it’s my unerstanding that rod builders do not recommend impregnating cane blanks, primarily because of added weight. My question is unless the process is done under high pressure, how much impregnation can there be? According to Garrison’s comment, Pg 174-175, he made a few rods with impreganated blanks done by some commerical process and recommended not to do it. Anyone comments?
The impregnation process, if properly performed will add years of life to a bamboo rod and while it does add some weight, it is negligible compared to the life it give the rod. Orvis is probably the most successful in the impregnation process and uses an Autoclave to first evacuate any air pockets in the pores of the bamboo, then injects under tremendous pressue the preservative that seals the bamboo and prevents degradation of the bamboo from exposure to the elements.
where lots of mistakes are made in impregnation, is in the false belief that just immersion of the bamboo into a preservation fluid (whatever the concoction may be) will impregnate the bamboo. That will only penetrate into the outer layers and will not necessarily go through and through.
As far as impregnation or not, makers choice, and there are a bejillion rods out here that have not been impregnated that have withstood the tests of time and exposure and are still giving great service to fly fishermen every day. IMHO, it is the care that is provided by the owner of the rod that yields the longest life to a nice piece of boo, handcrafted into a wonderful fishing instrument. There are those that firmly believe in impregnation and those that don’t. I have a Battenkill by Orvis in an 8’ 5 wt that is impregnated, and a comparable taper in a rod that is not impregnated and there is a slight difference in the weight of the two. The impregnated rod is slighly faster than the non impregnated rod. They both fish well, and look about the same in condition, and the impregnated rod is probably 20 years newer than the Edwards.
[This message has been edited by dleo6446 (edited 12 May 2006).]
One of the advantages for a rodmaker is impregnating a bamboo rod means you don’t have to varnish it. And of course for the buyer, there is next to no maintenance.
Some of today’s very famous makers do use impregnation…but as I understand it, there is a substantial learning curve.
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL