“Like most things in rod making, there is no right way [although there is a pile of wrong ones - I know - I traveled that path - a lot]. Rod making is mostly about doing. Figuring out what works for you and produces a rod you're pleased with.”
In this post:
1) Planing the Diaphragms
2) Flattening and Straightening the Nodes
3) Preparing for Initial Planing

These three steps are necessary evils. They don’t hold a lot of glamour...

Bonus Material – My Second Mistake:
You’ll love this! As I’m working through the process of staggering my nodes on the butt and two tip sections, I run into a problem (not described above ) with the tip strips. It has to do with that thin strip I mentioned earlier. As it turns out, I actually find two thin strips. Both are from the top half of the culm - the tip strips. Somehow I missed the second thin strip.

As I look through all of the tip strips, I slowly become...

Staggering Nodes

So… more work involving those pesky nodes.

As mentioned earlier, nodes are the weakest part of a fly rod. They are also the most irregular and often the most crooked part of split strips. For these reasons, it is important that a finished rod demonstrate that the maker worked intentionally to place (or stagger) the nodes in strategic and thoughtful positions within the rod. We are interested first in function and second in cosmetics. Keep both of those...

Prepping Nodes

My mom always said, “Pride goeth before a fall” and she was always right.

As I stand in victory over my strips early the next morning, something dawns on me. It’s my first “Oh $#%!” moment. In my excitement to flame the culm and split the strips, I completely forgot to prep the nodes!

You will remember that nodes are the rings that grow in the culm to give it sturdability (my word) as it reaches 40 feet in one year. The power fibers intersect...

Splitting Strips

This is where things can really go wrong in a hurry.

Splitting cane is similar to ripping fabric. You make the initial cut and then, in theory, you simply extend the “rip” down the length of the material in a smooth straight line. But that’s...