Exciting Bamboo Stuff for the next few months

[Chee Yung]

Hi BoBs ,

The ang-khlong sounds of bamboo are building up into a frenzy beat even as good ole TY, Q & others revolutionizes our fishing home waters

Caning events in the next six months include:

1) Reading of Limited Edition book by Jeff Hatton and signed edition of AK Best's latest book.
2) DVD marathon of 'Trout Grass', 'Rodmaking & Finishing DVDs' by Goldenwitch
3) Plans to have a combined effort rodmaking workshop ... bamboo already cut and cured ..
4) Rods/reels to test including hollowbuilt Jeff Hatton mortise, Tim Zietak Quad, AJ Thramer Limited Edition, New Gary Lacey 3rd generation Granger, Calviello bamboo ferruled hollowbuilt, fantastic restored rods by Billy, TY & Uncle Wong, Bradley reel, etc ;D ;D
5) possible spar varnish sniffing session ;D

Volunteers needed for venue of gathering and of course spare room for the workshop ;D

Exciting Huh?

Cheers
CY

[TarponCraz]

Chee Yung,

You have cut and cured some bamboo already? You must be the one who got into my neighbour's house 3 months ago and cut off his favourite boo cos I could hear him cried out "**#@!&! who cut off my bamboo in the garden?........" from 2 streets away ;D ;D ;D Now he must have regreted he didn't unchained his bull terrier that night ;D ;D

It will be great to organise such a workshop but location is a headache eh. I don't have a spare room but I have a car porch that can be use albeit a bit warm. This can be an option until someone can spare a room, how about it?

You must have bought all the planning forms, plans, binding station, heating oven etc, etc, have you not?

[Nutzfactory]

Hi Chee Yung,

Sorry to have spoilt your surprise. Just got google desktop and somehow, it updates me with some blogs that were related to fly fishing. ;D And you've guess it. There was the article. So thought I'd join in the fun posting in this thread since I dun really own a bamboo rod but hope to have one in the near future.

I see that you are into building your own. When are you going to do a demo. I've got lots of my mum's bamboo poles. Can they do? Though I'd expect to build a 18-wt rod with that. Or, in the worst case, build a Maldavian Tuna fishing fly rod.

Cheerios

mel

[Chee Yung]

tarponcraz said:

Chee Yung,

You have cut and cured some bamboo already? You must be the one who got into my neighbour's house 3 months ago and cut off his favourite boo cos I could hear him cried out "**#@!&! who cut off my bamboo in the garden?........" from 2 streets away ;D ;D ;D Now he must have regreted he didn't unchained his bull terrier that night ;D ;D

It will be great to organise such a workshop but location is a headache eh. I don't have a spare room but I have a car porch that can be use albeit a bit warm. This can be an option until someone can spare a room, how about it?

You must have bought all the planning forms, plans, binding station, heating oven etc, etc, have you not?

Uncle Wong,

No I haven't bought any special tools yet but I'm borrowing a roughing form, guages etc. from Tengku who is busy with a nice 'chick' ;D at the moment . We actually cut down a 30ft 3.5inch diameter bamboo and dried it months ago.... could have been your neighbours' ;D... Wanna go find somemore? I am searching for that elusive 5'" diameter indonesian black bamboo ... O yah... I found a way to heat treat the boo culm without an oven
users.adelphia.net/~dhayashida/flam...bamboo_culm.htm
... so your carporch will certainly do ... the open ventilation will keep the fume level low and hell with the bamboo dust

I have looked all around for a good set of tools and Goldenwitch has the best offer (from them specially to me):

"The Rod Shop"

A Complete Rodmaking Shop For Making Traditional, Handplaned, Split-Cane Fly and Spin Rod Blanks.

Your Cost: $2919.00 + S/H/I, which includes a $210.00 Rod Kit At No Charge


7613 LT Rod Kit (the freebie)

Froe With Oak Handle

6-Way Pie Splitter

Barrel Shaped Mallet

The Roughing Form

The Intermediate Form

Swelled Butt Form

GW Depth Gauge Package

GW Glue Binder

Glue Binder Splash Guard

Binding Boards

Glace Cotton 16/4 & 12/4

Lie-Nielsen Blade

Lie-Nielsen Hand Plane

Waterstone Set (three)

Tri-Scraper Pair

Hex V-Block

Inch/Metric Dial Caliper

Center Gauge

Abbott Cork Clamp

Glass Alcohol Lamp

Ferrule Puller/Adjuster

The Ultimate Ferrule Station Cutter

S&H about $USD650.00

I think if we are really serious and willing to split the cost, it is ok especially with swelled butt form, Lie Nielsen plane and a dickerson 7013 set thrown in ... need to confirm before 15.10.2005 for this offer price but it is okay to take things slow ... I already wrap rods/shape cork with the minimal tools ( telephone book & bottle technology ) and would love to see some high tech binding jigs that you have.

Mel , no problem bro... I'm just glad you are interested in Bamboo ;D... I dont think you can kapor the boo from your mom as we need boos with at least 1/3 inch of pure powerfibre... especially if you want a Tuna stick! ;D.. BTW I'm not half as good as uncle wong or tan yik in this rodbuilding thing ... so no demonstration yet. That is why I bought the Goldenwitch videos... maybe we can all learn together

Cheers
CY

[TarponCraz]

Chee Yung,

The list of tools offerred by Golden Witch look pretty impressive. However, before deciding to go ahead with such project, you need to consider our high humidity here that will hinder the boos from dryinging out to an extent fit for rod building. In US, most sifus didn't (maybe still don't) build blanks during their humid summers. Kiln drying is an option but extensive heat and prolong heating time may weaken the natural binding agent that hold the fibres together. That's why I go along restoring/refurbishing old boo rods obtained from US market. My biggest challenge now is how to get spar varnish to be shipped to Singapore. Qwek sifu might be able to help.

[Chee Yung]

Hi Uncle Wong,

Good advice and something I have considered for more than a year... I even measure and test my rods just to see if such a phenomena exists.... it does but not to a degree as to spoil the rod.

I deal with wood everyday as a building and joinery material (exposed wood is worse than bamboo in humid conditions) and used to play with lots of bamboo in my youth ( kites, bazookas, bows and arrows and fish poles of course!). So far, the climate is not the main problem. It is the initial drying/stabilizing that when not properly done, causes problems. Most rodmakers only work in winter because that is when they cant fish and guide. Other full time makers work year-round

It is okay if no one wants to commit in this project as it was not started to commit others. I will work on it slowly and patiently and see what happens ;D... just wanted to let you guys know that I think it is not impossible to make rods here.

Well the rest of the show will still go on ;D ;D

Cheers
CY

[TarponCraz]

Chee Yung,

Off course the show will still go on! It will be a good experience to have a hand in planning the boos in a form, whatever result may turn out . Lets plan to hold it before Oct 15 so as to experience/evaluate the process and discuss about the whole thing.

If you don't mind, I would like to suggest to add a compound splicing form to the list. This can be used to construct nodeless blanks and repair broken boo rods in the future.

[Chee Yung]

Uncle Wong ,

I'm sorry the DVDs will only be available in the US after October 15th. So the show will only start late October when the DVDs arrive here ... and I'm sure we will miss the offer date. However, offers will come and go but rushing in and buying a wrong set is a costly mistake... I've already told Goldenwitch that we will take our time

You are right that we should add a splicing block in the list. One other way to heat treat without a bamboo oven is to build nodeless rods and use the home oven ;D ...

Will keep you all informed as to the coming show .. Thanks for the great response

Cheers
CY

[Nutzfactory]

Hi CY,

Plese correct me if I am wrong but I seem to notice that a lot of the Boo rods are 3 pc. Is there a reason for it? Or are there multi pc rods available? If we make multi pc rods, then can we not use convectional ovens to dry the boos? These are questions from a 'boo idiot' who is taking a small step into a big unknown. ;D

thanks.

mel

[gnome]

Mel,

The list of tapers is almost infinite when you consider that Bartlett and Chubb and Chubb/Montague along with Divine and Leonard and Thomas and Edwards and Payne and Dickerson and Young and H&I and S.B. and Heddon, Granger and etc. tried almost every conceivable taper and this was done in lengths from 4' to 20' plus and in pieces numbering from 1 to as many as 7 or more.

One rod in my collection is a Montague trade rod from 1900-1925 (Made for the Ellery Arms Co.) and it is a combination rod that has a reversible grip and makes into 2 fly rods one 6'6' and the other at 5'6" , along with the matching length bait casting rods. The individual pieces of the rod are only 12" long and thus can be made node less with no splicing and also it can be heat treated in your convection oven in your house but be ready for the smell

I am not sure how many tapers there are but it must number in the thousands if you consider all of the bamboo rods made in the last 150 years.

I am afraid I have just muddied the waters and not made it more clear. And at the same time if there is a rod in my collection that anyone wants the taper for just ask, I am glad to help in any way that I can.

Humbly yours

Jeff

P.S. Can you get Formbys furniture refinishing products over there? if so their tung oil varnish would be a good alternative to spar if you can not get it.

[Chee Yung]

nutzfactory said:

Hi CY,

Plese correct me if I am wrong but I seem to notice that a lot of the Boo rods are 3 pc. Is there a reason for it? Or are there multi pc rods available? If we make multi pc rods, then can we not use convectional ovens to dry the boos? These are questions from a 'boo idiot' who is taking a small step into a big unknown. ;D

thanks.

mel

Mel,

A creative observation/solution from an imaginative person indeed! Jeff is absolutely correct and even has the huge rod collection and experience as a builder to back his words... Thanks Jeff ! Hmmm... Formbys sound familiar...will check it out..Thanks !

IMHO, a lot of old rods ( smith age 19th century) are multi-piece as mentioned by Jeff due to the fact that people then used rods for all purposes and has a 'kit of parts' mentality to just configure whatever they want . Very impressive stuff and I'll show you guys later when I bring his book.

The 3- piece classic and modern bamboos are mostly for transportation purposes. As rods become shorter and lighter, ferrules are reduced to cut down the weight/hinge or flat points to produce smoother, lighter and more powerful short rods. Many of the best tapers are still 2pc rods . Some people even think that certain actions like the PHY Young parabolics cannot be made into multiple sections.

Hope this helps

Cheers
CY

[FCUK]

Hmmm....

Some people can see the future by reading tea leaves
Yesterday I accidentallly phuut one smokey one out and saw this headline leh :

" OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF BEDOK RESERVOIR FOR FLYFISHING ACTIVITIES "

A prestigious bamboo fly rod, believed to be the first of its kind to be handcrafted in S'pore, was presented to the Minister of Enviroment and Water Resources
at the Official Opening of Bedok Reservoir for Flyfishing Recreation, by the Foundation For S'pore Flyfishing ( FFSF ), represented by Q, BT, TY, CY and KY(?),
in association with SFAS, in commeration of PUB's kind understanding towards the needs of S'pore fly anglers.....

[Chee Yung]

;D ;D ;D... We need more than KY to smoothen this rodmaking process ... howabout a $3K grant from PUB

Yes, I have thought of it but it will be a few years later when we officially open our 'clubwaters' and have the dinner and pavon 'dance' ;D ;D ;D... AND present our own 'Infante cane' taper ;D

Thanks for sharing our hopes and my dream FC

Cheers
CY

[Qwek]

Hi folks,

I found some interesting article while looking for my way out of the woods ;D :

20 Easy Steps To Make Your Own Split Bamboo Fly Rod!
While these pictures are not all of the same rod, It will let you follow the basic steps needed to make you own bamboo rod!

Here's the link: www.mshaybamboo.gq.nu/Photo3.html

and here's a whole of links for boo-lovers... www.bamboorods.it/link.htm

Enjoys... and don't get lost in the woods.

Cheers
Qwek

[Chee Yung]

Qwek ,

Good that you have found Mike Shay's site ... he is one of the rodmaker friends frequenting our site and he advises me on equipment purchase .... even offered me a bunk just in case the missus kicks me out! ;D ;D... a gentleman that Mike ;D

One thing I can assure those coming into 'the woods'.... it is never lonely here ;D

Cheers
CY