Bamboo Rod Blanks

Started by RustyTank, November 05, 2014, 01:06:47 AM

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RustyTank

I'm getting ready to start a project... got an old bamboo rod... was fished by my mom for many years... about a year before she passed... she was fishing it... put the rod in a rod holder on the boat for a moment... got distracted... snagged the bottom and snapped the rod at its mid-point...

I'm looking for a bamboo blank  somewhere close to the following specs:

48-60"  .37" at the base and .2" at the tip  or  122-152cm   .94cm at the base and .5cm at the tip

Everything I'm finding is super high priced stuff to make bamboo fly rods.

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to provide.

- RustyTank

alantani

RT, sorry for your loss.  i hope someone here will be able to help!  alan
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!


CapeFish

I am assuming you still have both halves of the rod? If yes, why not fit a brass ferule?

bluefish69

The only 2 pcs. Bamboo Rod that I ever saw had a German Silver Ferrell.

I wish that I had my Uncle's Bamboo & Calcutta rods

Mike
I have not failed.  I just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

Bryan Young

Sorry to hear about your loss.  My friends just lost their mother the day before yesterday.  It's a great loss to loose our moms.

Regarding the bamboo rod, that one may be difficult because it's a fairly thick rod.  It's something that many of the bamboo rod makers would consider those pieces scrap because their butts are normally 0.5" in OD.  I would contact them to see if they have a scrap piece or two.  Then take that scrap and put it in a lathe and sand it down to the desired OD that is needed.  Good luck.
:D I talk with every part I send out and each reel I repair so that they perform at the top of their game. :D

Steve-O

Yea, those high prices are there for a reason. Labor intensive process to make bamboo fishing rod blanks. And the purist will pay that.

Now....were it me......and I really needed Mom's rod back in action.  Well there's this big online auction site that sounds like FleaBay and on there are almost a hundred Bamboo Montague rods from .99 cents opening bid to reasonably priced $50-60 rods.   buy the closest to correct sized one, strip both yours and the purchase and craft them together to make your Mom's rod fishing worthy again.

just a thought.

Best of luck to ya!


RustyTank

Thanks guys...for all the suggestions...

I've got one rod maker with a bunch of pieces that were not "perfect" enough for the fly rods he is building... that may match up to mine...

Also watching ebay for anything close...

I may become a garage sale boy till I find what I need...

I'm thinking of rebuilding a penn silver bay reel of that belonged to her dad to put on it...


RustyTank

found a blank from a fellow in Oregon... nice match for the broken one...

Will post before and after pics next week when I finish.... 

Just in time for Christmas!!!


RustyTank

Bamboo rod project update:  Earlier this fall I posted about the bamboo boat rod my Mom fished for decades.  In fact she fished this rod up until last year, only months before she passed away.  On one of her last trips bottom fishing with my dad, she put the rod briefly in a rod holder, got distracted and the rig hooked the bottom and snapped the rod in two.  One afternoon while in the attic with my Dad, he pointed out the rod, and it was clear it meant a lot to him and he was somewhat distraught about not knowing how to fix the old rod.  Well... I went into his attic one afternoon when he was not home,  retrieved the old/broken rod and a reel that belonged to my Mom's father who was also a fisherman.
That begins the project, it took months to track down a suitable replacement bamboo blank.  There is no one building bamboo boat rods anymore, all the new bamboo is very fine and pricey stuff for very high end fly rods.  Also many of those pieces are not sized right to come close to the small / stubby boat rod I was trying to rehabilitate.   Finally after two months searching, sending emails and scouring the flea markets, garage sales and the internet, I found Bruce Howell, out near Murphy, Oregon who hooked me up with a fine bamboo blank, darn the thing looked like a piece of furniture.  He also spent an hour on the phone with me, talking through how to finish the piece.  THANKS Bruce... your contribution got this project off the ground!
Then it was on to replacing the seized and corroded reel seat.   I found a duplicate old-stock Lakeland 3160 chrome/brass reel seat and ferrule at rodnreeldepot.com and Rod Trine hooked me up!  What a nice piece of antique style fishing hardware.
Royal Silver Manufacturing Company www.rschrome.com of Norfolk, VA did a fine job of chrome plating the winding check for me, and Mud Hole rod building & tackle www.mudhole.com for the tip-top and vintage style mushroom butt cap.
I re-finished the wood but and grip with four coats of Pettit/Z-Spar Captains Varnish thinned with Naphtha... using Bruce's recipe.... it looks GREAT... and then finally The RodFather www.rodfather.co & www.facebook.com/rodfatherva of Hampton, VA for the rod guides and thread, and especially Dwight who  did the most amazing job winding the guides and tip-top with a great old-school/classic dark green and yellow thread!
The reel that belonged to her dad, was an old Penn Silver Beach #99 that was in rough shape, needed new drag washers, and was missing its eccentric spring.  I found the spring on EBay, and new carbon drag washers from Dawn at smoothdrag.com.  It needed a LOT of cleaning and TLC but is now a nice vintage reel, working great all spooled up with new yellow 15lb Mono.
Thanks to all the above for help and the advice on the alantani.com, tidalfish.com and 100ffc.com forums to get me through the project!!!!!
Before and after pics below:

alantani

send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

ossipeter