wooden rods

[vegard_dino]

Me to.

Hope some will come here and tell us how they are

[adam]

John Betts does not do the internet, Ernest does.

[vegard_dino]

Hi

Ok.

You know how I can contact John Betts?

[adam]

You can do like I did and write the publisher.

An internet search will come up with the address.

John is adamant about his privacy and I will respect that. Buy the book or borrow it, find the information there or write a letter to Frank Amato Publications.

[vegard_dino]

Thank you.

Oh yes, I will respect that to.

[fisheye]

Someone posted this book for sale today on the Rodmakers Forum:

I have a new copy of
Making Strip-Built Fly Rods
from Various w Woods By John Betts
Book lists for 45.00
For price contact me off list
Arkansas Tony

PM me and I will pass along his email address if interested.

[CM_Stewart]

You could also contact Michael Hackney at http://eclecticguy.com/. I know he's made wooden rods (though I'm not sure if he's made fly rods or just loop rods).

[Nycflyangler]

All these rods seem to be made from natural wood. It might be interesting to see what could be done with composite wood products like Rutland Plywood's dymondwood.

Bending Strength 27,000 psi(1,900 kg/cm)
Compression Strength 25,600 psi

http://www.rutply.com/products/dymondwood.html

http://www.rutply.com/pdf/RPC-DymondWood_web.pdf

[Ernest]

Nycfly--

I too would like to see what could be done with composite wood products.

My mentor and hero Gordy made some rods by gluing up a strip each of bamboo and white ash together. Not a composite, but he married two different rod materials. It seems that success would depend on the individual pieces of bamboo and ash; will they work together, or will they fight one another under the stress of casting?

Have you read the Betts book? His rods are not made of manufactured wood products, but with his attention to grain and the impact that gluing has on the piece, he makes (I am sure) a much stronger rod than I do with my single stick blanks.

The winter is getting away from me and I've been on other projects. Your post is getting me interested again in making a rod from the hockey stick handle left over from my childhood. I found it in the barn again last week. It is not one piece of wood, but many thin pieces glued together into a rigid stick.

Ernest

[Ernest]

Last week I made a 7' 2 piece fly rod out of my 50 year old hockey stick. I have enough material left to make another, if I want another.

The hockey stick shaft was many thin pieces of wood glued together into a composite. I cut the blade off the stick, ripped the handle in half, then took one of the halves and ripped it again, one piece about half the size of the other, for the tip and the butt sections.

To shape each section I used a utility knife at first, and then a Stanley Trimming Plane, a small plane bought for $5 in a blister pack at the hardware store. I didn't use any forms, guides, or measuring devices. I just turned a rod section in one hand and cut it down with the plane in the other hand. When the section "felt right," I stopped.

I was trying for a parabolic action in a four weight. The Devcon 2-Ton epoxy that I use for a finish stiffened the wood a bit, and what I got was a parabolic 4/5 weight rod. I can live with that.

I carved the grip from western red cedar, and a reel seat from a piece of red hardwood, I don't know what kind. Reel seat bands are cut from 3/4" copper tubing. The ferrule is three inches of repurposed fiberglass spinning rod, glued to the tip section and fit over the small end of the butt section. I've never had a problem with this type of grip, nor with the ferrules or reel seat bands once they are fit properly.

The weakest point of the rod is always around the ferrule, and I put one guide close to the ferrule on each of the butt and tip sections. I learned this from some of my bamoo rods.

I figure this rod cost me $12 in materials, because the epoxy is so expensive. It took about 6 hours to make, with rests for drying times of glues and finishes.

The rod is light in the hand, not like a graphite rod but like a light bamboo rod, and it casts nicely on the lawn. I'll catch a bunch of stream trout with this rod this year.

I don't have pictures. The people that have seen the rod tell me it looks real nice.