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Now, I pride myself on building blanks without glue lines (and have a series of complex steps I go through to avoid them that I will write about some day), but glue lines can be due to any one of a number of causes and are usually of no import whasoever. Moreover, *most* builders get glue lines on blanks from time to time and deal with them by literally filling them in with glue and sawdust (hint: I use Titebond II, thinned with water, and wood powder, the stuff sold as a mix for use with System III Epoxy - works like a charm. Dr it overnight and file the plane flat and the gap fills like magic). There are several causes for glue lines. They are almost impossible to avoid with URAC 185 activated with ammonium chloride (AC) or with the two part liquid Resourcinol glues. The URAC mix is a good glue, but is so thin that anything other than absolutely perfect will show on an edge and I have yet to see a blank glued with that mix that I can't find one imperfect spot. And I've looked at thousands of rods. With Resourcinol, a glue I happen to love, if the mix and temperature aren't absolutely perfect, the *&$)! stuff will soak into the bamboo and show up as a dark line on the edge -- worse, as a wavey dark line because the bamboo is of different densities in different places, so the bamboo absorbs the glue differently. If the glue is too thick, you don't even want to think about the result For all of that, they are two of the best glues you can possibly use for bamboo rods and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either of them for a rod that needed to last 100 years. (Note: Cure a section with either of these at too low a temp and these will crystalize and literally peel the splines of the section apart.) Now, modern hide glue and Titebond I will fill in gaps. Glue up a blank with either of them and, even if the planing and fit is lousy, you can sand and file the most perfect looking edges imaginable. But, the resulting rod is pretty questionable as a fishing tool. There are lots of other glues, especially water based glues, that have great gap filling ability, but allow for the creep of sections... you end up with a soft feeling rod, one that will break down over time, too. Titebond II and III are marginably better than type I, and you can do things to a section glued with them that make them pretty good glues (like RF curing) and the Gorilla glues are reportedly great (I haven't had good luck, consistently, so don't use them) and I ran through a whole series of tests with epoxies (ask Joe Beelart, sometime) that put me off them for good. The same applies to Melamine glues, but you need to watch your curing temperature with those *very* carefully and all of the warnings about Resourcinol and thinning and flow apply here, too).