I may not yet be good at it, but at least I am a rod maker of sorts
Just got back from the Catskills Fly Fishing Center and Museum's 2009 Cane Rodbuilder's course. Five day course, this year there were 5 students and 3 instructors - David Van Burgel, Kathy Scott and Art Port, great people and teachers.
Truly an experience, Yeah - I know old hat to you experienced folk, but the transformation from culm to wand is really something to see the first time. I know there are several good classes out there, but I do highly recommend this one if you're in the neighborhood.
Starting out the first night before the class started, we got to cast several different rods and choose a taper. I decided on a Garrison 7 ½ 209. We went through all the steps from the culm, flaming, splitting, heat treating, flatten the nodes and rough shaping the raw material. We learned how to set up a beveller and the planning forms, properly sharpen a plane and take the bamboo down to final dimensions, stagger the nodes and then glue up and bind the strips. After curing, it was clean up the sections and ferruling the blanks and finally installed the grip and reel seat. The goal of the class was to take home a single tip rod ready to wrap and finish. Having put together graphite rods before, doing these last steps did not concern me.
I put in a little extra effort and put together two tips and luckily that decision gave me some extra experience that I am sure will come in handy in the future. While planing the twelfth tip strip, an unseen flaw let loose and the nearly finished piece lost the last foot or so. A spare piece of bamboo and a quick retrace of the steps brought the completed tip to the binder. Then the first tip came out of the binding thread with a slight set and a twist. A visiting rod maker stuck around and worked at it with me, showing me how to heat and push the twist out the end of the section, something I am glad not to have to figure out on my own. Several people involved in rod building made a point of stopping by the class to meet us and share knowledge
For extracurricular activities, the class is in the center of fly fishing history.
With the recent rain, the Willowemoc started out on the first day looking like chocolate milk, but eventually cleared and settled back into its banks, giving one of the instructors and me a chance to enjoy a little break along the museum waters the last night there. My first Catskill trout surrendered quickly followed by some of his friends.
What a great experience and nice people, the museum staff was great to us, and I got to see some sites important to fly fishing's golden past and meet some living history in the form of people like Mary Dette.
The first rod of many, I hope,
Just got back from the Catskills Fly Fishing Center and Museum's 2009 Cane Rodbuilder's course. Five day course, this year there were 5 students and 3 instructors - David Van Burgel, Kathy Scott and Art Port, great people and teachers.
Truly an experience, Yeah - I know old hat to you experienced folk, but the transformation from culm to wand is really something to see the first time. I know there are several good classes out there, but I do highly recommend this one if you're in the neighborhood.
Starting out the first night before the class started, we got to cast several different rods and choose a taper. I decided on a Garrison 7 ½ 209. We went through all the steps from the culm, flaming, splitting, heat treating, flatten the nodes and rough shaping the raw material. We learned how to set up a beveller and the planning forms, properly sharpen a plane and take the bamboo down to final dimensions, stagger the nodes and then glue up and bind the strips. After curing, it was clean up the sections and ferruling the blanks and finally installed the grip and reel seat. The goal of the class was to take home a single tip rod ready to wrap and finish. Having put together graphite rods before, doing these last steps did not concern me.
I put in a little extra effort and put together two tips and luckily that decision gave me some extra experience that I am sure will come in handy in the future. While planing the twelfth tip strip, an unseen flaw let loose and the nearly finished piece lost the last foot or so. A spare piece of bamboo and a quick retrace of the steps brought the completed tip to the binder. Then the first tip came out of the binding thread with a slight set and a twist. A visiting rod maker stuck around and worked at it with me, showing me how to heat and push the twist out the end of the section, something I am glad not to have to figure out on my own. Several people involved in rod building made a point of stopping by the class to meet us and share knowledge
For extracurricular activities, the class is in the center of fly fishing history.
With the recent rain, the Willowemoc started out on the first day looking like chocolate milk, but eventually cleared and settled back into its banks, giving one of the instructors and me a chance to enjoy a little break along the museum waters the last night there. My first Catskill trout surrendered quickly followed by some of his friends.
What a great experience and nice people, the museum staff was great to us, and I got to see some sites important to fly fishing's golden past and meet some living history in the form of people like Mary Dette.
The first rod of many, I hope,
My wife just rolled her eyes and asked where it would fit when my father offered
moving the other lathe from his shop to mine..
