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I thought I'd add a short clip of the final stages of rough planing the strips to a level edge. If you listen closely you will hear the plane skip in a number of spots as it is pushed down the length of the strip. This is caused by high and low spots after initial splitting. As I continue you...

"I still have a piece of a blank that didn't make the cut, so to speak! Mike, I'll show it to you when I find it!" You need to find that and make a color stick for testing thread wrap colors. SparVar has a real impact on what the thread looks like after the finish coats. Many times, it's...

I'm not aware of a router based tool to use on the metal forms. Routers are annoyingly loud in my opinion. There is one that is called a Medved beveler that I made a copy of but I didn't have much success using it so I went with a Baginski. There are powered bevelers that can take off a lot...

So now we are needing the plane I mentioned before, about $100. This will be the tool for making all the passes on the strips when they are in the form set to the taper of the rod you are making. As you get very close to having the plane kiss the forms many of us change up to a scraper plane...

The next requirement will probably be the most expensive of your acquisitions, the adjustable planing form. This is the piece of equipment that will allow you to create nearly every published taper and whatever taper you create yourself. For a new form you are looking at $800 plus. The...

Next step you will need a medium sized knife to split the culm into strips. I use an old bread knife fo this step. After splitting the culm into strips, you should have about 24 strips from the top half of the 10' culm (tip strips) and 24 strips from the bottom half (base strips). The strips...

I'm going to spend a little time addressing the perceived expense of making a bamboo fly rod, how to start with a minimum cost investment. After getting your hands on a culm of bamboo ($60 now I believe) you will have the potential to make two single tip rods. First thing you will want to do...

While watching this is like watching paint dry it's a big part of bamboo rod making. The bamboo is a very hard material to plane because of the silica embedded in the fibers. The iron takes a real beating so sharpening is something you will learn to do and enjoy knowing that nice clean curls...

Here is Bill making the first few passes with the plane on a bamboo strip.

Time to make 100's of plane strokes and possibly shed some blood. These strips will be razor sharp on the apexes and will make a paper cut feel like it was done with a butter knife. Time to put on the gloves or leave the DNA tag on the rod itself. Most of my rods that I have made over the...

OK we'll try the quiet, zen flame method next visit and hope you don't burn my house down. 🤪

I have to agree, this is one of those last steps before setting the forms that can test your patience. We are using a heat gun that is a noisy affair. I have an alcohol burner, but I'm not really experienced with it so I'm not comfortable having Bill take lessons from me on how to use it. The...

Well I made it back from our South America cruise, so Bill and I got to pick up where we left off a few weeks ago Bill is using heat to straighten the strips and flatten the nodes. Bill was learning the art of bending bamboo over a heat source. There is a lot of technique to correct some of...

Bill I just noticed you missed a great opportunity in the Pay it Forward by Colinshots. Too bad it would have been a great catch for you.

Looks great Steve, glad you got it on the road again.

Wow that really is some bad luck Steve. I'm hoping you and the tranny guys get to the bottom of it. Mike

Glad to see this update for you Jerry, I hope your health keeps improving. Mike

Actually it's a taper I designed, a dual parabolic (I should come up with a better name I guess). The rods action is mostly in the upper half for shorter casts up to about 50', but just when you think the rod has hit it's limit, a secondary taper in the base section kicks in and will launch...

The reel seats are Birds Eye Maple with a light gun stock stain and then a spar var final finish.

Yes, the strips or tines are heated then bent and cooled to hold that profile. Bamboo becomes very pliable when heated either with a flame or a heat gun. Mike