It all starts with a 12 foot culm of bamboo

Bamboo Rod Build. Part VII, Rough Beveling

When I got the bamboo bug a few years back, I did some research to decide the best approach I should take to build rods. I read about the Morgan Hand Mill (MHM), which was designed and marketed by Tom Morgan, former owner of the Winston Rod Company, and I quickly realized it was exactly what I was seeking. Morgan is a brilliant man. Amazingly, he developed many of his ideas for the MHM over the past decade through the hands of others while suffering almost complete paralysis as a result of multiple sclerosis.

The MHM is an incredibly well-made and versatile rod making tool. I was espeicially interested in being able to hollow build my rods (more on that later), and the MHM is one of the best tools on the market for that purpose. Swelled butts, one piece rods up to 7 '9", hollow-building, star hollowing, bamboo ferrules, etc, almost anything is possible with the MHM. The beauty of the MHM is that as long as proper attention is given strip preparation, the unit mills both pith edges of a strip at the same time to a perfect 61.5 degree bevel.

Incidently, the reason for 61.5 degree, as opposed to 60 degrees angles is related to an old carpenter's trick. When six 61.5 degree strips are assembled, the outer edges touch first, greatly reducng the chance of creating unsightly gluelines.

While this is certainly not to say that the MHM is the only tool that will make a good rod, it meets my needs perfectly. If you want to learn more about the MHM, please check out Tom's site: www.troutrods.com. Tom's site provides an excellent overview of the MHM.

As opposed to the MHM, tapers are set on conventional Garriso-style planing forms by spreading two steel bars apart or pulling them together with push/pull bolt. The steel bars each have a mirrored 30 degree bevel on their inside edges, together creating a 60 degree bevel. The more the bars are spread apart, the larger the strip diameter will be at that station. A depth gauge with a point is used to set the taper at the various 5" stations. Strips can only be planed on one side at a time, so they have to be constantly flipped to get the correct bevel on each of the two interior pith edges and it can be difficult, especially for a beginner, to maintain perfect 60 degree angled strips. The enamel side is never planed with either a MHM or conventional forms because precious power fibers, which are most plentiful at the surface just beneath the protective enamel, would be removed. The power fibers are what gives bamboo its famous strength and elasticity.

Using conventional forms, however, the enamel or bark of the strip is sanded off just before final planing so the strips fit tightly in the form. Morgan recommends leaving the enamel on the strip when using a MHM until after final planing and glue-up. The taper is adjusted by about 0.002" to allow for the thickness of the enamel to be removed at the end of the porocess.

Conventional planing forms manufactured by JD Wagner:


Conversely, a taper is set on the MHM anvil by push/pull screws located under the form that raise up the anvil to set the taper, again, measured at 5" stations with a depth gauge. The MHM is outfitted with two disposable carbide blades that are set exactly 61.5 degrees apart, allowing the MHM to planed, or, more accurately, scrape bamboo from both interior pith edges at the same time. The enamel side of the bamboo always remains face down against the anvil, protecting the valuable power fibers. Morgan Hand Mill:


Okay, let's bevel some bamboo. The bamboo strips have been soaking for about 24 hours; which will make it much easier to bevel. Because the strips dry quicky in ambient air, they are remove one by one from the water. First we set the taper at 5" stations along the anvil using the push/pull screws to raise or lower the planing form:


Next a wet strip is secured to the anvil with a screw:


The cutting head is forced down by turning the lead screw on the top of the mill clockwise in small increments. One full rotation of the screw would equal 0.050", with each mark on the dial representing 0.002". Initially, the wet strips can be milled as much as 0.020" per pass:


Once an apex is formed on the top of the strips, a hold down shoe attachment is added to help keep the strip in the proper milling position on top of the anvil:


Milling the wet strips to a rough taper, approximately 0.070" over final taper, goes very quickly with wet strips:


Peridocially strips are checked with a dial caliper, which is fitted with a 61.5 degree block for easy measuring of the angles:


Once the first strip has been milled to the desired rough taper, the hardstop screw is set so the cutting head cannot be forced down any further. This makes cutting subsequent strips very easy; you just keep milling the next strip until you hit the hardstop. Because of this feature, strips milled on a MHM are amazingly consistent. The rough tapered strips are bundled together in the original defined order and held temporarily with masking tape:


The rough taper strips are now bond together, using a Garrison-style binder, to prepare them for heat treating:


Twenty pound test dacron backing, wrapped twice around rough strips, serves as the drive belt, rotating the strips forward as a hand wheel is turned. Meanwhile, a separate cotton glace string is pull off its spool and wrapped around the roughed bank proportional to the tension supplied by the drive belt. This will hold the strip together tightly during the heat treating phase to promote straighter strips:


Once a rough tapered section is wrapped end to end, the drive belt is reversed (back to front) to rotate the section forward in the opposite direction. The strips are wrapped in both directions to prevent twisting:


The same approach for the 12 tip strips, using a different anvil because the tip strips are narrower.