This project was started in the spring of 2008. The actual make began nearly a year later once most of the required tools and cane were in hand.
The fly rod is crafted by hand, but my ShopSmith (combination table saw, drill press, jointer, disk sander, and lathe) has been essential to the work.
The fly rod is crafted by hand, but my ShopSmith (combination table saw, drill press, jointer, disk sander, and lathe) has been essential to the work.
Update: Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Posted 05-07-2009 at 08:27 AM by Chad
In this post:
Building Bamboo Ovens
Partly for the sake of learning, and partly because we were drawn to different oven styles, our upstart rod shop decided to build two ovens. My dad and George would build a heat-gun oven, and I would build a torch oven. Here’s how things went.
A. Building a Heat-Gun Oven
The heat-gun oven built by my dad and George modifies the standard design with a popular alternative. Instead of a vertical oven that efficiently uses rising hot air, the modified design is laid on its side. This is usually done because the ceiling in a rod-maker’s shop is not high enough to allow for a 5’ vertical oven plus an additional 4-5’ of height to insert and extract the rod sections.
A very important change happens when a maker lays a heat-gun oven on its side. The warmed air doesn’t independently rise through the second, bamboo chamber. Instead, it is influenced by the blower on the heat-gun (which isn’t very forceful) and perhaps any structural high pockets in the oven where warm air can sit. This can create hot spots and result in uneven treatment.
To overcome these challenges, the horizontal heat-gun oven is typically designed a bit differently. Instead of one smaller bamboo cylinder inside a larger heating cylinder, one continuous smaller cylinder is constructed, generally in a “U” shape. This facilitates the continuous movement of warm air through the oven, overcoming the problem of heat pockets and uneven heating. Unfortunately, it creates a second problem in that it reduces the maximum temperature the oven can achieve since the bamboo chamber doesn’t benefit from the “twice-baked” standard design (i.e. in the standard design, the warm air that is forced down the heat chamber warms the outside of the stainless steel walls of the bamboo chamber, and then rises back through the interior of the bamboo chamber once it reaches the bottom of the oven). To overcome this second problem of reduced heat potential, horizontal heat-gun ovens need to be insulated to achieve and maintain the 350 degrees required to treat bamboo. Insulation is either applied through the construction of a box in which the oven is inserted or in the same manner described in the element oven above – one heat duct inside another with insulation between.
Below you can see how my dad and George neatly insulated their oven.
With the utmost attention to detail, they then capped the ends to cover that unsightly insulation.
My dad and George also wanted an accurate temperature reading at multiple points in the bamboo chamber, so they drilled holes and inserted two thermometers.
Then, they smartly added four bolts at the end of the heating chamber to securely affix the heat gun.
Finally, they used insulating tape over the two 90 degree elbows to prevent heat loss.
The finished product is an excellent oven with minimal to no heat gradient throughout the bamboo chamber. George challenged me to build a better looking oven, and as you will soon see, I failed!
My dad with their completed heat-gun oven
B. Building a Torch Oven
It took me about one month and 15 minutes to build my bamboo torch oven and it cost me $12 out of pocket. The lengthy building time was primarily due to the fact that most of the materials and tools required for the build were donated to me, and took some time to pick up. Roger (Wirenut) gave me the 6x6 piece of lumber I used to turn my end caps, and Alex T. picked it up for me. George gave me the iron pipe, which he acquired from the railroad during a redesign of a warehouse heating system. And, my dad gave me the wood-turning calipers I needed to turn my end caps. I’m not a complete mooch though. After all, I did supply my own wire clothesline to hand the oven. Oh, and I also bought two thermometers to install in the end caps to give me a temperature reading on the inside of the pipe – that’s where the $12 came in.
Once I had all of the supplies, fabrication was fairly easy. I first used my band saw to cut two, three inch pieces off Roger’s 6x6. I then turned them into tapered plugs with the lathe to fit securely in the ends of the pipe. Once turned, I drilled a hole through the center of the end cap plugs to insert the stem of the thermometers. I then drilled two steam holes in the pipe and hung the whole contraption from the ceiling in my basement.
The tapered plugs with thermometers
The completed torch oven
After a month of research, design, and fabrication, it was complete. Without any bamboo in the pipe, I fired up the torch and had my daughter watch the time. I just wanted to make sure my torch oven would reach and maintain 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
After 10 minutes of playing the fire across the length of the pipe and barely reaching 150 degrees, my daughter began to look pretty bored. After 20 minutes, she asked if it was okay if she went upstairs to watch cartoons, “Sure, hun.” After 30 minutes, I started getting bored. Finally, around the 35 minute mark, I achieve 175 degrees and squarely reasoned that 350 degrees was out of the question.
The oven was a complete failure. I’m not sure if the pipe’s diameter was too large or if the wall thickness was too great, but the thing wasn’t gonna reach 350 degrees without a much bigger torch.
I sat down on the basement floor for a few minutes discouraged. Building a new oven was the last thing I wanted to do. Piecing together the materials would be difficult and time consuming. I was looking at a significant project delay and was pretty bummed.
Then it hit me. I have smaller diameter pipes laying in the yard under the hedges. I ran outside and rummaged through them. I was ecstatic when I found a perfect 5’ section. I took it downstairs and cleaned it up. I then extracted the thermometers from their wooden end caps, pushed them through balls of steel wool, and stuffed the steel wool into the pipe ends as tight-fitting end caps. I took down the old oven and hung the new one. Finally, I drilled two vent holes. In 15 minutes I had a new oven.
To test it, I again fired up the torch and applied the heat. Five minutes later, I was reading 350 degrees on both thermometers, and I was able to maintain that temperature indefinitely.
So how long did it take me to build a working oven? One month and 15 minutes.
Building Bamboo Ovens
Partly for the sake of learning, and partly because we were drawn to different oven styles, our upstart rod shop decided to build two ovens. My dad and George would build a heat-gun oven, and I would build a torch oven. Here’s how things went.
A. Building a Heat-Gun Oven
The heat-gun oven built by my dad and George modifies the standard design with a popular alternative. Instead of a vertical oven that efficiently uses rising hot air, the modified design is laid on its side. This is usually done because the ceiling in a rod-maker’s shop is not high enough to allow for a 5’ vertical oven plus an additional 4-5’ of height to insert and extract the rod sections.
A very important change happens when a maker lays a heat-gun oven on its side. The warmed air doesn’t independently rise through the second, bamboo chamber. Instead, it is influenced by the blower on the heat-gun (which isn’t very forceful) and perhaps any structural high pockets in the oven where warm air can sit. This can create hot spots and result in uneven treatment.
To overcome these challenges, the horizontal heat-gun oven is typically designed a bit differently. Instead of one smaller bamboo cylinder inside a larger heating cylinder, one continuous smaller cylinder is constructed, generally in a “U” shape. This facilitates the continuous movement of warm air through the oven, overcoming the problem of heat pockets and uneven heating. Unfortunately, it creates a second problem in that it reduces the maximum temperature the oven can achieve since the bamboo chamber doesn’t benefit from the “twice-baked” standard design (i.e. in the standard design, the warm air that is forced down the heat chamber warms the outside of the stainless steel walls of the bamboo chamber, and then rises back through the interior of the bamboo chamber once it reaches the bottom of the oven). To overcome this second problem of reduced heat potential, horizontal heat-gun ovens need to be insulated to achieve and maintain the 350 degrees required to treat bamboo. Insulation is either applied through the construction of a box in which the oven is inserted or in the same manner described in the element oven above – one heat duct inside another with insulation between.
Below you can see how my dad and George neatly insulated their oven.
With the utmost attention to detail, they then capped the ends to cover that unsightly insulation.
My dad and George also wanted an accurate temperature reading at multiple points in the bamboo chamber, so they drilled holes and inserted two thermometers.
Then, they smartly added four bolts at the end of the heating chamber to securely affix the heat gun.
Finally, they used insulating tape over the two 90 degree elbows to prevent heat loss.
The finished product is an excellent oven with minimal to no heat gradient throughout the bamboo chamber. George challenged me to build a better looking oven, and as you will soon see, I failed!
My dad with their completed heat-gun oven
B. Building a Torch Oven
It took me about one month and 15 minutes to build my bamboo torch oven and it cost me $12 out of pocket. The lengthy building time was primarily due to the fact that most of the materials and tools required for the build were donated to me, and took some time to pick up. Roger (Wirenut) gave me the 6x6 piece of lumber I used to turn my end caps, and Alex T. picked it up for me. George gave me the iron pipe, which he acquired from the railroad during a redesign of a warehouse heating system. And, my dad gave me the wood-turning calipers I needed to turn my end caps. I’m not a complete mooch though. After all, I did supply my own wire clothesline to hand the oven. Oh, and I also bought two thermometers to install in the end caps to give me a temperature reading on the inside of the pipe – that’s where the $12 came in.
Once I had all of the supplies, fabrication was fairly easy. I first used my band saw to cut two, three inch pieces off Roger’s 6x6. I then turned them into tapered plugs with the lathe to fit securely in the ends of the pipe. Once turned, I drilled a hole through the center of the end cap plugs to insert the stem of the thermometers. I then drilled two steam holes in the pipe and hung the whole contraption from the ceiling in my basement.
The tapered plugs with thermometers
The completed torch oven
After a month of research, design, and fabrication, it was complete. Without any bamboo in the pipe, I fired up the torch and had my daughter watch the time. I just wanted to make sure my torch oven would reach and maintain 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
After 10 minutes of playing the fire across the length of the pipe and barely reaching 150 degrees, my daughter began to look pretty bored. After 20 minutes, she asked if it was okay if she went upstairs to watch cartoons, “Sure, hun.” After 30 minutes, I started getting bored. Finally, around the 35 minute mark, I achieve 175 degrees and squarely reasoned that 350 degrees was out of the question.
The oven was a complete failure. I’m not sure if the pipe’s diameter was too large or if the wall thickness was too great, but the thing wasn’t gonna reach 350 degrees without a much bigger torch.
I sat down on the basement floor for a few minutes discouraged. Building a new oven was the last thing I wanted to do. Piecing together the materials would be difficult and time consuming. I was looking at a significant project delay and was pretty bummed.
Then it hit me. I have smaller diameter pipes laying in the yard under the hedges. I ran outside and rummaged through them. I was ecstatic when I found a perfect 5’ section. I took it downstairs and cleaned it up. I then extracted the thermometers from their wooden end caps, pushed them through balls of steel wool, and stuffed the steel wool into the pipe ends as tight-fitting end caps. I took down the old oven and hung the new one. Finally, I drilled two vent holes. In 15 minutes I had a new oven.
To test it, I again fired up the torch and applied the heat. Five minutes later, I was reading 350 degrees on both thermometers, and I was able to maintain that temperature indefinitely.
So how long did it take me to build a working oven? One month and 15 minutes.
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