I am getting started on a new rod that should be a great rod for bass fishing. It’s a Paul Young design – Para 15. I’ll be making two tips one designed for a 6 weight line and one for a 7 weight line to give a little extra flexibility.

For this rod I decided to flame the bamboo. This will provide a deep caramel color finish. The flaming is a pretty simple process involving lightly charring the outside of the bamboo with a torch.

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Once the bamboo is flamed I began the splitting process. Consecutively splitting the bamboo down into stips which will then be planed down into the final taper.

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Once the bamboo is split, the strips are hand planed to approximately 1/4 width. The nodes are filed and pressed and the strips are prepared for the initial rough planing and heat treating.

Then the fun begins. The metal planing form is adjusted to follow the taper of the rod and each strip is hand planed so that it consistently matches the others. Each rod section consists of six consistent strips of bamboo glued together.

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