I took a next step in rod building.
I built a bamboo rod from a blank.
It's based on the Paul H. Young Perfectionist taper.
It's a 7ft 6in rod for a 4 or 5 wt.
I got the blank in early November and have been working/waiting on getting this part or making this or that for finishing.
It's kind of a medium dark toned rod w/ nickel silver hardware, wrapped in red silk with black tipping.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3799/1...7af428a0b2.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7415/1...fcb073398e.jpg
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5516/1...872fd19b72.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7387/1...9540d84e69.jpg
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2859/1...daf89fd9c3.jpg
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2816/1...c6a2b78d2d.jpg
I haven't even put a line through the guides yet. I'll try a DT4 and a WF5 and see what I like with it.
There's a lot of similarities finishing a bamboo compared to a graphite. But there are a heck of a lot of differences. Silk thread is a hell of a lot thinner than size A nylon, however wrapping on a hex shaped rod is nice. Varnish takes forever compared to finish epoxy. Making the two tips match can make a lot of time. Counting thread wraps really helps.
A little farther down the road I think I want to make one from the culm. But that will be a much larger can of worms.