Great Western Bamboo Makers' Gathering, Dunsmuir

[Eric Ryan]

I just called Chris Raine of Dunsmuir Rod Company. He gave me detailed information about the gathering.


Saturday, 22 October 2005, 8 AM $35.00

Includes Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

Floyd Dean will be giving a casting demonstration in the AM.

The rest of the day is all about Bamboo.

Location:
Community Building parking lot of baseball field city park.
4841 Dunsmuir Ave. Dunsmuir, CA


This gathering had been held in Bishop for many years in October, but Chuck Owens' health is poor, so this is the first year in Dunsmuir. I will be in Hawaii unfortunatly or else I would be there. Great group of Bamboo Rod Makers.

Eric Ryan

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

If anyone wants to meet some interesting rod makers and learn a 'ton' about split cane rods and rod making this would be a great event.

It is also a good time to fish the Upper Sac.

[Eric Ryan]

Gregg (et all),

I enjoyed your visit to my shop.

I have been thinking about what we talked about Bamboo, and one of your questions was: "What are the advantages of Bamboo over composite." Formula one performance aside...

The first is aesthetics. Quality experience. It is a natural fiber, made by a real craftsman. Bamboos' got SOUL. Each rod is unique. Like every day in a life. Like every person. Like every catch, and every fish. If one is looking to experience NATURE while fly fishing (especially for trout), some find the quintessential experience with Bamboo. Those who have looked and tried, have seen the difference. I have thought of some more "advantages".

Second--Durability. Bamboo rods are around for generations. Properly maintained, they can take a lot of use and abuse. They get rebuilt and repaired, not replaced with a new rod by a warrantee. They get battle scars, and notches in their handles. Point in fact, even though fiberglass is 3 times as durable as carbon fiber, and fiberglass was the first composite revolution, you don't find many around these days. Even the old ones get worn out, broken, and thrown away. Nobody throws away their old Bamboo rods. Bamboo equates to value on many levels. They retain their usability. They are timeless. They will always be cherished by discerning fly fisher persons.

Third--Versatility and Speciality. Bamboo rods can be made with infinitely variable taper and action designs. You don't have to change your casting style to suit what comes off the shelf. When a modern rod company comes out with an action, they make THAT action for all 10 models, case in point (take your pick), and every rod in each line weight is a similar clone of the next. A competent Bamboo Maker can tune a rod for you. Specific to what ever line, fish, fly, stream and casting stroke you desire. Know that all round rods come off straight taper mandrels. Bamboo can have an infinite amount of compound tapers in a blank. Round rods are equivalent to digital approximation of a complex curve. Bamboo can be exact.

Best thing of all is that you don't have to invest a hundred grand and five years research to build your own (like my HexAngler(tm) composite quest.) There is a plethora of free information out there. (start here http://www.uwm.edu/~stetzer/Tapers/hexrod-archive.html ) There are also at least 4 great books currently available for under $40 that are step by step. Tooling up for the first rod might cost $2000, but the next ten will only cost time and $120 materials. Also many makers will loan or rent equipment. All will answer your questions for free. All will give you their tapers willingly.

Good luck, and I hope you join our Makers' Guild (totally voluntary and informal). The only dues are that you make your own (with guidance.)

Sincerely,
Eric Ryan, Owner
Ryan Rod Co.
www.ryanrodco.com

[Darian]

Hi Eric,.... Thanks for the info on bamboo rod.... Hopefully with your approval, I'd like to add that bamboo rods have the additional advantage of natural dampening (....elimination of bounce) at the end of the forward casting stroke. 8) 8)

Bounce was one of the annoying features of glass rods; refering to the tendency of the tip of the rod to vibrate in an upward/downward motion at the end of a cast. This created a potentially unwanted "S" in the line as it landed on the water. Modern carbon fibers have eliminated much of this bounce at the cost of also reeducing the "feel" associated with bamboo.... (in my opinion) :? :?

My favorite bamboo rod was/still is a Powell 8' 6", med/slow action bamboo rod that I fished with in the mid 70's.... :D :D :D

[Eric Ryan]

I thought of one more "advantage", and this is F1 performance related....

Fourth is trueness. Bamboo rods are true by design. Unlike round rods where fibers are wrapped around a cone (tapered mandrel), bamboo is made with all linear fibers out to the tip. When a round rod is laid up, the initial fibers run linearly along the tapered mandrel, but as material is rolled around the cone, fibers automatically get angled. This creates a spiraled spline on the round rod. (BTW Sage is just now addressing this issue with their Modulus Positioning System. But still falls short of Bamboo's perfection. My HexAnglers(tm) also uses only true linear fibers.)

What does all this talk about non linear fibers mean for performance? Well, on short casts, the tip of the round rod will want to flick left. On medium casts, the mid of the rod will want to flick forward. And on long casts the butt of the rod will want to flick right. Always putting in a spiral (yaw) twist to the casting plane.

Bamboo can have no spline. (Usually only very slight due to the fact that nothing is perfectly straight, but no spline caused by design.)

Eric

[Darian]

I'm gonna have to try out one of your rods soon 8) 8) 8) 8)