200404 - Issue 15 Description

April 2004
Issue 15

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To get this issue, order the 2004 Issue CD on the “Backissue CDs” page.

The April, 2004 issue of Power Fibers contains:

Home, Sweet Rod Shop

I tidied up the shop a bit, as the last few times that a guest had shown up it looked the same as it typically does. That is, more like the catastrophe that is my fly patch in June than the structured array of my fly boxes in February. This is a bit of a personal struggle for me because I have the incredible fortune to be able to call the northern third of my living room my “Rod Shop.” Consequently I tend to refer to the whole room as the “Rod Shop,” even though in the middle there are the requisite sofas, chairs and coffee table....

Making Reel Seat Inserts

It seems that making reel seat inserts is intimating to some. I hope this article will make it easy to learn how to make them.

I start off with a 3/4" X 3/4" X 3 3/4" block. In this case it is a piece of cedar. Mark an X on each end from corner to corner. Where the lines....

Rodmaker Profile: Jim Bureau

I first met Jim Bureau in Grayling, Michigan at the 2001 Gray Rock Rodmaker’s Gathering. Over the past three years, I have kept close in touch with Jim, and he has been an invaluable help to me with both rod making and casting questions. In addition to being a world class rod maker and casting instructor, Jim is an accomplished canoeist and carver, and he even knows a thing or two about coaching softball. I guess in a way, the term “coach” fits Jim...

Conception: A Poem

What would you like? The maker asked.
The angler in the moment basked,
The day he had so sorely whist,
The day he made the top, The List.

What would you like? The maker asked....

Bamboo in Argentine Fly Fishing

Bamboo rods have a place of privilege in the history of Argentine fly-fishing.

Legends such as Bebe Anchorena, Jorge Donovan and Prince Charles Radziwill used bamboo rods, and Joe Brooks, as well, contributed to the cause during the 50’s and 60’s. In fact, when Marcelo Calviello and I took up fly-fishing in the late 60’s bamboo rods were the ultimate fishing tools and we grew up with that concept. We became knowledgeable bamboo rod testers...

Smarter Blanks, Part II

Last issue, we went from raw bamboo to 24 or so strips, each perfectly square in cross section. This was accomplished using the band saw and Medved style beveller as seen last time. The real advantage to this system is that now we can easily plow through the next few rod making steps with the repeatability and ease of set up that equal strips allows us to have.

Our strips are square, but they still have the remnants of the nodes intact, and these need to be removed....

Flies with a Past: The Professor

When I think of bamboo rods I think of times past and how things must have been back in the “Glory Days” of flyfishing. A time before the waters were overcrowded and fishing was less technical. A time when there was no “One Fly Contest” or other flyfishing competitions. These times echo back to bamboo rods, silk lines, gut leaders and flies made with all natural materials.

Though I don’t use gut leaders, I have taken to using silk lines on my bamboo rods...

Expanding Draw Collet

One of the difficulties in turning sliding band type reel seat hardware from solid bar stock for the amateur rodmaker is obtaining a decent finish on the end of the butt cap. After turning the cork check and sliding band, the butt cap is usually cut off and sanded and buffed by hand to obtain a decent looking finish--a hit or miss proposition at best. In discussing this dilemma with a precision tools machinist friend, he suggested that I make an expanding draw collet to hold the butt cap...

Norwegian Wood

I often find it difficult to find cork of good quality for my rod handles. A few years back, in the middle of the Easter holiday of 1998, I was about to finish a small 6’ 3 weight rod. Searching through my shop I discovered that I was almost out of cork rings. The few I had left were the ones rejected for my previous made rods. This rod was meant to be my new “Sunday morning rod,” so I was maybe as much concerned about the looks as the action. All of my local suppliers...

The 2 Day Rod

The 2004 Midwest Fly Fishing Expo had a real treat this year when it welcomed the self proclaimed “Bamboo Maniacs” into the Macomb Community College Expo Center and let them perform their magic for the crowds.

The goal of rodmakers Jimmy Chang, Dave Hellman, Dave Jankowski, Rod Jenkins, Rusty Kalmbach, and Joe Mondro...

The Fine Art of Product Photography

A big part of selling your cane rods or other angling creations is the marketing of the product. A large part of the marketing of the product is the visual representation of your product. Unless you have an Old Master conveniently located down the street from you, the medium that you’ll be representing your work in is photography.

As with any other tool, the photography is not something simply mastered or mastered simply. Please see my Recommended
Books...

Setting Depth Gauges

I have been told the .1155 method is hard to understand, I think I can make it simple with the text and photos.

I have been using the .1155 method for setting the depth gauge for the five years I have been making bamboo rods. I find it easier...

Just Planed Fun: The Salmonator, I

I was saddened a bit as I made the last road trip in my truck over to the coast to drop it off so it could be sold. She was, and still is, a good truck. Not a great truck, but then again I never intended to own a really great truck. She was simple and a thing of beauty; four wheels, a reliable engine, and a seat. No frills or fancy gingerbread, no leather or CD player; basically...

April 2004Issue 15