Bamboo Strength

Well, I had to post this after a discussion I had this week. I was on the river and this gentleman remarks on my fly rod, bamboo, of course, and says "I think they're wonderful looking rods, but they're so fragile." Well, I didn't argue with him, I was after all, fishing a 7' 2 wt... fragile, I guess, compared to my Snake Rod, or my other 4's and 5's, but still... Anyways, he was still standing there when I hooked a very nice rainbow. This was a typical football shaped fish (typical of the White River in Arkansas). He measured a little over 21 inches (this little rod has intermediate winds all down it, so measuring was quick and easy and still allowed me to release the fish unharmed... except for his ego...) and was FAT!!! Not healthy, not "he's got a little girth", he was FAT!!! So the guy watches as I land this bow, then walks over to see it. Well, point is that he doesn't consider bamboo FRAGILE anymore. I can't quote exactly what he said... Deanna will censor me if I do, but he was impressed, to say the least, with the ease with which a 2 weight rod handled a 21 inch fish.

Later,

Bob

RL Nunley, Rodmaker
http://www.rlnunley.com

Ive heard of a guy who takes a section of bamboo, files a point on it and drives it through a board just to prove the strength of it!

My very first fish caught on a bamboo rod was a 19" FAT rainbow. I was using a copy of a Dickerson 7012. Well.....I was an instant convert. The rod had no problems handling the fish at all. I have since then aquired smaller rods and have no fear of them breaking so long as I use some common sense to land fish.

Scott

When I was a kid we all used cane rods
Mine was Japanese, my father and grandfather had domestic production rods.
I remember more than once my father flipping the switch for the station wagon's tailgate window and hearing the crunch of bamboo rod tips. :shock:
I still have most of the pieces

Fragile? I guess a lot of folks consider them fragile because they are so darned "purty". Fact of the matter is, they are considerably stronger in many ways than a lot of the rods most folks fish with. I don't like to do it often, but a guy was in the shop last week talking about how he would be afraid of fishing a bamboo because of them being so fragile, so I took one of my bamboo rods off the wall, laid it on the floor, guides up, and stood on the sections on either side of the guide and then asked him if he would do that with his graphite rod (well known rod made in Montana that sells for slightly less than a grass rod does). I don't recommend doing this to anyone but the point is, Hiram Leonard made some rods around 1920 that I still fish with today, and hopefully, one of my grandsons will fish it after I am gone.

Bob, you fish some waters there that will test the character of many rods for sure! We are heading that way in both September and October, hopefully we will get some time on the Red as well, and I can hardly wait.

You're right... fragile doesn't even begin to describe bamboo. Most broken bamboo rods were broken in such a manner that would destroy ANY rod... car door slams, running into walls with the tips, beating snakes (my personal favorite! :) ), etc.

Yeah, the Little Red, White and North Fork will definitely test the integrity of a rod. I love it though... casting to a 14 inch Bow and a 30 inch Brown may swim out of the depths and snatch the fly. You never know what you're going to end up with. Even at that, I split my fishing between two rods; a 7' 4 wt and an 8' 6 wt, my Snake Rod. Both Bamboo, of course.

I did have a tip break recently... not from fishing, though. My Snake Rod, the 8' 6 wt, with full intermediates, a beautiful little ride, resides in the trunk of my car, without a rod tube, of course... it just lays on top of my waders and vest. Well, my mother was in town and I took my nephews to Dry Run Creek to fish and she wanted to go along. Of course, she needed a chair, so she takes my heavy folding chair out of the motorhome an tosses it in the trunk of my car and cracked the tip on the Snake Rod. Well, no problem. Spread a little URAC in the joint, bound it and now I fish it every day again.

Hey, when you head this way, let me know. I'm not setting up at the Southern Conclave, so I'll be free to fish. Any other days... well, as soon as I get a few current rods completed, I can "take off" any time I want. I've got some honey holes on the White if you want to fish them.

Later,
Bob

RL Nunley, Rodmaker
http://www.rlnunley.com

Boo isn't strong?

I can assure you that bamboo is much stronger than we can imagine. I was reared in Ft. Myers, Fla. Ft. Myers was the winter home of Thomas A. Edison. One of the things that you'll find at the Edison home is a huge garden. Edison collected plants from all over the world that people would bring to him while he was looking for a proper filament for his electric light bulb. The best fiber he found was, you guessed it... bamboo. The last time I was at the Edison home they still had an original bamboo filament light bulb that has burned every day since Edison left Ft.Myers. The bulb burns at what would be equivalent to a 35 watt light bulb.

Edison used bamboo for many other things as well. Another thing that Edison used was portland cement. There is a swimming pool on the property in Ft.Myers that is made with Edison portland Cement and for the reinforcing rod used in the construction they used bamboo. Bamboo in place of what we would use steel for today... I'd say it's plenty strong.

Rusty <><

what do you suppose they use for scaffolding in china?
yep. bamboo.

interesting copy from a leading industry paper...personally, I think it only scratches the surface! I mean after all, if Edison can make filaments from it, what could some other aspiring young scientist find to do with it?

BAMBOO
? Bamboo is a tree-like woody plant.
? There are 1 250 known species of bamboo.
? Some bamboos live over 100 years.
? There are over 1 500 possible uses.
? The local usage of bamboo is worth US$2.7 billion.
? Trade in bamboo generates US$4.5 billion.
? 2.5 billion people worldwide use bamboo.
? One billion people live in bamboo houses.

IIRC it is actually considered a grass.

Rusty <><