More on Tonkin Cane
In my last column
I discussed the origins of the split cane flyrod and noted
that sometime before the turn of the century rodbuilders began to use a new
type of bamboo, 'Tonkin' cane, as the material of choice for flyrods. Today
we will look a little more closely as well as dispel some myths about the
plant that makes such a fine rodbuilding material.
It may surprise some people that the bamboo that looks, grows and can be hand
worked or machined into a flyrod is not, botanically speaking, a tree. A
member of the grass family, 'Tonkin' bamboo was assigned the scientific name
of Arundinaria amabilis by Dr. Floyd McClure. Upon a visit to China, McClure
was the first to scientifically describe the plant and recognized that it was
a distinct and previously unreported species. At the time (1925) this bamboo
had already been in use for building fly rods and was known by a variety of
different common names. The name was amended to Arundinaria amabilis McClure
in the doctor's honor and translated, means 'The Lovely Bamboo.'
In addition, most people assume from the common name 'Tonkin' bamboo that the
species grows along the gulf of Tonkin. Actually, this species is propagated
in a rather limited geographic area along the Sui River in southern China,
north and west of Hong Kong.
The geography along the Sui River provides the perfect climate for this
species. The river is bound by steep hillsides and it is along these hills
that workers plant, tend and harvest the bamboo. The area receives an average
of seventy inches of rain a year and although the plant thrives with a lot of
rain it doesn't do well in standing water. The steeply sloped banks therefor
provide the drainage and altitude that the plant prefers.
The plant is propagated by division of its rhizome (a horizontally running,
underground stem). The rhizome is divided and placed into a hole about a
foot deep. As a family, the bamboo's are the fastest growing plants on earth
and once the rhizome sends up new shoots it takes only a month or two for the
plant to grow to its mature height of about forty feet. At this point the
mature 'stalk' of the plant is referred to as a culm and larger culms average
about 2-2 ½" in diameter at the base and taper progressively smaller toward
the top. Culms ideal for rodbuilding are those that grow straight with a
minimum of branching leaves and with dense and strong walls. The culms are
marked by scratching the enamel (outer surface) of the cane with a symbol
(grower's mark) so that during the plant's life and subsequent harvesting
each person's labor can be accounted for. The plants are allowed to mature
for at least three years before they are harvested.
Harvesting is accomplished by workers climbing the steep hillsides and
slashing the culms with a machete at the base of the plant. The culms are
slid down the hillside to the banks of the Sui River and bundled into large
floating 'barges'. Workers stand upon huge trains of these floating barges
and guide the whole floating mass of bamboo downstream to be further
processed.
Processing involves workers separating the culms from the assembled 'rafts'
and scrubbing the bright green culms with sand to remove lichens that grow on
the surface enamel. The culms are then dried in the sun, turning the color of
the culm to the familiar straw yellow that rodbuilders prize. The dried culms
may then undergo further processing to straighten those that have grown
crooked and cut to length and bundled for shipping.
Culms that a rodbuilder receives are typically cut from the lowest twelve
feet of the plant and are packaged in bundles of twenty. The walls of the
bamboo are thickest in this portion, and it is the 'power fibers' present in
the walls of the bamboo that give it the strength and resiliency that make it
so prized for rodbuilding. Only a small portion of the yearly harvest
however, will be exported and used to fashion fishing rods. The bamboo is
also used to make furniture, fence posts, scaffolding, garden stakes and a
whole host of other objects that make the bamboo so valuable.
We are often asked many questions about cane. Some commonly asked questions,
and my opinions:
Is cane difficult to acquire? No. All one needs to do to acquire bamboo for
rodbuilding is pick up the phone and call a supplier. There are presently a
number of people importing cane for rodbuilding. Part of the perceived
scarcity of cane goes back to an embargo placed on Chinese goods from 1950 to
1971.
During this time cane could not be imported into the U.S. and those that had
good supplies of the material guarded it jealously because without an
adequate stock of material, they simply could not continue building bamboo
rods.
It is also often asked if there is something magical about this so-called
'pre-embargo' cane. The answer is, no. I wish I had a dollar for every time I
was offered to buy (at very high prices) someone's precious 'pre-embargo'
bamboo. Remember that the trade embargo was nothing more then a political
act. If the government today slapped an embargo on another natural product,
say rosewood, and the embargo ended tomorrow and importation resumed, you
would still get the same rosewood.
I know of rodbuilders that have offered to sell supposed pre-embargo cane yet
they purchase new cane every year. As a matter of fact, I'd venture to guess
that there is more 'pre-embargo' cane available now then there was in 1950!
So if there is anything magical about pre-embargo cane, it's all in how well
some people can make an old (maybe) piece of grass worth a lot of money.
Is the cane expensive? No. Currently a twelve-foot culm of bamboo may sell,
depending on the source, from about thirteen dollars to the low twenty-
dollar range. A rodbuilder can get a minimum of one rod from a culm, and
sometimes more. This makes the material cost of the cane in a rod very
inexpensive.
How dry (or old) does the cane need be to build a rod? I remember reading
someone stating that the drier the cane, the better. This is hogwash. In
fact, some types of glue used to assemble rods will not function correctly
below a minimum moisture content in the cane. If a rod is glued up with
ultra-dry cane, it may just fall apart. Some makers will tell you that their
cane is aged x-number of years. Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. But
you sure as hell can't tell by looking at it! This sort of hype in regards to
a rodbuilding material is as old as the hills and continues to this day.
Nowadays, instead of rodbuilders bragging about how old their cane is,
graphite builders brag that their material is x-million modulus or is
fortified with secret submarine technology. The more things change, the more
they are the same!
~ J.D. Wagner
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