So I wanted to take a second and first introduce myself. I was one of the guys who jumped on board for the rod buying adventure which was discussed on the main board. I had been looking for a new project this winter, decided that doing some work on bamboo was going to be it, and then stumbled onto this great opportunity. I have never done anything like this before, so I?m sure I will have lots of questions for you all. Luckily I am already in the best place to get answers. I promise that I will do my best to search the BB archives and the pertinent areas of FAOL to prevent repetition.

So, I was wondering what exactly is a "banty rod". I understand that its a short bamboo rod, and Jim on the other forum mentioned something about taking the top two pieces and putting a handle on the bottom of them. Is this, by definition, a banty? Whether it is or isn't I'm still definitely interested in doing what he suggested - putting a handle on the top two pieces to make something shorter. Any suggestions on deciding which, of the 16 rods, I should do this with. Is there a suggested corner to corner dimension that is good to work with? Is it smarter to go thicker, or thinner? Is there a way to see if it would work out before attaching anything (like holding a reel on the bottom and throwing some line out). Anything else I should be looking for?

I thank you all in advance for your help, and I am really looking forward to getting this underway and learning about all of this.
Best
Andrew