I’ve sort of been bitten by the bamboo building bug, problem I’m having is the excessive cost of a culm of bamboo and the cost to ship it.
Anyone in the New England area have a local dealer of bamboo they deal with?
I started price comparing, and for 3 culms of B grade (the cheapest) cost $48.00 to ship (in addition to the cost of the bamboo at $49.95) after they cut it down into 6 foot lengths from the standard 12. Charles Demarest has a 3 piece minimum at $30.00 per piece and $40.00 shipping.
Not cost feasable for building a blank as I can buy a few fiberglass or graphite blanks locally for the cost of the shipping alone.
when you look at the investment of time and equipment involved in planing down bamboo to make a rod. The $40 dollars shipping will probably be the least expensive part of the rod. When yo stretch that shipping over the multiple rods you will make from the bamboo it really isn’t much per rod. If your not in it for the art or can’t afford the shipping your probably better off fishing glass or graphite. or buying one of the bamboo kits that’s available and just finishing it.
Let’s see: $700-$900 for planing forms, + S&H (ain’t cheap!); $50-$75 for plane and Hock blade; $30-$100+ for micrometer; $35-$125 for depth guage, etc., make $130 for three culms and shipping, peanuts. Eric-WD has given good advice for bamboo. Many of the major US bamboo rod builders make kits available for a fraction of the price of one of their finished rods. Then there are the Chinese import kits.
there are also top builders who give classes, you get to spend a week with them guiding you at the end of the week you have built your first rod and know whether you want to continue building or not. as I recall the cost for what you get is reasonable (compared with say a week at Disneyland or baseball fantasy camp) that might be a way for you to go.
Nice bunch of folks there always willing to help. There are several rod makers in New England that may sell you a pole or 2 of bamboo. They may just invite you over to their shop for a little 1x1…
I think I found a source somewhat locally. Bamboo Fencer in Ashland MA has a warehouse and sells Tonkin Cane from what I read in a couple of threads over in the rodbuildingforum.com site.
I’m goiing to give them a call tomorrow and see if I can get a culm or two to start building with.
Only 2 sources of bamboo on this continent really - Andy Royer (the bamboo broker) and Demerest. All stores get their bamboo from them (from what I can tell). So I skipped the middle man and went to Andy.
darrell,
(now - if only my ferrules come in this week, my Garrison 212E should be ready to go late next week … )
QUAD BABY QQQUUUAAADDD go with a PMQ and have a little fun, no it’s not the famous hex rod and it doesn’t fish the same or feel just the same but it is cheap as dirt compared to building hex rods. If you want to give it a try and see how you like it before you drop several hundred to a couple grand on materials and such. Get a good plane, get some decent boo, do a little research (or send me a PM and I’ll get you as much info as I have handy) and have a good time for goodness sake.