Smaller rod from a bigger one.

Equipment Rod Building: Cane and Graphite
1

Hi,

I’ve got an old 9 ft bamboo rod that I am refinishing. I am considering making a shorter rod out of it. It is a slow rod, so my first idea is to cut 1 foot off the butt section, cut 3 inches off the tip and end up with a 7 ft 9 inch rod. Has anyone done this? Any pointers?

The second idea I have is to just take the top 2 sections and make a 6 ft banty rod. I’ve seen some rods done like this on ebay.

Thanks,

Bill

2

Before cutting it up, take the mid and tip out in the yard with a couple of different weight lines and see how it casts. Hold it up where the grip should be.
Pete

3

I would go with your second idea. The 2 top sections should make for a faster banty rod and if you don’t like it, you could always just sell the whole thing.
If you cut it down to a 7’9" rod and it doesn’t come out the way you want it to, you now have sticks for tomato plants.

4

I made a short rod from the tip and mid section of an cheap bamboo import rod. It ended up a 6’ 5/6wt and it’s a lot of fun on smaller streams. It was also a great learning experiance and tought me a lot about working with cane. If you can find an extra ferrule to match the butt of the mid section you could just make a new handle that would allow you to use it as a two piece or three piece. Use a piece of grahite rod inside the handle and mount the ferrule flush to the surface where you would normally place a winding check.

Cutting down from the tip side will significantly effect the rods action. There is a reason the fly rods are so tippy. I doubt that you would end up with somthing that felt good. It might be better to cut 5" off the butt end of all three sections to get a 7’-9" rod than to play with the tip end.

If you look at a few rod tapers you will see a lot of them that vary several thousands of an inch each side of a ferrule, esp. if they use a step down or inexpensive chromed brass tube ferrule. It’s sort of like the stepped taper in a hand tied leader vs. the continous taper in a monfiliment leader.

5

kengore,

Thanks for the suggestion(s). I think that might be a good way to go. The graphite part for the handle is a great idea. I was thinking along those lines, only using the butt section and cutting the butt so that the ferrule would be under the handle.

Bill