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articles on bamboo rodmaking

Following you find a list of articles on various aspects of bamboo rodbuilding as well as on solving certain problems that can make life unnecessarily difficult.

One thing I always loved about rodbuilding is the fact that there are no or only very little ready made things that are available at tool, hobby or hardware stores. Although more special tools have become available through small companies in the U.S. it is still possible to do everything youself, to add that very personal touch to your product, or just to face the challenge.

Bamboo rodmakers almost always have to think about how to solve a special problem, make a special gadget to solve that problem, try out the gadget or tool you made, and finally have success, or failure and rethink the whole problem again and come up with a diffent solution.

I have to admit that I like this kind of brain-jogging, it keeps me off the street and adds to the satisfaction when holding the finished product in hand and finally going out to fish my favourite spring creek.

My friend John Bokstrom, one of the best bamboo rodmakers I know, once mentioned that he enjoys making gadgets as much as building rods and fishing. So be careful, its very addictive!

a heat treating oven for bamboo

by Frank Neunemann

Instruction on building a very workable heat treating oven. I built that one over 10 years ago and it still works unchanged accounting for quite a number of very satisfactory bamboo rods.

I wrote this article a few years ago and it was published in the Planing Form. I still think that it is a cheap and fairly simple way to get started.

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john bokstrom - rodmaker

by Frank Neunemann

An article about one of my best friends and a man who did more for bamboo fly rodmaking than most celebrities. Among other things he was the founder of the now legendary bamboo rodbuilders meeting at Corbett Lake.

Included are comments of a number of other good friends of John's, like Don Andersen, co-founder of the Corbett Lake meeting, Richard Sherman, Jorge Carcao, Bob Milward, Ron Grantham, John Zimny and Ron Barch.

You also find a brief history how the meeting started.

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measuring strips

by John Bokstrom

John covers a very important and sometimes forgotten aspect of how to keep the highest possible tolerances--to obtain reliable and accurate measurements of your strips.

The subject of this article was a presentation at the Corbett Lake 2000 meeting. Learn how to measure bamboo strips the most accurate way.

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preparing planes & scrapers

by Frank Neunemann

An article on how to prepare block planes and scrapers for use on a planing form. Planes fresh from the store are pretty unsuitable for immediate use.

This article also discusses additional aspects like keeping your planing form in good shape, saving time on resharpening plane irons and maintain high tolerances in your bamboo strips.

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a gage for grooves

by John Bokstrom

Do you strive to improve the accuracy and precision of your planing and the bamboo strips you end up with? Check out this article to see how this can be done.

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elevate your planing board

by John Bokstrom

An article written by a good friend and bamboo rodmaker from British Columbia, Canada on how to make your life easier using a well designed setup for planing. Less pain in the back and no more bloody fingers.

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splitting - an alternate method

by John Bokstrom

Another article written by John on an alternate method of splitting bamboo culms he developed. A very interesting way of getting the most out of your bamboo.

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corbett lake 1992

by Frank Neunemann

A report from 1992, an article on the bamboo rodbuilder's meeting held at Corbett Lake Country Inn, Merritt, British Columbia, Canada, that is not held there anymore--a piece of history about the "mother of bamboo rod builders meetings".

This article was published in the Planing Form newsletter, issue #16. I added a few photos for the online version. Maybe the article will still be of interest to those, who think about traveling to attend a meeting like that. Very likely it is the most interesting meeting you can attend on this planet.

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