Del,
I started
"making" bamboo rods a couple of years ago. That's the
biggest difference between bamboo and the synthetics - we
"make" the bamboo rods, rather than "build" the
glass/graphite. In the making of the bamboo rod, we split the cane,
straighten the strips and nodes, heat treat the strips, plane (either by
hand or machine, but mostly by hand) the strips from whatever size they
come out of the culm to an accurate taper that is 1/2 the dimension of
the finished rod, glue up the strips, straighten again (there's usually a
little "wow" put in the strips from the binder or while
handling), heat cure the glue if necessary, cut the rod sections to
length, fit the ferrules, cut the ferrule stations on the rod, determine
the spine, make the grip, make the reel seat, mount the reel seat and
hardware, mount the grip, mount the ferrules, wrap the guides on, dip the
rod in the finish tank for at least three times, with a sanding in
between, polish out or rub down the finish, make the rod bag, make the
rod tube, and oh yeah, we also sign the rod with our name - as maker,
model number and serial number. That's it in a nutshell. Oh,
one other thing, it usually takes between 70 and 80 hours or so to do all
this... ;^} Most of the custom rod "builders" buy
their blanks, mount the reel seat and grip, wrap the guides and ferrules,
coat the wraps with an epoxy, sign the rod and sell it.
It's a
combination of the time involved and the entire process which goes into
"making" a bamboo rod. On my next rod, I'm even going to
make my own ferrules, turned from nickle silver stock. I already
make my own snake guides, reel seats, grips, and reel seat
hardware. We basically create you a rod from scratch.
Mark
At 07:31 PM 7/17/2003 -0400, you wrote:
Fellow
list members;
OK, I take back the statement about
the cats. I still don't see "ruthless killers" in them. They
do, from what I understand, leave presents for there caregivers. But they
are just showing their appreciation. Heck, what do I know, I aint a
cat!
Anyway, Murf, your right, we all do
get a little testy. I know I have. As far as your casting goes, I dunno,
he might out cast you <VBG>
If I offended anyone, contact me off
list so that it can stay there, off list. My post was supposed to go to
Ed off list, I goofed.
On other subjects.... Why does a
bamboo rod cost so ridiculously more than other rods? I have often
pondered this and the only thing I can think of is the time it takes to
manufacture them.
