm not convinced it matters if your numbers are over a thousandth or two at most due to glue thickness as long as the overage is consistent along the length of the rod and you have done a good job of binding (firm enough to squeeze out excess adhesive but not so firm as to create twists) the end result is that your target taper and line weight are still there. By target taper I mean the shape of the rod with all its ups and downs along its length.

 

[Kado]

I have a slightly different perspective on reducing your strips to match your intended numbers. It goes something like this.
As long as your strips are accurate I'm not convinced it matters if your numbers are over a thousandth or two at most due to glue thickness as long as the overage is consistent along the length of the rod and you have done a good job of binding (firm enough to squeeze out excess adhesive but not so firm as to create twists) the end result is that your target taper and line weight are still there. By target taper I mean the shape of the rod with all its ups and downs along its length.

My rods seemed to cast fine...just one line wt up from the original taper design...unless I reduced that .002 inch. This could have to do with my casting ability too..... : )

 

[Bajema]

Anyone have any thoughts or opinions on hand binding? I’m still working on planing the strips, but I’m starting to look towards glueing up the blank. I don’t really want to create another project for myself by building a binder right now, so I’m leaning towards just binding by hand.

 

[Kado]

I hand bind and haven't really have'nt had any problems that I know of so far. You'll be binding the rough planed strips prior to heat treating anyway, and it gives a good practice run as you rotate one direction and then flip the section around and then wrap going back the other way. I can't even remember if I go counter to the previous wrap, but you'll recognized the appropriate 'look' to the wraps as soon as you start. My difficulty has been on the glue up and removing the tape as I wrap as sometimes it's difficult to get all the painters tape off as I'm wrapping with my hands covered in glue. I use gloves and have two extra clean pairs ready in case I need them. I also roll the section between two very flat boards after glue up to make sure the section is as straight as possible.
When you cut your sections to length and see that perfect hexagonal cross section....it's pretty cool!

 

[Bajema]

I hand bind and haven't really have'nt had any problems that I know of so far. You'll be binding the rough planed strips prior to heat treating anyway, and it gives a good practice run as you rotate one direction and then flip the section around and then wrap going back the other way. I can't even remember if I go counter to the previous wrap, but you'll recognized the appropriate 'look' to the wraps as soon as you start. My difficulty has been on the glue up and removing the tape as I wrap as sometimes it's difficult to get all the painters tape off as I'm wrapping with my hands covered in glue. I use gloves and have two extra clean pairs ready in case I need them. I also roll the section between two very flat boards after glue up to make sure the section is as straight as possible.
When you cut your sections to length and see that perfect hexagonal cross section....it's pretty cool!

What glue do you use for hand binding. I was originally planning on going with Titebond III, but wondering about the working time.

 

[Tim Cottage]

What glue do you use for hand binding. I was originally planning on going with Titebond III, but wondering about the working time.

Nothing good can come from under estimating the amount of working time you are going to need.
Spread, roll, bind, flip, bind in opposite direction, wipe, straighten.

 

[Mike Monsos]

My difficulty has been on the glue up and removing the tape as I wrap as sometimes it's difficult to get all the painters tape off as I'm wrapping with my hands covered in glue. I use gloves and have two extra clean pairs ready in case I need them.

What I do is to wrap my narrow tape strips counter to the way I am going to wrap first pass and fold over the last 1/4" tab of tape on itself of the tape so I have something (a flap) to grab as the rod is passing through the binder. It is tough to find the end of the tape and get it lifted covered in glue and glue all over your gloves.

Mike

 

[Kado]

What glue do you use for hand binding. I was originally planning on going with Titebond III, but wondering about the working time.

Titebond 3…and I don’t dally around.
There are some decent YouTube videos available.