It all starts with a 12 foot culm of bamboo

Bamboo Rod Build, Part IX, Final Plane

Before I begin the next segment, I'm going to ask you to indulge me a bit with a little holiday story.

I was in the office one day around Thanksgiving, talking with my friend Paul about Christmas gifts. He mentioned that Ray, his 75 year-old father-in-law who is a passionate fly fisherman, always gets the few obligatory “grandfather gifts” and then spends the rest of the time watching other family members rip through presents. “The one thing in life Ray really appreciates is fine fly fishing tackle.” said Paul.

I’ve fished with Ray a few times and he is a great guy. “You know what, Paul, let me build him a bamboo fly rod. I've got a roughed blank already to go and I can have it ready by Christmas." I said.

Paul talked to his wife and they were both very excited about the idea. Paul's wife asked that the rod be inscribed, "Fish fear you; we love you".

The gift was presented much like the BB gun scene from the movie “A Christmas Story”. Ray at first was a little dumbfounded, but according to Paul, the rod was very well received.

Ray stopped by my office a few days ago to thank me for the rod. As I explained the details of cane rod making and his rod in particular, Ray occasionally glanced with pride towards the case that contained his new rod. Here are the emails that Paul and I exchanged shortly thereafter:

Me: Ray stopped by to thank me personally for his rod. It was very rewarding to see how much he appreciated the effort. "Best gift I've ever received!" he said with a gleam in his eye. We did well.
Paul: I knew it would overtake the Oklahoma Sooners jacket (the former best gift) by a mile!
Me: You are on your own next year!
Paul: Old Spice gift set

Way to bring that bar right back down where it belongs, Paul!

Okay, Team Tea Stick, let's turn these exotic strips of grass into a fly rod blank. We now have 1 butt section and 2 tips sections that have been rough planed to about .070 within final taper and baked at 350F for about 20 minutes. The moisture removed during air drying and heat treatment "shrinks" the once wet strips to about 0.060" over finished taper.

First we remove the cotton binding string that held our section together for heat treating. With the finish butt anvil mounted on the MHM base, we check, adjust, recheck, and then triple check the taper for accuracy:



The first strip is mounted, using the same screw hole we drilled at the beginning of the process. This unchanging "zero reference" point ensures that the taper of each strips is exactly the same , which results in amazing measurement consistency and accurate node placement:


Next, the strips are slowly planed down to about 0.015" over final taper, at about 0.001 to 0.002" per pass, no more than 1 increment on the lead screw dial. The strips are checked often with the dial caliper/measuring block combinations:


When all six strips are brought to within 0.015" of final taper, the cutting blades are rotated to fresh cutting edges:


We progress with the final planing very deliberately, taking off no more tha 0.001" per pass and checking measurements often to make sure too much bamboo is not removed:


The tips of the the butt strips brought to a final plane measurement of 0.100" plus 0.002" to allow for enamel removal, which is typically 0.002" deep. Once I reach the desired taper on the first butt strip, the hard stop is set for repeatability on subsequent butt strips. Below is a ferrule station measurement of a butt strip. A perfect 0.102":


The same process is followed for the tip strips, with the final planed tips only about 0.033":


Next step, hollowing.