Well tomorrow is the big day, going to meet up with Steeldrifter and OSD to do a little fishing and pick up my first bamboo blank from OSD!!! I'm so pumped up about this!! It's a 7', 2piece, 3/4 weight and will be built with the intention of fishing tiny streams for tiny brookies, and probably some gill fishing here and there too.

Congrat's. You'll have a blast. Its pretty sweet working with bamboo and all the traditional components/aspect's of it.

Cool but let me get this right you have to fish with OSD and SD in order to get it Sound like cruel and unusual punishment. What some people will do for a bamboo fix

Ken

bellinger makes some sweet looking ferrules. You might try them...Bellinger Components

As far as ferrules go the new kid on the block are the new titanium ferrules from Golden Witch and the most expensive but these ones come pre-fitted and ready to go. I've never used these ones but Chris has. I've used REC's Uniferrule they're pretty nice, there a little cheaper but have to be fitted but I prefer the look of bright nickle silver. GW also has a bar stock ferrule that I think I'll try on my next rod to see how they are. There cheaper still and also need to be fitted.
When I order ferrules I like to order one size larger than the flat dimension would indicate when converted to 64th's or something about half way between the flats dimension and the over all width of the blank measuring from corner to corner.
Anyway do some searching and see what you lik, there's lots of different styles to choose from

Ken

I have used the GW BarStock ferrules and like them. Look at eBay and you can often get a set for around $25.00.

Brian

Any of the above will work for you. Also check the supplier's list on the site here as there are more suppliers. Tony Larson @ Rush River makes a fine ferrule and the price is right.

....tc

A little tidbit on ferrules: In the past two weeks I've fit a set of GW field grade ferrules, a set of Rush River ferrules, a set of REC Uni-Ferrules and a set of Bellinger ferrules. All of them are great quality, but the Bellinger took the least amount of work to get fit, and turned out having the best fit (in fact, if the next couple sets I do turn out as nice I'll probably start going with Bellinger almost exclusively, sorry Tony ), REC was a close second with GW & Rush River about the same in third. Not scientific by any means, nor really a huge deal, but if you are fitting by hand the time savings could be considerable.

Also, the titanium ferrules are AWESOME and come perfectly pre-fit. Only trouble is they only come in 13/64 which is probably too big for a 3/4 wt.

Don't forget to post some pictures of that bad boy once you get it!

THings went wrong when I was supposed to meet up with OSD the other day for some fishing. Well I woke up today and stumbled into the bathroom, did my thing and decided to go outside and sit on the porch and drink a pop. So I go to the door, open it and what falls on me when it opens? Yup, you guessed it, a capped PVC tube!!!! I stared at it for a moment, knowing full well what was inside but completely taken off guard by it arriving so quickly.

I took a few gulps of pop, and came back in the house and went down to my tying/rodbuilding room, grabbed a knife and cut the tape at one end and pulled the cap off. As I slid the 2 pieces of bamboo out of it's sheath, I felt like King Arthur pulling the sword from the stone, and swear I could hear angels singing.

So here I sit at my computer, totally blown away by what I now have in my posession. This blank is beautiful in every sense of the word, actually words don't do this blank justice. It was built by Toddfather, it's a 7', 4/5 weight, not a 3/4 as I said in an earlier post. I will take a picture and post it for you all to see later tonight.

And the next build begins

Yea Todd made a nice looking blank there.
I was thinking if you didn't want it I would build it up

Have fun
Bob

When I look at this blank, gold guides, agate stripping guide, cigar grip, bocote reel seat with gold hardware and a hand burned trout. I'm thinking black wraps, but fear the overall look of it with black wraps to be to "dark", so I am also considering burgandy or a "midnight blue". Also seriously considering a feather inlay of some type, but will have to give that a little more thought

Yeah Gold guides and hardware with black wraps for sure. I just shaped some of my gold flytying wire into a snake guide and wrapped it with soem black thread onto the boo and it looks awesome.

Sorry for talking to myself But when you're so excited about soemthing and your home alone you just gotta share your joy with someone

Skunked...er....ah...OLB,

What is a pop? Not sure we have those things here in TX All we have is coke, in a varity of different flavors.


Brian

That's classic Midwest slang for soda

Bob

Here is a pic of the blank

And here are the dark palm reel seat blanks I just won on ebay that will be getting sent to OSD to become my reel seat

Thanks to OLB, (a big grateful unforgetable thanks), this awesome bamboo fly rod in now mine, to build. I've never seen bamboo with this coloring and it looks amazingly beautiful and feels so sleek and elegant in hand. I bought a BBQ rotisserie for my turner, hope it will work ok? and I need to do a lot of studing in this forum to learn as much as I can because I want to do the best job possible and I also want to buy the best of everything to wrap on it. This will be my new favorite fly rod, my first rod made by me, this is really exciting. I also want to learn as much as possible about this blank that was made by Toddfather.

Graham
the rod builder...lol..

Nice Graham! I'm sure if Toddfather made the blank it is top notch.

Browse away and feel free to ask questions. I'm sure you'll get plenty of help.

Hey Carlin,

I have this little nagging voice in my head telling me to have this blank decked out by a pro, for me to get the most long term enjoyment out of it. The dilema is that I know how good it felt catching a trout with the first fly I ever tied. But this rod will be fished many times, god willing, and I know a pro would do a better job than my first attempt.

Wondering what you think?

Graham

A few questions Graham:

Does it have the metal ferrules already attached?

Is the blank pre-finished - either impregnated, varnished or hand-rubbed?

Installing the grip, seat, wraps and, to some extent, the finish is pretty easy. The above are the steps where experience would be most benificial.

Graham anyone that make those beautiful bugs you make in the detail you make them with I know you will have no problem building yourself a beautiful bamboo fly rod. Like I always say if I can build a fly rod anyone can. It will take time and you'll need to learn some things but once your finished fly rod you will have joined the secret society of rod builders and the world will be opened up to you Oh and did I mention it's also alot of fun I say take up the challenge we'll all help you after all we've got nothing better to do

Ken

I gotta agree with Ken on that one bud, with the talent you have with flies I know you will be just as critical of building a rod and you wont have any problems with it

Graham,
I've seen how you can take a piece of foam and make it look like it's alive so I'm sure you can build yourself an awesome bamboo rod. Just like the critters you make I can't wait to see the finish bamboo.

Rick