Rod Making in the 21^st century

By Roger McCourtney

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In response to the interest shown by a number of enthusiastic BFW members I have embarked upon what is, to do the subject justice that is, quite an undertaking. I believe that it will be better for myself and hopefully the readers of this work, to split the whole into parts, we could call it chapters if you like.

There will be some issues that are personal viewpoints and these whilst they may be at odds with traditionally held views are not meant to offend anyone. I will also mention various companies and individuals to help reinforce some points. Where appropriate, permission to quote these people and companies will have been given. I will stress that I do not know everything but what knowledge I do have has been acquired by, in the main, hands on experience. I will get "technical" only if I think it will help the thread being written about at the time. I will write about materials that I either have used or do use. This will be, if nothing else, a completely honest resume of the subject and hopefully I will not lose sight of the fact that this work is aimed at "informed amateurs" and not other professionals.

It is a fact that almost anyone could make a serviceable rod given that materials are easily obtainable, as to the quality of that rod will depend upon a number of factors. In a nutshell it is about quality of components selected and care taken over, in not just the making of the rod but time spent in practicing the various techniques such as "whipping".

I think a little bit of history would not go amiss at this point.

The sport of "Angling" goes back many years, in fact as many of you will know that the first book published on the sport was way back in 1496 by Dame Juliana Berner. Thomas Barker made reference to rods in his book published in 1651. This book not only mentioned rods but for the first time reels. These devices were called "wyndes" quite quaint really. In 1653 one Isaac Walton, first published what is probably the most widely known book on fishing of all time, "The Complete Angler".

Walton made much of rods in the book describing the properties of various timbers used during his life.

Tying lines direct to the "rod" was a practice in place really for a very long time and not until the 19^th century did rods with rings appears. These were tied still, to all manner of timbers and not until the late 19^th century did real rods come about. Often made from timbers such as Hickory, Willow, Ash etc. And it was roughly at the turn of the twentieth century that Bamboo was discovered as a suitable material for rod making. It did not take long for someone to realize that by splitting, re-shaping and then gluing, laminating in fact, sections back together produced a stronger more pliable rod.

Why do I mention all of this? Well some of you will be interested in history and as this thing progresses it will be seen that modern carbon composite actually mimics the properties of split bamboo! How many times do we see modern man mimic nature? Also, it is a fact that the widespread use of Bamboo has influenced the whole rod making industry, even to the present day, especially when we get onto the sub-subject of "Test Curves" which started all this in the first place!

Next time I will write about "blanks".