Carlin Bamboo Fly Rods - Far North Rodsmiths - Fine Bamboo Fly Rods and Blanks

	Stress curves are designed to visually represent the action of a rod under varying degress of stress.
	There are various methods of heat treating a culm of bamboo, from open flame to special ovens. Regardless of technique, the idea is to drive out excess moisture and, optionally, alter the color.
	Splitting the tubular culm into strips of useable size is the first step after the culm is treated. An average culm can be split into anywhere from 18-32 strips.
	Straightened strips are rough planed or beveled to give them their initial rough equalateral triangular shape (60° angles).
	For noded rods, the strips are then bound together and treated in a special oven. Heat treating drives out excess moisture and makes the rods more resilient and less likely to take 'sets'.
	Steel planing forms are set according to the selected taper. The V groove is adjusted to tolerances within 5/10,000 of an inch.
	Each strip in the rod is then shaped and tapered to match the groove in the planing form
	Once all the strips for a rod section are planed, they are assembled and taped together, ready for glueing.
	With the proper tools and adjustment, scrapings thinner than 1/1,000 of an inch can be made.
	A pile of shavings after planing a few rods. Notice the clean curls of bamboo. A sign that the bamboo was heat treated properly, and the planes were tuned well.
	Taped sections are unrolled ready for the glue to be applied.
	A Cross-section of a cutoff showing the inside of a glued blank with the softer pith on the inside and stronger, more resilient power fibers around the perimeter.
	Nickel silver ferrules must be sanded and fit to extrememly tight tolerances to get a proper fit, with the requisite 'pop' sound when separated.
	The ends of the ferrules are shaped and thinned - feathered and crowned - to smooth the transition between bamboo and metal.
	The bamboo is shaped and the ferrules are glued in place.
	After the rod is wrapped and the initial coat(s) of finish is applied, the entire rod is dipped into a tube containing a high grade spar varnish thinned with turpentine. Anywhere from 1 to 3 coats are applied.