Bamboo Bonzai

What's A Fly Rod

In His Service Worldwide By Michael K. Villa, Rodmaker

Good Morning! And welcome to the shop. As you can see it's a small place. My wife Diane and I like to think of ourselves as a simple 'mom and pop shop' where we make our split cane bamboo fly rods by hand.

I'm going to start to split some cane for my next rod. Then I will stagger the nodes and mark each strip before rough planning.

After rough planning, I'll set up the precision iron to get the finished taper on each strip of cane. Each strip will be hand-planned to tolerances of 20 thousandths of an inch.

After each strip has been planed it's time to bind the six strips together to make the hexagon shape. The butt and the tip section are being prepared for baking. I bake the cane to remove the moisture and temper the bamboo.

After baking, gluing, and sanding the rod blank, we place the blank into the dip tank to be impregnated with a balanced formula of tung oil and types of varnishes for moisture resistance. Out of the drying cabinet onto the wrapping table where "MAGIC' is made. Each Split Cane Bamboo Fly Rod has it's own unique personality.
In the day of computers, cellular phones, pagers, the internet and electronics where everything is manufactured, processed and sold off the assembly line, this instead is about good old-fashioned, hand-made craftsmanship and personal service to each individual.

There is no way to shorten the process of making our Split Cane Bamboo Fly Rods without sacrificing quality. Each step of the process involves tremendous attention to detail and the finest of craftsmanship.

As in days of old, we make our Split Cane Bamboo Fly Rods one at a time. You have my name on it.

Good days on the river! Yes, you can email me. ~ Michael K. Villa, Rodmaker

"What's A Fly Rod"
Fly Fishing Co.

With Bamboo Archives