Cane rod blanks
Well I've built or rebuilt 5 rods, I would like to take the plunge and build a Cane rod. Headwaters bamboo flyfishing has two piece blanks with ferrals attached for $275.00. Does anybody have any experience with them? I realize I would have to go elswhere for the hardware, am I in over my head? Thank you in advance for any help.
Coach Robb,
They're Chinese made blanks and the price is very cheap. But for a few $ more you can get a quality US made blank from some of the builders over on Banjo's bamboo board. I'd suggest you post an inquiry over there, compare and start out with a quality blank.
Regards and WDE!!!
Bob L
" I used to have a handle on life, then it broke. "
--Robert Earl James
Hey Coach,,,
Wanted to try bamboo last year so I bought one of the Headwaters (7' 4wt). Used it most of the summer and had a ball. Caught some big fish, too. Then one day a nice bluegill grabbed my offering and ran,,,,snapping the little rod in half at the female ferrule.
I called the company and told them; they said, "we'll give you a refund or new rod of your choice". I took a refund.
I'm thinking of trying one of the more expensive asian made's offered by a couple of the sponsors right here. The snoots will scoff but the Chinese were using bamboo, and still do for scaffolding when building modern skyscrapers, before any of our craftsmen were even born!
I'd say, try one. Then, if you care to, go for more expense.
Jim
Coach,
Try looking at E-Bay as well. There is a US Builder that will often sell blank over there in the 150-200 range. Attaching a ferrul is not that difficult to do oneself.
Brian
Try Mark Fitch as he makes a great set of blanks flamed or how you like it and will make any of the tapers you want and he will sell it ferruled or not and priced from $150. to $225. fitchm57@yahoo.com
That is who I was trying to remember!]
Brian
coach, building bamboo is a lot of fun and doesn't take anything more in tooling than does graphite, unless of course you make your own. The advice above is all good advice. Some of the teasticks are pretty good little rods. If you are building this for yourself, I would recommend some lenghty conversation with one of the rod makers on what you would like out of the rod and how you would like it to feel. You could get something nice and whippy like a Partridge or a nice little rocket launcher like a Payne 198. The rod make will be able to tell you what would serve you best based on what you tell him/her. Now, haveing said that, it is almost impossible to talk to the makers of the Chinese rods, but you can talk to some of these US makers like Mark Fitch, Tim Zietak, AJ Thramer, Mike Brooks, and many many more that will help you in deciding exactly what blank would work best for your needs, and they can help you with guide placements, parts selection etc to give it that classic look of bamboo.
Don't forget Brian Chavet, Elkhorn rods, as you persue your rod blanks. he is a great guy, and has a good product to offer. It's Chinese made, but has his warranty with it and you can take his word to the bank.
I'd go to [url=http://www.goldenwitch.com:d2f0a]www.goldenwitch.com[/url:d2f0a] thats where I do all my shopping for all things cane and bamboo related
my neighbor bought a cane rod from Elkhorn at the Somerset show in January. the ferrules didn't mate properly so instead of sending it back, he fixed the probelm with a little polishing. Obvioulsy the quality control is lacking
Fritz? Quality was NOT lacking in the rods I handled and cast. They were actually much better than some from 'custom' cane rod builders here in the US. Sorry your friend had a bad experience - BUT - I have noticed that people not accustomed to joining the sections of a cane rod do not put them together properly. The pieces are put together straight on, not off-center and twisted as we do for graphite. That will do bad things to a ferrule on a cane rod.
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