"Building Your Own Bamboo Rod, Part Three"
By D. W. Hildebrand
October 17, 2003 | Bamboo Fly Fishing

We now have a wrapped goopy mess in the place of what was previously a nice orderly group of cane strips. Where do we go from here?

In this article, we will take the rod to the next step of finish work by sanding, then sealing, then varnishing the blank. Then we will deal with ferrules, which should be a wonderful first experience for those of you that have not fitted ferrules before.

We almost have this thing thinking it’s a rod!

Take the glued up (hopefully dry by now!) sections and lay them flat on your bench or any flat surface. Please, if you are doing this in the house, go outside as we are about to make a terrible amount of dust and that can seriously damage domestic tranquility.

You should have a rubber or wood sanding block. Mount some medium grit (around 120 or 220) sandpaper in the block. Cut additional widths to fit the block in advance. This will go through quite a bit of sandpaper.

Hold the first section (do the butt section first as it is bigger and easier not to mess up) about half way up with the butt section toward you. Make sure that you have the flat up. Take the sanding block, while holding it as flat as you can, and begin to lightly sand off the glue, string residue, and any other goop that has been left on the blank. This will take some time, arm strength, and patience. By moving your hold down hand out as you go, expose additional parts of that flat for sanding until you reach the end of that particular flat. Sand until all residues are gone, but do not get too carried away. We will clean up any small spots on the next pass.

Now rotate the blank one flat and do it again. Continue until all six flats are sanded.

You will probably have to change sheets of sandpaper a couple times.

Now do the same to the tip, but be more careful due to the smaller diameter and size. Try to keep the flats very distinct on each side. As you near the tip, slow way down and do not allow the tip to be put in a bind or the block to run off the end of the tip and pull back and catch it as at this point it will break fairly easily. (Gee! Wonder how he knew that?)

Once all sides are initially sanded, put the next higher grit (220 or 400, I like 220) in the block. Go over each flat again gently to remove any rough spots or gunk left over. This also leaves a smoother surface for the varnish or sealer to adhere to.

Here is one of my preferences now. As soon as the blank is sanded, immediately get out the heavy paper towels and WaterLox Sealer/Finish. We have dried the cane and heat treated, it seems to me to be best to immediately get something on the blank to seal out what you can.

Take two paper towels, fold them over at least once, put on your rubber or latex gloves, and wet the towels fairly well with the sealer/finish. Start at the butt ends and pull the blank toward you while exerting a fairly firm grip on the blank passing through the towel. On the butt ends, take a piece of fly line backing, double it over into a loop and masking tape the loop to the blank to hang the drying blank. Once you have wiped on the sealer, hang the blank until dry. Depending on temperature and humidity, in 2-5 hours it should be dry. When dry, wipe it down with sealer again. Dry again. Once dry, wipe down with sealer again. Allow at least 24 hours after the third coat for drying.

After 24 hours or more, take some 4/0 steel wool and wipe the sealer down which will dull it a bit and level the finish. Don’t sweat it, we will shine this thing up later.

At this point, you should be able to see any glue lines, binder string marks left over from sanding, or any other imperfections. If you need to fix any, now is the time. Take a fine sandpaper and sand out the areas needing it and reseal those sections. Let dry and buff a bit with steel wool.

Now take the varnish, (the General Finishes Gloss Arm-R-Seal) and wipe it on like the first coat of sealer. Hang 24 hours to dry. Then wipe on another thin coat. Dry. Do this for 3 or 4 coats, then take the steel wool and level it out. After steel wool, put on two to three more coats (these are very thin coats due to the wipe on aspects) and steel wool any bubbles or rough spots as you go. Allow to dry thoroughly.

Now it looks like a rod! Pretty, aren’t they?

Now we need to determine the proper rod length, ferrule placement and so on. Why? If you remember, we made the blank a couple inches or so over the needed length, now we need to fix that.

If you have a micrometer or dial caliper available, look at where the ferrules should go on butt and tip and measure dimensions at that point back until you reach the desired size for proper ferrule fit.
If you do not have either of these, we will have to do it by our original measurements.
Look on your forms and see how much too long both the tip and butt sections were made. On the butt, cut off that amount from the tip end of the butt. On the tip section, cut off that amount from the tip.

Now, we depart from traditionalism again. Traditional rodmakers built the rod to the ferrule whereas we are going to fit the ferrule to the rod.
If you have a belt sander, mount it in the vise again. If you do not, get out some coarse sandpaper or a file.

Take out the ferrules. Take the female (butt section) ferrule. Take a small piece of bamboo or some thing that will fit in the rod end of the ferrule. Insert it until it stops and make a mark on the place that is at the end of the ferrule. Remove it and lay it on the blank where we will mount the ferrule. Make a very light mark here.

Now take the file, belt sander, or sandpaper and while turning the blank, remove the edges of the flats in the area inside the mark. What you really want to happen is to round this area to accommodate the round ferrule. Gradually remove bamboo until the ferrule slides on fairly tightly. Warning!!!!!! If you have to remove too much bamboo, this will be an extremely weak section of the rod and will probably break sometime in the future. Ideally, all you should have to take off it the edges of the flat.

If you have the money, you would be well served and probably have a stronger rod if you buy the size ferrule the taper calls for and the next bigger size ferrule also. Just in case the rod came in over dimensions, you have the ferrule to fit it properly without removing too much bamboo. This is always my preferred method for ferrules. In many instances, I actually find it beneficial to use the step down ferrules of the next higher size to make the action a bit crisper and tighten the fit.
OK. Now you have the ferrule fit to the blank. Do the same on the tips section.

All OK so far?

Now for gluing the ferrules. Use a two ton epoxy or similar heavy duty epoxy.
Mix the epoxy on sheet of aluminum foil or small mixing cup. Once mixed, apply quite a bit to the end of the rod section. Now put the ferrule on the end of the rod section. Hold the rod section 6 to 8 inches above the ferrule. Find a flat surface to push against and gently push the rod section with ferrule against the flat section. You should hear some crackling or air release from the ferrule as you seat it. It MUST be completely seated! If not, you will get either some hinging leading to the ferrule coming loose or a squeaking sound when cast. Not a good sound!

Now do the same with the tip section.

Wipe the excess glue from around the ferrule and allow to set for at least 24 hours.
Now it is time to fit the ferrule. A foreword is called for here. Continue to check the fit frequently as too loose a fit is a major problem.

Sit in a chair or something without a large arm or obstruction. Take either a fine file or fine sandpaper. With the tip section in hand, set the tip on your leg with the ferrule on your leg. Gently file or sand the male of the ferrule while turning it on your leg. Again, this is a long, gradual process and can get tedious. Turn it and wipe down with a dry cloth and test the fit in the female. It should need light pressure to seat it and should make a “pop” when removed. You want it to fit all the way down into the female, but still be a firm fit and “pop” when removed. Once you have a good fit and ‘pop’, please stop. Over fitting will result in a loose ferrule. Do not go too far with this.
Wow! Now you have a ferruled blank. You are getting so close to a fly rod! Well done thus far.
Now you should mount the seat you have chosen.

With the ferrules mounted, you should be able to lay each section beside each other and measure the length. It is time for the last cut on each section.

Lay a tape measure along each section and cut from the butt of the butt section and from the tip of the tip section to the final length needed.

Now take the reel seat you will use ( I am assuming you have an already finished seat at this point, if not, take the reel seat filler and put five to seven coats of Birchwood Casey True Oil on with a paper towel). See if the rod butt section will fit into the hole in the reel seat as it currently is. If not, we either need to drill out the reel seat somewhat or sand down the end of the blank to fit. Once you have done this, put epoxy (like used for the ferrules) into the reel seat and on the butt of the rod. Insert the rod into the reel seat, seat it all the way down, and stand it against something with the reel seat down. Key point!!!! Make certain the reel mounting area on the seat aligns with a flat on the rod! This will allow the epoxy to settle while drying and give you a good bond. Allow to set for at least
24 hours.

Now it is cork reaming time.

If you have a portable drill, this is an ideal spot to use it.
Take a large (about ½” at the largest part) rat tail file and mount it in the drill. Turn the drill on to
check that it doesn’t wobble.

Now, starting from the end that will be against the reel seat, hold the cork grip in your hand and take the other hand and hold the drill. Turn the drill on, inserting the rat tail file that is turning into the end of the dork grip. Push it into the grip, removing it periodically to allow cork dust to fall out. Attempt to slide the grip on the blank periodically to check the fit. Continue to ream the cork, turning in your and periodically. Once it will slide to the reel seat, stop reaming it.

Check the fit of the cork grip and make certain that there are no flex points due to over reaming. If there are, take that section of rod and make two to three wraps of making tape on the blank to take out the extra play there. Once you are satisfied with the fit, mix up some more epoxy. Start the cork onto the blank. Where the cork will finish up, coat liberally with the epoxy and slide the grip down to the final position. Allow to dry overnight.

Make certain of the flat on the tip section and mount a tip top guide that corresponds to a flat and allow the epoxy to set here also.

Once dry, join the tip and butt sections together and give it the old wiggle test! Yee-haw! Now it really looks and feels like a rod! Isn’t this cool?

With the rod joined, lay it down and measure of you guide spacing and mark with a piece of tape or china marker.

I am assuming you can wrap guides on at this point and do not need coaching on that procedure.
Mount a stripping guide on the flat corresponding to the reel seat reel mounting area. Mount a snake on the mark just above that and continue to the tip.

Once the guides are wrapped on and china marker erased or wiped off (yes, I have forgotten to take it off before!) set the rod in a rod turner or on whatever you have developed for finishing wraps.

Open the General Finishes Arm-R-Seal again.

While turning the rod, allow a small amount of varnish to be pulled of a match, brush, or whatever you use to coat wraps. Do not flood on the varnish. A small amount lightly applied prevents bubbles and dries faster. Allow to dry and repeat. Continue to varnish (3-5 coats) until the thread ridges are not visible over the varnish. Allow to dry thoroughly. Take some 1-2000 grit sandpaper and gently buff the wraps. Wipe off dust and recoat.

Now send the rod to your instructor. No, I am just kidding. You are finished! Go fish it and have fun!
I hope this has proved helpful and a little enjoyable to you.

If you have questions or problems in the process, e-mail me at [email protected] or [email protected]