Building Bamboo Fly Rods: The Beginning

Perhaps the first time I had seen any description in some detail about the construction of a bamboo rod.

In 1983, while employed with Hull’s Forest Products, located in Pomfret Connecticut, I was sitting at my desk tallying up the log grading from the yard that was brought in overnight and early morning.  During this session one of the foresters came into the office with an eight page article describing the construction of a bamboo fly rod. During breaks and lunch and some down time, I was able to complete this article which left me with a desire to possess a rod made of this material known as Tonkin cane. While I was reading the article I noticed that at the bottom of each page, there was a diagram of the rod, with each page having only a section of the overall length. When placed side by side, the entire rod was revealed with the dimensions revealed every five or six inches.

I was smitten!

At that moment, a desire to have, better yet, build, a bamboo fly rod really burned inside of me. I was no stranger to detail work as I had observed my father as a child repair guns, diamond score and carve various big game animals into the stocks of so many different pieces. I was, even at that time mesmerized simply watching my father work his magic. His skill was honed on the assembly line and other aspects of work for 45 years with The Marlin Firearm’s Company. He was for a period of time their gun smith and eventually went back to the assembly line as the financial gain was greater.

1985, my wife and I travelled across Canada and the US from Connecticut with the intention of getting to the Yukon river to canoe a section prior to our return to the east coast. We left the east coast in May and landed in Portland Oregon in September. We also ran out of our travel money. We got jobs and wintered over in Portland. My surprise being, where is the winter? at least, the winter I was familiar with. Life has a path set and in that path we have choices. A long story short, we are still here. We have not canoed the Yukon, but canoe we did, elsewhere.

In 1989, I purchased a bamboo fly rod from a local flea market and used this rod in place of my inexpensive graphite rods. Most certainly a noodle action, but still I caught trout, white fish and every so often a steelhead would be hooked for only a short period. The one part of the rod I was not in favor of were the ferrules. You see, this was a common, run of the mill, Japanese made, with a pretty box and flies, bamboo rod. I thought it was the perfect accoutrement for my fly fishing.

I thought, what if I had new ferrules built for this rod that had a classic design? Then, I would have something I could be proud of even more-so. After some research into rod builders in Oregon I made an appointment with a gentleman from Lebanon, Oregon which I eventually cancelled due to finding another rod builder much closer to home who resided in the west hills of Portland.

In December of 1989, I spoke with Ed Hartzell who had invited me to visit his home so he can take a look at this bamboo rod that I was very keen on.

The weather was partly overcast, cold and with snow on the ground. I parked my truck atop his driveway and walked down to his home. I knocked, and shortly after the door opens with Ed greeting me.

While in the house, we unfurled the rod. I was a little nervous as to the price it would cost to have ferrules built. Eddie took all of 5 seconds to view and then stated, If I were to build you ferrules for this rod, the ferrules would be more expensive than this rod in its current state. I was shocked, and he knew it. He began to explain the history of these types of rods built in Japan for the US market in the 50’s that essentially flooded the market for use in lodges by the vacationing masses….with little attention to quality but the quantity was there.

Upon settling down from my shock, and having the opportunity to meet Kimberly, Ed’s lovely wife, he remarked, “why not just build a rod from scratch”?

At that precise moment, I recalled the article I had read at Hull’s Forest Products. It’s less of an astonishment, at least today for me, how powerful desire can be.