Another cheap bamboo question

[bazakwardz]

There are some cheap bamboo blanks listed on ebay by JK's Anglers Roost. Doug Macnair posted a positive review of them, but it may have been a paid endorsement. Does anyone know if these would be worth the $75 starting price?

[ol' blue]

There have been a couple of discussions on these blanks. You might do a search for them. I sent you a PM, too.

Greg

[gloucestermen]

Are these blanks the ones being sold on ebay by bobo? He has very good feedback and I am curious if any of the members have seen them up close. He does not say where the cane comes from though which is somewhat curious.
Dan

[herefishy]

Since no one else has replied, I'll jump in so you don't get one of these while you're waiting for a reply - keep searching for the post where someone said they had a Very Bad experience with these.

[gloucestermen]

I was afraid that may be the case. I'm more interested in learning to build them myself. I just ordered Wayne Cattanach's book as my first book to study. Hope to get involved in a bamboo building class this fall to get started and am starting to collect the planes and any other tools as my budget allows. Every time I fill er up it just gets me madder. I figure driving my pickup truck is costing me $5.00 per 15 miles now!!!
Dan

[kengore]

You might be interested in building a 'Poor Man's Quad' or PMQ as your first rod. This is a simple rod made of two strips of cane. It is hand planed without a form. The only tools you would need are a hand plane and a caliper. I was able to put one together over a weekend. While this style of rod will not be as pretty as a 6 sided rod (it's much harder to get them perfectly straight) it was a quick way to get into cane...

Here is a link with more info....
http://www.rodbuildingforum.com/inde...howtopic=15417

[gloucestermen]

Hey Kengore, THANKS very much for this input!! I am certain that this is a great way to get my hands into some cane at a reasonable rate. I'm beginning to think it's like crack though.... JK..
I read th efrist two pages on the link and it is very interesting I'll get thru the rest later.
PS You have a pm on another issue.
Dan

[ol' blue]

I ordered one of the ARE blanks and am in the process of assembling it. I decided to take a chance on it since I am in part of the country where I can't really get my hands on bamboo to test cast, so I don't know what a good blank casts like. I can't give a comparison of it to others, but I can give you my (uninformed) opinion overall. My blank is a 3 piece 4/5 weight with an extra tip for 4 pieces total. I'm doing this as a exploritory exercise, so I'm keeping all of the components on the economical side of things. I figure if I don't like it for whatever reason, I can get a reasonable bit of my money back out of it. And if I do like it, I can build another with higher quality components.

Unlike what I've heard from others, the blank came in straight as an arrow, except that one of the 2 tips is a little wiggly. But that's OK, because I forgot to order a second tiptop. The glue lines look pretty tight, and the blank looks decent. I'm sure it isn't on the same level as top end builders produce, but it is much better than I expected. It appears that his builders are getting better.

I have all of the ferrules glued on now, and the one tiptop and handle assy. I am planning on getting the guides wrapped on this week and getting it out in the yard to cast soon. I'll post pictures later to keep you updated.

I'd love to try one of the PMQ type blanks, but I don't have the time or ability to build one. I'll most likely have a pro builder put a rod someday when I get some disposable cash in hand. In the meantime, I'll have to play with the options I have.

[rustyspinner21]

Hi all, [I]'m new to this board as of Wed 5-28-08. I just completed a 2 piece 4-5 wt 7 1/2 foot bamboo blank from Angler's Roost. On a scale of 1 to 10 for straigtness, my blank probably scored about an 8. After purchasing NS ferrules for it, and building the reel seat, cork handle, etc, I took it out on my lawn today. It cast a 4 wt WF line very well up to 35 feet or so. I always feel that is about as far as I can control my line on water, and about what I expect for bamboo. I am very satisfied for the $75.00 price for the cane. If I paid three hundred or more for the cane, I'd demand a 9.5 or 10 for straightness. I cannot find the old posts with the negative comments about the Angler's Roost cane quality. Can anybody explain how I find those old posts? When I search for Cheap Bamboo, I get a "no match" answer from the forum. Thanks..........Tom Rust (aka rustyspinner21)

[ol' blue]

Make sure you are searching the forums and not the blogs and that you change the search date back to the beginning and not the last month. I got 46 hits for cheap bamboo, and 4 for anglers roost. Anyway, here they are:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ad.php?t=16034

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ad.php?t=19227


I have to say that most of the negative comments about the guy just wasn't applicable in my experience. The blank wasn't junk, it was shipped quickly, and I had no problems at all. Apparently, the quality has improved immensely, which is what I had heard elsewhere that made me take a chance in the first place. I'll see how everything is when I get the guides on and test cast it.