Power Fibers Issue 40

July, 2010 (Volume 40)
Dedicated to the
Making of Fine
B a m b o o F ly Ro d s
Inside this issue:

The First Cast 5
Book Review: 6
Bamboo—Fact,
Fiction and
Flyrods—II
A New Use for Your 9
Unwanted Bamboo
Classic Taper: 18
8’6” WeberKraft
by Heddon
Little Hollowing Jig 21
with a Dremel
Rodmaking 101 29
Part III
Sharpening Bevel Up 38
Irons
A Jig for Scallop and 53

Dam Hollowing
Classic George 59
Halstead Ferrule
Design
Wooden Forms—Part I 66
Joe’s Rod Shop Tutorial 72

Getting the Most out
of Pen Blanks
Photos Courtesy of Harry Boyd

July, 2010 (Volume 40) Page 2
A Small Gathering of Rodmakers

October 8-10, 2010
On the Penobscot
Eddington Salmon Club
Preregistration Helpful
For info contact:
Bob Milardo
207 234-2532
[email protected]
Earl “Red” Coakley — 2511 25th Street — Nitro WV 25901

[email protected]
The First Cast

Todd Talsma, Editor Power Fibers
I’m writing this a couple of weeks after helping organize the Grayrock
Rodmakers gathering, which is held in Grayling, Michigan. The heavy Online Magazine
lifting of the organization was done by the other members of the organiz-
ing committee: Karen Harrison, Peter Jones, John Niemann, Richard
Editor
Perry and Bruce VanderHoof. There is a lot work that goes on behind
the scenes and these people did a fantastic job. Thank you all! Todd Talsma
The best part of gatherings for me is the opportunity it affords to be able Contributors
to put faces to names. It’s really nice to read posts on the email mailing Joe Arguello
list and forums and be able to picture whose you’re reading! In addition Brent Beach
to new faces, the opportunity to renew friendships is a really pleasing
Chris Bogart
part of these gatherings as well. I treasure the time that I can spend with
these folks and would hate to start naming them and miss anyone impor- James E. Dempsey
tant to me. For that matter, I don’t know any of the people that attended Doug Easton
this year’s Grayrock that I wouldn’t like to spend more time with. Mike McGuire
Friedrich Scholl
The other part of the gatherings is that they just get my motivation started Tony Spezio
again. I was able to cast some rods
Dick Steinbach
that I really liked and I’ve added the
rods to my to do list. Nothing like a Warning!
kick in the butt by other makers to get Copy Editors
you back in the shop. Now, I just Because many aspects of bam-
Bret Reiter
have to get the shop cleaned up so boo rodmaking bring the maker
that I can do some rod work. I’ve in contact with machinery, Carol Talsma
been turning some pens and that bladed tools, volatile chemicals Mark Wendt
pretty much took over the shop. and gases, the editor and advi-
We’ll get that taken care of soon and sory board of Power Fibers ask
Advisory Board
get back to the rods. Well, at least you to exercise the utmost cau-
when I get some time. tion when attempting to build Russ Gooding
or mimic any devices or activi- Bob Maulucci
ties mentioned in this magazine. Ralph Moon
I have to take a couple of minutes to Bob Nunley
say thank you to Tony Spezio for his Please have any devices you
J.D. Wagner
contributions. He’s not been feeling build and use in your shop
the best, but he still sent me two arti- checked by a safety professional
cles for this issue. Thanks a lot before attempting to use such For more info contact:
Tony! devices. This is to guarantee
Todd Talsma
your personal safety and that of
[email protected]
I can always use more ideas, feel free others around you. 8412 North Maple Court
to contact me. If you have a sugges- If you choose to build any de- Zeeland MI 49464
tion about improving Power Fibers, vice or use any technique found 616.772.5043
drop me an email at the following in this magazine, you are doing Copyright © 2010 by Power Fibers
email address: power. so at your own risk.
[email protected]
Quick Book Review: Bamboo—Fact, Fiction and Flyrods—II

Text by Todd Talsma
I have a confession to make. I’ve had Bob Milward’s original book for several years and never
read the complete book. Now that I’ve received a copy of Bob’s updated book, I wish I had read
the original a long time ago!
The testing that Bob has done is very interesting, I’m not sure if I’ve absorbed all of the informa-
tion, but Bob has given us all a lot to think about in regards to heat treating, flexing and aging of
our rods. You can’t help but scratch your head while going though the very extensive tests and re-
sults that Bob lays out in the book. I’m sure I’ll have to reread the book to fully grasp all of the re-
sults.
In addition to the tests, Bob also walks the reader through a well thought out process of making a
bamboo rod. This includes a lot of information on alternative ways of accomplishing many of the
tasks. In addition to this detailed process, Bob also offers a pared down version of the rodmaking
process that takes a lot of the expense out of the tool-acquiring phase of rodmaking. I always like
to see this minimalist approach to rodmaking, as that is how I started.
The last part of the book is dedicated to many different machines that can aid in the rodmaking
process. These drawings are almost worth the price of the book themselves! I typically don’t use
machines for most of my rodmaking, but there may be some that I’ll need to consider. Bob has
drawings for a few different types of bevellers and millers, a four string binder, several ovens and
some node preparation devices.
I highly recommend Bob’s new book. Visit http://www.bobmilwardbamboo.com/ to order your

copy today!!
Reel Makers Contest

Following are a couple of pictures of the reel that won the contest. Sandy Barnes sent me his photos
and it just goes to show you that you can make the reels out of just about any material. Sandy ended
up using an old cigar box for his side plates. Pretty ingenious use of materials in my opinion!
Alaska Custom Cane

Custom Engraved Reel Seats
Oil Artwork by Rhonda VanZandt
Jeff VanZandt also conducts bamboo rodmaking classes using the Morgan Hand Mill
Contact the VanZandts at [email protected]

A New Use for Your Unwanted Bamboo

Text and photos by Richard Steinbach
Try an Experimental all Bamboo Ultralight Canoe
There is a small manmade lake near my home in Albany, NY, called the six-mile waterworks. It is
within walking distance and right smack underneath the I 87 Northway and next to the major toll
booths connecting to the I 90 NYS Thruway. It is reputed to once have had some good sized fish in
it.
Sounds like an unlikely place to fish but trout are stocked each spring even though the big fish
probably eats most before the lake warms up. There are resident populations of panfish, bass, carp,
pike and perch who know their way around. In these hard times that proximity is quite appealing
and from some parts of the lake it seems quite remote.
Small motorless boats are allowed so I thought it might be nice if I made an ultra light craft, which
I could carry down the street and through the woods. I had some culms which I was not going to
use for rods, so the experiment of a bamboo ultralight seemed like a fun project.
(Continued on page 10)
After researching the web for information I settled on two dealers who had the most probability in
terms of useful hints and suggestions. The first was Brian Chandler's
site (www.dreamcatcherboats.com). He is located in Vancouver, BC. The other contender was Platt
Monfort's (www.gaboats.com) located in Westport, Maine. I am indebted to both of these folks for
their willingness to share their secrets and encourage any rodmakers interested in having a small
ultralight craft to check out their websites. You can learn a lot by just looking.
Brian’s approach is quick, inexpensive and low

tech; his canoe is stitched and lashed together (see
photo right) much like the skin boats of the native
Eskimo people. It can be constructed in less than
a week using ordinary lumber.
Platt on the other hand builds a variety of small,

complex, very high tech geodesic boats requiring
considerably more time and special materials (see
photo below). He uses smaller, lightweight strips
and ribs and Kevlar roving laid in a diagonal pat-
tern to make the geodesic form, which makes the
craft very strong.
It became clear in working with the bamboo that I would have to adapt to its special requirements,
which as bamboo rodmakers, we are all quite familiar with, so the subject of this article will be to
share my experiences and how I solved the problems. Obviously, I went with a modified Montfort
system.

Cross section
Cross section of the thwarts of the strips
The breast hooks

which were edge
glued strips
I wanted an eight foot boat in order to reduce the weight as much as possible, so I began by draw-
ing up my own plans. I used a piece of cardboard to draw the initial curve for the stations, which I
eventually transferred to plywood, which would become the frames of my mold. The strips would
eventually be wrapped around the frames and glued together to become the skeleton of the boat.
60° / 90° Nodeless Splice Clamp

I don’t know if you have ever tried to splice rough
60° strips, but I could never get right. These
clamps will self-align the splice and put even
clamping pressure where it is needed. It’s as easy
as splicing 90° sticks, which it will also do.
Contact Don Schneider for more
information & pricing:
[email protected] Shown splicing a 60° Strip.
By the way, that Jawhorse is a really

wonderful tool!
But I get ahead of myself. First I had to make the strips: I began by splitting the full 12' culm with a
pie splitter Next I put them on the belt sander and ground off the nodes and the nodal dams. These
were then taken to the band saw and cut into strips for processing on the beveler. I currently use a
modified JW beveler but any one would do just fine. As you know, the bamboo limits dimensions
to usable power fibers so after some experimenting I settled on laminations and the Monfort ap-
proach of using lots of strips and Kevlar roving to make a geodesic form for the hull.
As you can see from the photo at right, I am squaring up a

strip to match the end view shown above. Several passes
were taken to straighten and bring them down to 1/8" and
3/8". I am using a four inch air cleaner system instead of a
shop vac because the machine could not handle the chips
from some of the one inch wide strips I tried.
The finished strips were straight and square enough that I

did not need to press and straighten the nodal areas.
Once the strips were milled construction could begin

in earnest (see photo right). I used about thirty-five
strips total and began by laminating the bow and stern
pieces, which would be glued to the keel strip. A
layer of masking tape between the plywood form and
the laminations acted as a release agent preventing
unwanted sticking. I didn't make the keel strip any
different than the others but just laminated the stems
to the keelson strip and started laying down the other
strips. The strips, which go the length of the craft, are
called stringers and those, which are crossways, are
called ribs.
At first I stapled the stringers to the plywood stations (see photo left) but
the bamboo had a mind of its own and kept

twisting, so I used plastic electrical wire ties
(see photo left) to tame them and that method
worked much better.
The stations themselves were C-clamped to a

2x4 so everything could be easily disassem-
bled when it was time to remove the skeleton
from the mold.
I have had some West System epoxy stored in

the garage for several years, and after trying
several different adhesives, including my pre-
cious Epon, I decided to use their 105 epoxy
resin and 207 hardener. I used their dispensing pumps to get the correct mix, stirred it up and let it
sit for a few minutes and then blended in their 405 filleting blend adhesive filler till it formed a
thick paste and began applying it to the joints. Eventually I was able to remove the stations and re-
lease the frame. Now I could begin the finish work of adding extra ribs, half ribs, and decking as
desired. The gunnel assembly and breast hook, two thwarts, etc. Although there are some rather se-
vere bends in the ribs it turned out that it was not necessary to steam or soak any of the parts.
The laminated pieces for the bow and stern parts were extremely successful! Strong and beautifully
shaped and I highly recommend the technique.
The gunnels consisted of inboard and outboard strips made from four stringers, which I applied
separately. That was a mistake because I filled the spaces with some 405 filleting blend adhesive
filler till it formed a thick paste and buttered it into the gaps creating a very strong gunnel assembly
but it added two or three pounds of weight and looked sloppy by rodmakers standards. I would rec-
ommend laminating the gunnels before hand for a much nicer presentation.
The bamboo ribs were an interesting challenge! They could be easily bent and fitted in place. Usu-
ally ribs are steam bent and pretty much retain their shape when cooled but the bamboo kept want-
ing to spread the hull and seemed to eliminate the need for thwarts.
I used 5.5 oz. Dacron sailcloth for the skin because it is quite inexpensive on Ebay and very strong.
It is easily repaired if punctured. You can just use duct tape in an emergency and you can make per-
manent repairs with scrap dacron and heat & bond tape. It will degrade from ultraviolet light if not
protected by a layer of varnish or paint.
By attaching the Dacron to the gunnels with heat & bond tape and using an ordinary clothes iron
you can then heat shrink it to the frame and it will be tight as a drum and quite strong (see photo
above). Repairs are easily made using scraps left over from construction and in an emergency good
old duct tape works just fine.
The downside of this method of construction is that it is quite time consuming and seems to take
forever. The upside is (as I expected), that it is extremely lightweight and strong.
My boat weighed only six pounds when removed from the mold. By adding all the extra filler,
heavy duty heat shrunk Dacron sail cloth, bamboo floor, and three coats of dark green latex house
paint the final product is under thirteen pounds and I can easily portage it wherever I want.
Overall I would say the project is well worth attempting! Anyone interested may contact me @
[email protected] and I will be happy to share my thoughts.
I plan to build a ten or eleven footer this summer with only varnish and laminated gunnels and
stringers and expect it to come in under 10 pounds.
If you fish still waters and would like to build I would definitely recommend trying it. Of course
you really don't need to use your expensive Tonkin for this unless as I, you have some that are un-
suitable for your best rod work.
This interior shot

shows floor (deck).
You can step on it; I
place a pfd cushion
on the deck and lean
against the thwart
as desired.
The tight
Dacron on the
bamboo strips
is reminiscent
of a lapstrake
hull.
Detail shot showing the Kevlar run

diagonally to create the geodesic ef-
fect. This adds great strength.
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Classic Taper: 8’6” WeberKraft by Heddon

Text and photos by Doug Easton
John C. Frost, a Stevens Point Wisconsin man, learned fly fishing in the East and brought his tackle
to Wisconsin in the late 19th century. He was not a fly tier and his supply soon ran out. He found
it necessary to order his flies from England, which was in many ways unsatisfactory. Fortunately
for Frost, his daughter, Carrie taught herself to tie flies, and by 1896 she was tying flies profession-
ally. This initiated an industry which prospered in Stevens Point, Wisconsin for 90 years. The
original Frost Company was absorbed by the Weber Life-Like Fly Company founded by Oscar We-
ber, in 1919. The Weber Company was a fixture in Stevens Point from that time until 1953. The
Weber Company went to great ends to promote fly fishing as an effective and enjoyable way to
catch fish.
The company sold some items made in-house but many items, including rods, were made by other
companies and sold under the Weber name. Before1930 their rods were made by Edwards. After
1930, the rods were Heddon, except for some late 1940s to early 1950s rods made by Phillipson.
The largest numbers of surviving rods are Heddons. Weber used a large number of model names;
Water Witch, Monogram, Professor, WeberKraft and the Henshall top-of-the-line models
(HandKraft and MasterKraft) to name a few. Michael Sinclair’s, Bamboo Rod Restoration Hand-
book ranks the prices of the four Heddon-made models available in 1937 as follows: #3500 Hen-
shall MasterKraft, $35.00; #2500 HenshallHandcraft $30.00; #1500 Monogram $20.00; #1200 We-
berKraft $12.00; #1000 Water-Witch $10.00) The rod featured in this article, a WeberKraft, was a
good choice at $12.00. The online inflation calculator (based on the consumer price index) gives a
2010 price for the rod of $182. This is in the price range of today’s Reddington or Lefty Kreh Tem-
ple Fork rods which probably serve the same market segment today as the WeberKraft did in 1937.
The rod pictured above has the nickel silver screw down-locking reel seat (the “hold tite” seat often
seen on Heddon bait rods), six tungsten steel snake guides and a good quality Mildrum style strip-
ping guide mounted on an beautiful dark toned blank. The ferrules are the standard Heddon rolled
welt-drawn-nickel silver, economy style. The rod is wrapped in red silk with no trim wraps and the
hook keeper is attached with a simple open wrap. This is a nice mid-range fishing rod. Heddon, like
most manufacturers, used the same tapers for all grades of a rod the same length and line weight,
but saved the best blanks for the top of the line. The above rod blank is nearly perfect, except for a
small glue line near the male ferrule on the mid section and some stains that may have come from
contact with a rack, perhaps in the oven. The nodes are spaced in spiral fashion and the cane has the
traditional Heddon dark tone. The glue line is what probably caused the blank to be used on a lower
class rod. In addition to the blank, what identifies this rod as lower to mid quality are lower quality
rolled welt ferrules, fewer snake guides, metal stripping guide and plain wraps.
Over the history of the company changes were made in Heddon tapers, so it is worthwhile to evalu-
ate the tapers of rods from different eras. This rod is 8’6” and works best with a 6 wt line. It does-
n’t mind being double hauled and easily reaches out to 65 feet. It is a sweet rod. You can easily feel
it load even with a short line, however it works best with a little line out. This makes it a better
choice for medium size rivers, as a light steel head rod or a bass rod. The butt is heavy enough to
put the wood to big fish. The action is medium fast and very smooth. This rod is unique in that I
could find no other rods in the RodDNA database with similarly shaped tapers and stress curves,
except a 9’ 6/7 wt Gene Edwards Autograph rod and a 7’6” Gene Edwards A&F Favorite. I own
both of these rods and they are powerful rods that cast tight loops. They are faster and throw tighter
loops than the Weber. Each type of rod has its advantages. I could fish this easy going rod all day.
Pt Dimension Stress
Inch Inch PSI
0 0.080 -
5 0.086 111053
10 0.105 126849
15 0.113 159432
20 0.126 160588
25 0.139 157011
30 0.151 154892
35 0.179 115860
40 0.201 103280
45 0.216 102604
50 0.231 101763
55 0.248 98449
60 0.255 107279
65 0.284 91282
70 0.304 88189
75 0.323 87900
80 0.335 93049
85 0.355 91432
90 0.406 70933
102 0.320 -
Little Hollowing Jig with a Dremel

Text and Photos by Friedrich Scholl
A simple but useful construction for hollow building rods in fluting or scalloping
style.
Tools and materials needed (photo 01).
Photo 01

Photo 02
First the PVC-pattern board is

sawn to the right size and the
V-grooves in 60° and or 90°
are cut with a router (photo
02). Like on planing forms,
route one bigger groove for
butt strips and one smaller
groove for tip strips (photo
03).
Photo 03
Photo 04
Once the grooves are routed, two holes are bored at the
point where the Dremel cutters are placed later (photo
04).

Photo 05 At this time, one

hole is drilled in the
front of the board to
be used for adjust-
ing the height
(photo 05). The
back side of the
base plate should be
hollowed out to
leave room for the
cutter (photo 06).
Photo 06

Now the pattern board is ready to mount with help of a simple hinge on a table board
(photo 07).
Photo 07
One more hole in the table board is helpful where the adjustment screw will seat in.
Simple pipe bells helped me out to mount the Dremel on the board. It should be
mounted that way for adjusting the Dremel later to the tip groove (photo 08).
Photo 08

With help of a depth gauge and the adjustment screw it will be easy to adjust the
height of the jig (photo 09).
Photo 09
For safer working, hold down wheels could be installed on the pattern board.
Also be sure to push the strips against the rotation of the Dremel for safer mill-
ing. I always use gloves when I’m milling my strips.
I tried some hollowing cuts on “test strips” to get a little feeling for the jig. After a bit
of tweaking the jig, there are nearly zero tolerances, which will be important for
“cross” or “round” hollowed cuts.
Now you can put on cutters that suit you – perhaps you'll have to hollow out the back
side of the pattern board again for the different cutters sizes and shapes.
MD Heat Treating Fixtures Heat Treating Ovens
Straighter strips from oven

Heat strips more evenly
Treat one to six strips $495
Boyd Rod Company Ozark Rod Makers School
Rod Making Classes Mountain Home, Arkansas
Two professional instructors

35 years experience
Build a complete rod
All inclusive package
Custom Bamboo Rods Lodging, Meals, Guided fishing
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1211 Newman Street
Winnsboro LA 71295
(318) 282-1825
Rodmaking 101, Part III

Text and photos by Tony Spezio
In the last issue we were ready to plane the inner

apexes. Before we get into that I want to show a
simple way to bind the sections if you do not
have a binder. I use both the Garrison type and
the four string binders seen in the photos.
Photo 4 shows the binder in use.
Sort out the strips so that the nodes are stag-

gered as you want them (photo 5). Lay the
A binder can be made by cutting a couple of

disks with a hole saw from some wood, in this
case plywood. Glue on a couple of pieces of felt
and mount them on a length of wood with a car-
riage bolt and wing nut (photos 1, 2 and 3).
strips on short piece of masking tape to hold Photo 6 & photo 7 show the shavings taken on
them side by side aligned with one another, be the passes. After making the cuts, the sections
sure the inner apexes are all in the upright posi- are brushed with a small soft wire brush or a
tion. I mark the enamel side at the butts so that I stiff bristle brush to remove the shavings (photo
don't make a mistake, red for tips, blue for butts. 8). Roll the sections together. The tape is then
The marked side is always on the masking tape.
Have the plane iron set for a real light cut and
make a couple of passes the full length of the
strips. I normally make three passes on the butt
sections and two on the tip sections. This will
make the strips nestle better.
removed and replaced with fresh tape, there will

be some shavings stuck to the removed tape.
We are now ready to glue. I use two part Epon,

other glues can be used like Titebond II and

III. Mix the glue as directed on the container
(photo 9). For epoxy, I put the containers in warm
After binding the sections, roll each section like

rolling out dough to get them as straight as you
can (photo 12). I use Epon so I hang the sec-
water to make the glue is warm which helps it

flow better. The glue is applied with a toothbrush.
Be sure to get glue on all the surfaces that are up-
right on the strips (photo 10). The sections are
tions for 18 to 20 hours before removing the

binding thread. After this time the glue is set but
then bound with a binder or by hand (photo 11).

not cured, it is still somewhat soft (photo 13).
With the binding thread removed, there will be a

coating of soft glue on the outer surface (photo
14).
four hours. I like to bind the sections individu-

A fresh razor blade is used to remove the soft

glue. Light passes on the flats will do the job
(photo 15). This will clean the surfaces to keep
from having to remove the hardened glue if it is
heat set without removing the glue.
The sections will now need to be heat set to cure

the glue. If using water base glue, this and the
above operation will be omitted. The sections are
bound again and heat set in the oven at 180°F for
ally, and then bind them all in the MD fixtures for grit paper (photo 18). I also go over the sections
heat setting (photo 16). After heat setting, I let the
sections cool in the fixtures. When cool, the bind-

ing string is removed (photo 17) and the flats
after sanding the flats with 4/0 steel wool. The
sections are then wiped down, warmed and a
coat of Formby's tung oil is applied to the sec-
tion while warm, this seals the section (photo
19). When the sections are dry, they are meas-
sanded with a hard rubber sanding block and 600 (Continued on page 34)
ured and cut to length. Be sure to add 1/2 of the section to the first mark from the end (photo
slide length to the half-length of the rod. On the 22). I put the tabs on the flats that are feathered
tips, include the tip top in the final measurement.
I leave the butt section as is until after the female
ferrule is installed. To install the ferrules, measure
the depth with a caliper and mark the section for
the full length (photo 20). Then measure the
between the two marks. If you don't have a lathe

you can fit the ferrules by scraping the apexes
to fit. Scrape the same number of strokes off
each apex as you go around the section. Keep
checking for fit as you scrape. You also have to
make sure that the ferrule is straight with the
section (photo 23). I like to crown and feather
my tabs. The tabs can be crowned with a trian-
gle jewelers file. I start with the file on the in-
length of the tabs and mark that length above the

full length mark (photo 21). Only cut the slide
side of the tab slit and make a few strokes to get

the crown started. Then file from the outside to
shape the crown (photo 24). The tabs are then The ferrules also have to be fit male to female.
This can be done on a lathe or by hand. See
Power Fibers July 2005, Vol. 20 for full details
on fitting ferrules. Photo 26 shows the crowned
ferrule fit to the section.
Before gluing the ferrules on the sections, they

have to be cleaned really well. I rough out the
inside of the ferrule when crowning the ferrule
with the file. Clean the inside with a "Q" Tip
and denatured alcohol. I use golf shafting ce-
ment to glue the ferrules. The type of cement
you use will be up to you. A vertical relief
groove is filed in the slide section of the bam-
boo for trapped air to be expelled as the ferrule
is pushed on the section. Apply the glue (photo
27), put the ferrule on the end of the section and
feathered as in photo 25. I have a full article on

crowning and feathering ferrules in Power Fibers
issue April, 2002.
put the end of the ferrule against a flat surface.

Grasp the section near the ferrule and push the
section into the ferrule. You will hear air being
expelled with a couple of air pops. Be sure you

hold the section near the ferrule so the section
doesn’t bow and snap. This is especially impor-
tant with the smaller tip sections. When the fer-
rules are seated all the way, wipe off the excess
glue around the tabs and bind the tabs (photo 28).
Green Highlander
Flyfishing Company
Do not use excess tension on the binding thread;

this will force all the glue out from under the tabs
and cause glue starvation on the tabs.
The next article will be about fitting the grip and

making the seat.
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Sharpening Bevel Up Irons

Text and photos by Brent Beach
Summary
Bevel up irons have been traditionally restricted to blocks planes, shoulder planes, and a very few
larger planes. The historical failure of these large planes to become more popular is puzzling in light
of their apparently very good performance.
This article is not setting out to prove whether or not bevel up planes work. They do work. This page
sets out to discover if there are any sharpening problems particular to bevel up planes.
I think that you will see that the problem is quite subtle. If you sharpen well, you won't have any
particular problems. If you don't sharpen well, the planes will fail to perform up to expectations.
Sharpening well is more important for bevel up planes, especially low angle bevel up planes, than
for bevel down planes. The fact that most people don't sharpen well may have held back the more
widespread use of bevel up planes for finishing work.
A second consideration is the honing angle you chose. Most bevel up planes are used on end grain,
so most people want to have a small honing angle. Some bevel up planes are used for specialized
tasks. For example, people making fishing rods from bamboo usually use block planes. Bamboo is
full of silica - it is very hard on plane irons. In this case, a more durable edge may be more important
than a sharper edge. If so, a much larger sharpening angle may be better. The page that discusses
camber on plane irons also discusses (with sketchup models) larger sharpening angles for bevel up
planes.
The Problem
In summary, friction with the wood wears the blade. This wear is confined to a very narrow region
extending back from the edge. In experiments conducted on over 45 plane irons of many different
makes, some irons tested several times, while taking over 1,300 images with the QX3, I have made
some observations.
Upper wear • Shavings colliding with, then sliding up, the upward facing surface produce
bevel the upper wear bevel.
• The upper wear bevel width increases with use, but reaches a maximum
value of around 0.005" long before the iron feels dull. The width of this up-
per wear bevel is about 2 to 3 times the average shaving thickness.
(Incidentally, this means that unless you position the cap iron within 1/200th
of an inch of the edge, it will perform no "chip breaking" function).
• Wear is not uniform across this wear bevel. There is more wear within one
shaving thickness of the edge.
• There may be a very narrow high wear bevel, as little as 0.0002" wide, right
at the edge. It appears that most of the force on the shaving occurs in this
very narrow region.
Lower wear • The wood being planed sliding under the blade produces the lower wear
bevel bevel.
• The lower wear bevel width increases with use, reaching a maximum width
at which the plane no longer performs adequately.
• The final lower bevel width at which the blade feels dull depends on the
blade thickness. Very thin blades may stop working when the lower wear
bevel is only 0.0007" wide. Thicker blades may work well until the lower
wear bevel is 3 times this width!
• The sense that the blade is dull is often not a function of the quality of the
edge itself - the edge may still be very straight and smooth. One standard
edge test is to drag a thumbnail along the edge, expecting defects in the edge
to catch the thumbnail. An edge that does not catch the thumbnail may still
seem dull in use.
• While sharpness of a razor blade depends largely on included angle, this is

not the case for plane irons. A plane iron may perform well with included an-
gle up to 45 degrees, while razor blades usually start out with included angles
around 10 degrees.
• A plane iron seems dull when the width of the lower wear bevel reaches a
point a which the forces required to push the edge into the wood (which in-
crease as the width of the lower wear bevel increases) are large enough that
the plane is no longer able to sustain these forces and still hold the blade in
the correct position. Making the plane more rigid at this point may not help -
the user may not be able to exert the force required while retaining the con-
trol needed. In any case, further wear increases with the force applied, so us-
ing a blade with largish wear bevel is only possible for a short time.

Why are Bevel-up Planes a Problem

The above observations apply to all planes. It does not matter whether the iron is bevel-up or bevel-
down, there will be wear bevels on both sides of the iron. The upper wear bevel will look the same
whether it is on the bevel side of the iron or the other side. The lower wear bevel will look the same
whether it is on the bevel side or the other side.
And this is the problem!
Conventional sharpening techniques handle the conventional problem: the problem of sharpening a
bevel down iron. Conventional sharpening techniques concentrate on the bevel side of the iron. Con-
ventional sharpening techniques do a good job on the bevel side and do little on the back face, but
this works out pretty well for bevel down planes. The back face of the iron gets the upper wear
bevel, which is slightly rougher than a well-honed bevel and is at a slightly greater angle than ex-
pected. The net effect of not working the back face of the blade is a slight increase in effort, with lit-
tle decrease in surface quality except perhaps for soft and stringy woods (where the increased effec-
tive planing angle is a negative).

With bevel up planes, the lower wear bevel is on the back of the iron. Standard sharpening tech-
niques do not work the back of the iron enough to remove this wear bevel. Most jigs for sharpening
irons do not even allow you to work the back face effectively while the iron is in the jig. The net ef-
fect is that the lower wear bevel remains on the iron after sharpening. While the edge seems sharp,
the lower wear bevel is still wide enough to prevent effective use.
The Test
Bevel up bench planes are increasingly being used to face plane difficult woods - woods subject to
tearout. In the old days they made bevel down planes with beds greater than 45 degrees to increase
the planing angle. They used bedding angles of 50 and 60 degrees. Lie-Nielsen offers bench planes
with 50 and 60-degree frogs.
With a bevel up plane you can increase the planing angle without changing the bedding angle if you
increase the included angle. You can leave the primary the same and add a steeper microbevel. With
a 12-degree bed, you get a 60-degree planing angle if the final microbevel is 48 degrees. The first
series of tests compare the rate of wear bevel formation as a function of the included angle.
Block planes are bevel up planes that are used for planing end grain. Typically they use a small in-
cluded angle and a small bedding angle which combine for a small planing angle. This small planing
angle and the excellent blade support inherent in bevel up plane design are both helpful on end
grain. Planes used on end grain get similar wear bevels.
The Test - Included angle and Wear Bevels

To set up the problem, here are some results from tests with a Lie-Nielsen #62, which uses a very
thick iron made from O-1 high carbon steel. I tested this blade four times, varying the conditions
slightly.
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In the first test, the blade had This is the downward facing,
my standard bevels: a pri- back face.
mary bevel at 25 degrees,
then three microbevels on the ♦ 4. The wear bevel (the
front and back, with the first darker band along the
at 29, the second at 30.2, the edge) is 0.0013" wide. The
third at 30.9 degrees. The darker line right at the edge
back bevels are 2.4, 3.5, and (about the same width as
4.3 degrees. the top yellow line) is the
high wear bevel that is
Images are of worn blades, 0.0003" wide.
taken after 150 passes along ♦ 3. The 0.5 micron mi-
the 4' Douglas-fir board. crobevel.
While performing well, this ♦ 2. The 5 micron mi-
blade shows very high wear crobevel.
levels. This may in part be ♦ 1. The 15 micron mi-
caused by the geometry - the crobevel.
low bedding angle means an
initial low clearance angle.
To be strictly comparable to
results from bevel down
planes with 45 degree blade
bedding angle and 30 degree
front bevel angle, we would
need a bedding angle here of
closer to 15 degrees.
This is the upward facing,

bevel side.
The wear bevel (the darker

band along the edge) is
0.0023" wide, with a high
wear bevel at the edge
(slightly different appearance
right at the edge) that is
0.0003" wide.
There is an interesting second

dark area just back of the wear
bevel that I don't understand.

In the second test I increased This is the downward facing,

the angle of the first front mi- back face.
crobevel from 29 degrees to
34 degrees. The second mi- The wear bevel (the darker
crobevel was 35.3, the third band along the edge) is
was 36.4. Increasing the front 0.0015" wide.
bevel angle on a bevel up
plane changes the effective
planing angle. This has the
same effect as changing the
bed angle. Planes with higher
planing angles can reduce
tear out in highly figured
woods.

bevel side.

0.0023" wide.

In the third test I increased This is the downward facing,

the angle of the first front mi- back face.
crobevel to 39 degrees. The
second microbevel was 40.5, The wear bevel (the darker
the third was 41.8. Adding band along the edge) is
the 12 degree bedding angle 0.0018" wide.
gives an effective planing an-
gle of 53.8 degrees.

bevel side.

0.0023" wide.

One problem with analyzing This is the downward facing,

these images is that the 0.5 mi- back face.
cron abrasive leaves a surface
that does not look a lot different The wear bevel (the darker
from a wear bevel - both lack
visible long scratches.
0.0020" wide. The boundary
As an aid to analysis, I repeated between the 5 micron bevel
test 3 with a slightly different and the wear bevel is pretty
sharpening sequence. First, 15 clear here.
micron at 39 degrees as before.
Second, 5 micron with the iron
angled during sharpening and
the jig resting on the 0.1" slider.
No third microbevel. The final
microbevel angles are the same
as in the previous test; the final
abrasive has changed.
So, in this test the second and

final microbevel is at 41.8 de-
grees.
These pictures were taken after

150 passes along the 4' board.
The last 10 passes were quite
difficult - the plane wanted to
skip along the board.
This is the upward facing, INSERT Photo_08

bevel side. Again, the bound-
ary is much clearer in this pic-
ture.

0.0023" wide.

Composite Images
The next image shows the upper wear bevels after each test. The width does not appear to change
much; if anything, it might be getting smaller as the angle increases.
The next image shows the lower wear bevels after each test. Here the wear bevels are getting wider
as the last front microbevel angle, and hence the effective planing angle, increases.
Discussion
Bevel up planes require a sharpening system that removes the wear bevel on the back of the blade.
The width of this wear bevel increases with increasing included angle. The larger the angle the more
important it is that the back is restored to the desired bevel angle right up to the edge.
You have three ways you can handle this problem.
1. Use back bevels, or

2. Hone more, or
3. Grind more often.

The Sharpening Problem

Having seen the wear bevels, we are now ready to think about sharpening the worn blade, bearing in
mind that the back face must be repaired as well as the front bevel.
Wear Bevel Shape
This drawing is a profile view of a dull plane

blade in working position. It shows the last
0.01" of the blade. If you use my jig and the
slips, the last 0.01" is the third microbevel. All
blade wear takes place in this very small re-
gion of the blade.
The outer black line is the profile of the sharp

blade before use. In this case, the front and
back third microbevels. If you use my jig you
get perfectly flat microbevels, front and back,
at the desired angle. The inner red line is the
profile of a worn blade - showing the upper
and lower wear bevels. The dimensions are
based on micrographs of a plane blade in its
just sharpened state before use, and in its dull
state after testing.
The upper wear bevel is long and flat, the

lower wear bevel is short and steep. This pic-
ture is true for bevel up and for bevel down
planes. The difference is that with bevel up
planes, the short steep lower wear bevel is on
the back of the blade.
In this discussion, we are considering only

bevel up planes. That is, the upward facing
bevel here is a front bevel. The downward fac-
ing bevel is a back bevel, or the back of the
blade.
Honing mainly the Front

To indicate the types of problems that can arise, consider this simple model of a sharpening session.
In both cases the sharpener works mainly on the bevel side, honing until the wear bevel is gone.
Let's look at the resulting blade.
Bevel Down
First the bevel down case. In this image
the bevel faces down and the pinkish line
shows honing until the wear on the bevel
side is gone. In the plane this blade is not
really sharp, since there is still wear on
the upper surface. However, the bevel
side is as good as new. The blade has the
original clearance and will plane fairly
well.
Bevel Up
Now the bevel up case. In this image the
bevel faces up and the blue line shows
honing until the wear on the bevel side is
gone. This blade is just as sharp as the
bevel down blade—it looks exactly the
same. However, in the plane the lower
surface still has all the wear of a dull
blade. If you press the plane down hard
enough, this blade will cut. But it will cut
poorly.
The Lee Valley planes are very strong.

Combined with the thick blade, you will
be able to plane with a blade sharpened
like this because the plane can transfer
your downward pressure to the blade and
drive it into the wood, even though it has
a full lower wear bevel.

Honing with Back Bevels

If you use back bevels, you will create a new
sharp blade that has a profile like the blue line.
That is, you will remove some metal on the front
and some metal on the back of the blade. You will
completely remove both wear bevels.
This is an idealized result - the final microbevels

ending at the tip of the worn blade. Honing has
not shortened the blade at all. You will probably
not get this result. In fact, I don't even try for this
result. It is the easiest result to draw however.
When I hone, I aim to achieve this blue line on

the first microbevels. I hone the front on 15 mi-
cron abrasive until the scratches reach the edge -
the old front wear bevel is gone. Then I hone the
back on 15 micron abrasive until the scratches
reach the edge - the old back wear bevel is gone.
This would be approximately the situation in the
drawing. The wear bevels are removed com-
pletely by the 15 micron abrasive.
The second and third microbevels shorten the

blade, while retaining the same basic geometry.
The problem with back microbevels is that these

bevel up irons are often short, some very short.
Say you have a 4" blade and get get a 3" exten-
sion of the edge from the jig. If you use a jig like
mine, where the thin jaw is 1/8" wide, the exten-
sion calculator (http://www3.telus.net/
BrentBeach/Sharpen/extensions.html)
produces the following results:
Inputs tall jaw height 1.5 inches

short jaw height 0.125 inches
short slip height 0.06 inches
tall slip height 0.10 inches
jaw angle 90 degrees
blade thickness 0.075 inches
bevel angle 29 degrees
Outputs Extension 2 + 27/ 32nds inches

Base of jig to blade 3.1 inches
Actual angles
... no slip 29 degrees
... short slip 30 degrees
... tall slip 30.7 degrees
Back bevel angles
... no slip 2.5 degrees
... short slip 3.7 degrees
... tall slip 4.5 degrees

Notice the final back bevel angle is 4.5

degrees. This reduces the clearance from
12 degrees down to 7.5 degrees.
A better honing strategy might be to not

use the slips when honing the second and
third back micro bevels. You sacrifice the
quality of the surface, but gain 2 degrees
of clearance. I suspect the tradeoff favors
omitting the slips for the back bevels.
You might spend a little longer on the
second and third grits to make up for us-
ing the same angle.
Front Grinding/Honing
If you work only from the front, you must
grind/hone down to this blue line. That is,
you must shorten the blade by the length
of the back wear bevel.
When during honing your new front

bevel reaches the dull edge, you have
visually removed the front wear bevel.
You can no longer see a bright line at the
edge, when looking at the bevel. People
may well stop honing at this point. The
entire back wear bevel is still present.
If you continue honing the front bevel un-

til you can feel a wire edge, you may still
have not removed the entire back wear
bevel. You will start to feel a wire edge
as soon as you hone through the dull
edge.
Other Grinding/Honing Options

One often proposed alternative to remove the back wear bevel is the David Charlesworth ruler trick.
You can find a short discussion of this technique here. I have not investigated this technique. It may
work, it may not. This is something to consider for a rainy winter day. If you use a jig like mine, you
already have a precise back microbevel mechanism; so you don't need to use this alternative.
Another alternative is to just buff the back of the iron using a charged leather strop. While stropping
may smooth the rounded back wear bevel a little, it will not flatten it. That is, it won't create a flat
back bevel at the edge that is roughly (within 3 or 4 degrees) co-planar with the back face.
One reader of the original page, Peter Michaux, asked: "Your page on bevel up planes has a
worst-case scenario with the 39 degree blade having a wear bevel of 0.0020" wide. My ques-
tion is this. Suppose we take that worn blade and only work on rehoning the front bevel.
Through rehoning don't we remove at least 0.002" of metal off the front bevel and thereby
remove the bottom wear bevel?"
My answer - The above discussion points out that people using bevel down planes should be
a little more conscious of the condition of the back of the blade during sharpening than those
using bevel down planes. I am not saying that sharpening won't remove the entire back
bevel, just that it might not.
When working the front bevel you can raise a wire edge without removing the entire back
bevel. As soon as the abrasive reaches the edge, it starts to create a wire edge. So, the pres-
ence of a wire edge is not enough to ensure that you have removed the entire wear bevel on
the back face.
If you use my jig and work the first microbevel at 29 degrees until the scratches reach the
edge, then at 31 until the second microbevel is 0.01" wide, you only shorten the blade by
0.0006". The third microbevel shortens the blade by about half of that again, for a total of
less than 0.001". You have shortened the blade by about half of a wide back wear bevel. So,
if you are using bevel up blades and my jig, be sure to raise a good wire edge on the 15
micron abrasive, then continue as usual.
I don't know how much metal the average user removes when sharpening a blade. In fact, I
have never actually tried to determine the amount of metal lost when going from a dull blade
to a sharpened blade. I have only begun using scribe marks on blades to make sure I get the
same part of the blade in each image. I usually mark the blade after the first abrasive - which
may have shortened the blade already. These scribe marks allow me to determine how much
metal is removed by the second and third microbevel, when done on both sides.
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Klondike Rod Company
A Jig for Scallop and Dam Hollowing

Text and photos by Mike McGuire
Editor’s note: Less than a week passed from the time that Friedrich Scholl sent me his article on a
hollowing jig using a Dremel rotary tool before Mike posted this article. I asked Mike if I could run
his article in the same issue that I ran Friedrich’s article and he graciously agreed.
It is useful to consider hollow construction for a bamboo fly rod to reduce its overall weight, and to
reduce its swing weight or longitudinal moment of inertia. At the point in the construction where I
would do this, I have split the bamboo into strips, straightened them, dealt with the nodes, rough
beveled, and planed them to final taper. This is a lot of work. The possibility of ruining a strip do-
ing the hollowing was much on my mind as I looked around for info on how to do it. Nothing I
found in the rodmaking literature I have on hand, or online, spelled out how to do it to my satisfac-
tion. So I had to resort to invention.

The Big Picture
Seen here is a base plate with a rotary tool such as a Dremel with a milling cutter and a carrier
block. There is a fence and stops to control the position of the carrier block with respect to the cut-
ter. The rotary tool shown here is from Harbor Freight. The cutter is from Dremel.

The Base Plate
The rotary tool is held in place with two ¾" aluminum channel rails and two hose clamps. The fence
and stops for the carrier block are more ¾" angle.

The Carrier Block and its Clamp Blocks
The carrier block is a piece of ¾" x 1½" (nominal) red oak. The cutter was used to mill a slot such
that a scallop cut would have a wall thickness of 0.070". A thinner wall thickness would result with
a shim under the block. The clamp blocks have a vee groove milled in them using a 30° milling cut-
ter (from Dremel), and are held down in use with wing nuts. The size of the block and the location
of the stops is such that the scallop cut is 2½" long
Alignment Marks
The strips are marked every 3". This is the length of one scallop cut and its dam.
60° / 90° Nodeless Splice Clamp

I don’t know if you have ever tried to splice rough
60° strips, but I could never get right. These
clamps will self-align the splice and put even
clamping pressure where it is needed. It’s as easy
as splicing 90° sticks, which it will also do.
Contact Don Schneider for more
information & pricing:
[email protected] Shown splicing a 60° Strip.
In Use
The marks of the strips are aligned with the edge of the clamp block. In the picture it is slightly off-
set to show the mark. The length of the resulting dam is the spacing of the marks less the 2½" of the
cut. I used a 3" spacing. I found it was best to start the cut at the right end due to the counter-
clockwise rotation of the cutter--starting from the other end will tend to lift the apex of the dam as
you reach the right end. My procedure was to start with block against the left stop and push it in
against the fence. The cutter will cut on its end surface. Going back and forth between the stops two
or three times gives a nice cleanly finished surface. Then, I remove the block with the strip from the
base plate, loosen the clamp blocks, move the strip left to the next mark, tighten and do it again.
Hollowed Strips
Here are some finished strips. Making a three-piece rod, I hollowed the butt and the mid sections. I
arranged it so that the nearest scallop to a ferrule was 2" away, but I hollowed all the way down to
the butt end under the rod seat.
To shorten the length of the scallops the stops would be moved closer. To increase it a longer car-
rier block would be needed and the stops would be moved further apart.
Classic George Halstead Ferrule Design

Text by James E (JED) Dempsey and Chris Bogart, Photos by Chris Bogart
Special thanks to Lawson Upchurch and Hal Bacon for their insights and contributions.
Original Halstead Ferrules
In the previous articles, we have laid the groundwork for looking at what I call the gold standard in
ferrules. This article captures our presentation at this year's Rodmaker’s meeting at Corbett Lake,
British Columbia, Canada.
George Halstead is one of the least appreciated master craftsman that practiced making fly rods. He
worked at Leonard from 1920 to 1925. Then he was hired by Jim Payne to update their metal work
from 1925 to 1937, thus impacting two of the premier rodmaking shops of his time. His real legacy
lives on in people unknowingly appreciating his work. The premier article on George Halstead was
John A. Feldenzer’s article in The American Fly Fisher - “George H. Halstead: Tribute to a Classic
Bamboo Rodmaker.” The article starts “George H. Halstead was a master metalworker and crafts-
man who produced some of the finest bamboo fly-fishing rods of the twentieth century. “
In Hoagy Carmichael's new book “8” in the Innovation and Rod Making Excellence: Ed and
Jim Payne chapter, he recognizes the great contribution of George H. Halstead (page 79). Hoagy
spends two pages giving a brief synopsis of his impact on Payne rods but especially swoons about
the Payne ferrules that George designed. The words, “Halstead’s contribution to the understated
beauty of the new Payne rod cannot be underestimated” echoes the admiration.
So, this leaves us to wonder exactly what makes those ferrules different? The differences are in
various details that most rodmakers and fly fisherman never notice. As we were told by Lawson
Upchurch, who made the ferrules at Payne, these ferrules were designed to complement the taper
and make the rod a “complete” package. This is what Halstead brought to rodmaking.
George Halstead was a metal man – a tool and die maker. This gave him the skills to create the
tools and dies to draw Nickel Silver tubing by which to make ferrules. In the same way later on
Lyle Dickerson followed in Halstead's footsteps to create his ferrules. Yet the Halstead ferrule de-
sign achieved a higher level of sophistication as you will see.
To draw the NS tubing, Payne used a push press. This was shown in our first article. George made
the dies, plates and “centers” which we call mandrels. The dies were hardened steel. It was a brute
force operation. There was a draw schedule. Hal Bacon has a copy of a Dave Decker's pamphlet he
made to document the draw schedule. and here is an excerpt from it:
Excerpt from Dave Decker's Payne Draw Schedule
As you can see, without the original NS tubing, dies and centers it becomes very cryptic. However,
this schedule was made to achieve a predictable and desired hardness of the NS tubing. Lawson and
Hal both said they wanted their tubing hard. With Halstead ferrules you will hear the distinctive
clear ring that hard nickel silver gives off when they knock together. Soft nickel silver will have a
dull ring. Hard nickel silver wears much better.
One of the things we were told (and never quite made sense until we actually started mounting Hal-
stead ferrules on original Halstead rod blanks that JED owns) was that the mandrels (AKA centers)
were tapered. We got lucky and obtained the Payne mandrel drawings. Plus, after drawing our own
tubing using the push method everything clicked together.
At first, Payne did not use stock generic NS tubing sizes. They made both male and female tubing.
For the males, this meant both the male slide and male cap tubing. The inside of the male tubing
had a slight taper – a drop of .002” - .003” over the length of the male mandrel (usually about 3”
long). This slight taper made for a far easier “release” of the tubing once you broke the seal after
drawing. This is much easier than using drill rod stock as we have been using.
Halstead Male Mandrel from 1940's
The female ferrule mandrel was unique. It had a flat place for where the male fitted, then a much
more dramatic taper - .005” to .006” per inch. Here is the size 13 female mandrel drawing:
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Payne Workshop Drawing for Halstead Female Mandrel
So why the big swell on the female? This is part of the genius of Halstead. We found this out when
we mounted one of his ferrules on one of his rod sections. Having this inside taper on the female
ferrule perfectly complements the rod taper. You don't have to remove very much “wood” from the
butt. In addition having it tapered rather than an abrupt transition is a classic stress relieving
method. This is a high stress area. These ferrules fit the rod like a glove.
Now for the one last and least noticed

detail of Halstead ferrules employed
on both Leonard and Payne ferrules.
Remember, I said they pulled both
male and female tubing, there was a
purpose for this. The OD of the male
cap is .005” - .006” less than the OD
of the female body. This provided a
physical step down that made the
overall ferrule appear slimmer. It is a
small detail that makes the ferrule
much more pleasing to the eye than
looking at a similar ferrule constructed
using the same OD size tube for both
male cap and female body.
When we mounted the Halstead fe-

male ferrule to the Halstead butt the
significance of this drop became clear
immediately. We mounted a size 14
ferrule that was .218” ID. We found
the ID of the female at the at the water
plug was .218” and ID at the tabs at
the back of the Halstead female ferrule
OD Drop from Female
was .223”. It slipped on nicely due to
Ferrule Body to Male
the fact the ferrule station on the butt
Ferrule Cap
was .223”. The taper and ferrule were
made for each other. Genius.
Some additional notes: on some of the larger sized (22, 24) ferrules we see a much larger inside ta-
per up to .016”. These could handle the increased tapers and stresses of big salmon rods. It should
also be remembered that Payne and Leonard mounted their ferrules by pushing them on using white
lead and varnish mix and then pinned them. The inside tapers facilitated this type of fitting. Some
other makers used a pine pitch type of hot melt to secure ferrules which was also easily removable.
They all wanted them to be removable for repairs but secure in their function. The concept for these
rods were to be properly put together, yet easily repairable. They were not “epoxied” or affixed
with “JB Weld” permanently in place as some rodmakers expound to do today.
As we discussed in previous articles, the dimensions of Payne and Leonard ferrules are similar but
different. It was like Halstead felt obligated not to copy the Leonard dimensions exactly. He didn't,
but the differences are the same across all ferrules. He just modified the measurements. However,
the one significant difference in all Payne ferrules is that they are .002” under the “normal” 64th sta-
tion. This is reflected in the mandrel drawings.
Those drawings also reflected that Halstead made what some people may erroneously call “half”
sizes. We first have to go back to the comment that they made the ferrules to fit the taper. Well cer-
tain size ferrules were used much more common than other. In addition certain configurations were
more common also. Let's take the classic 8' 3 piece rod. It has a 15/10 ferrules. Well, depending on
the taper, you may need a “light” or “heavy” size 10 ferrule to best match the taper. We found that
in the mandrel drawing. We found the .155” female mandrel – remember it is .002” undersized.
Then we found both a .150” and .160” female mandrel. Now we are talking about having the maxi-
mum flexibility to match the appropriate ferrule to the taper.
Today a number of people try to match a “standard” size 10 to a Payne taper not realizing that the
original may not have been standard. All they are going on are the taper numbers and things don't
quite make sense. Now I hope people realize that Payne had “custom” ferrule sizes thanks to Hal-
stead.
Lately, I have been employing a couple of Halstead principles to my ferrules. I am making the male
cap OD .006” undersized. I am getting the NS to a nice degree of hardness. Having the NS tube
hard gives it a nice shine and it wears much better in the long run.
The one missing piece of being able to duplicate the classic Halstead style ferrule is to have a set of
tapered hardened mandrels. Well, based upon the mandrel drawing we have and after consulting
with Lawson and Hal, we have a machine shop grinding up two sets. If they work as planned, then
the custom sizes will follow.
When I passed the original Halstead ferrules around at Corbett Lake, I could see the interest and
enlightenment among the assembled rodmakers. A ferrule is not a ferrule is a ferrule. There are
whole degrees of separation. As one rodmaker commented it is like scotch – you have hooch,
blended, and then your fine single malts. Halstead ferrules are the fine single malt scotch.
So the next time you build a Payne, Leonard, Gillum or Halstead taper, stop and give it some
thought as to what the master craftsman Halstead would have done. The taper is only half of the
equation with these rods. The classic Halstead ferrule complete the whole package.
George Halstead's impact on modern rodmaking cannot easily be underestimated since he designed
the classic hardware that adorned some of the best rods made. Knowing that there is more to a fer-
rule than first meets the eye is a step forward for rodmakers to expand their knowledge and start
thinking about the whole rod that includes ferrules that best complement the taper. Halstead did
build the complete rod package to a degree of sophistication that few achieved. So when you want
to think about the Gold Standard in ferrule – look no further than George H. Halstead ferrules.
Bertram Multi-Track Beveller
Sturdily built, 1/4” steel frame. Fixture #1 is used to level the Fixture #1a is optionally used to
Tool steel rollers. 2 1/4 hp mo- pith side and form a relief oppo- square the sides of the strip.
tor. Quick change fixtures. site the nodes prior to pressing.
Fixture #2 takes the rectangular strip in the left groove and forms Quad sections are formed in
the first 60 degree angle. The second 60 degree angle is formed by the same fashion using the
placing the strip in the right hand groove. quad fixtures.
Fixture #3 has tapered grooves and functions as a carrier to form a A special fixture performs the
strip with a constant .0015 inch/inch taper greatly reducing hand same function for quad sec-
planing to finish dimensions. Custom forms available for swelled tions.
butts.
The tapering attachment forms a fluted cross section and reduces the weight of butt sections of up to 25%.
Two string binder also available.

Visit www.quinchat.webs.com for demonstration videos
and full details of other innovative rod making equipment.
Items available for sale through Peter Jones at

[email protected] or call 989.297.0131
Wooden Planing Forms, Part I

Text and photos by Tony Spezio
For those that plan on making just a few rods or can't invest
in metal forms, why not make a set of wood forms. If you
have access to a thickness planer and a router, it can be done
for a very reasonable cost.
In this article, I will try to show how I would do it. I prefer

flush screws on each side of the forms. Photo 1 shows the
forms with flush screws and a set of forms with screws pro-
jecting out of the forms. These screws that project out are
good knuckle busters. The wood I am using here is ash; any
close grain hardwood will work. The size can vary from 1”
to 2” thick and 60” to 72” long. It can be square or rectangle.
If rectangle, make the longer side vertical.
Run the sections through the thickness planer to get both sec-
tions the same size (photo 2).
Place the sections on the bench

lined up with one another
(photo 3).
Use a good straight edge for

marking the stations (photo 4).
Mark off the 5" stations on one
section (photo 5).
Using an adjustable square,
mark off the centerline (photo
6). This will be the outside of
that section. This is where the
"pull" screw T-Nuts will go. On
the inside of the same section
do the same but mark off the
lines 1" to the right or left of the
outside lines. These will be
where the "push" screw T-Nuts
will go. All T-Nuts will be in
the same section. The T-Nuts
will be on the outside for the
"pull" screws and on the inside
for the "push" screws. Use a
square to mark the lines (photo
7). Photo 8 shows the outer sec-
tion marked. Using a center

punch, mark the center point on each line (photo

9). With a 3/4" Forstner Bit (photo 10) recess
each station about a 1/4". The depth is not critical
(photo 11). Using the center of each recess, drill a
1/4" through hole (photo 12). Photo 13 shows the
section with the recess and the through holes. One
set of recesses will be on one side of the section
and the other side of the same section will have
the other recesses with through holes in both sets
of recesses. The outer side will be the pull side
and the inner side will be the push side.
Clamp the two sections together and using a transfer punch mark the second
section using the through holes for only the "pull" screws (photo 14). Photo 15
shows the pull and push screws that I use. The pull screw has an 82-degree taper
with a hex socket flat head. The push screw is an Allan "set" screw. Both screws
have a 1/4x20 thread. The length will depend on how thick the sections are. In
my case, the pull screws are 1
3/4" long and the push screws
are 3/4" long. The T-Nuts are

standard 1/4x20 T-Nuts. To install the T-Nuts, I take a "pull" screw and screw it into a T-Nut (Photo
16). Place the T-Nut in the recess (photo 17) and tap it in place (photo 18). The T-Nut is now set in
the recess (photo 19) Do this on both sides of the section. Now countersink the holes for the "pull"
screws in the second section with an 82-degree countersink, be sure you

countersink only the outer side (photo 20 & 21). Screw the two halves to-
gether with the "pull" screws. Then screw in the "push" screws until they
bottom out, leaving a mark in the second section (photo 25). Drill a re-
cess for a backing washer for the "push" screws where the marks are
(photos 26 & 27). The washer is a 3/16” flat washer. The outer radius is
about 5/16”.

Photo 28 shows the washer pressed into the recess. Photo 29

shows the "push" screw and backup washer. This next part is
not really necessary but I decided to do the extra bit.
I made plugs to fit in the recess of the T nuts. I used 3/4"

dowel to make 1/4" thick plugs that are cut from the dowel.
The pull screw ends are solid and the push screw plugs have a
1/4" hole in them (photo 30). The plugs are glued in with ep-
oxy (photo 31). Photo 32 shows the push screw plugs glued in
place. Photo 33 shows the inner side of the section with the T-
Nuts and plugs and the outer side of the section with the coun-
tersunk holes for the pull screws. To smooth the sections after
the plugs were glued in, remove the screws and run them
through the thickness planer to just cut the tops off the plugs.
They can also be sanded flat. If after getting this all done and
you find the surfaces are not totally flush, screw the sections
together and take a real light cut on each side with the thick-
ness planer.
Cutting the groove will be covered in the next issue.

Joe’s Rod Shop Tutorials: Getting the Most out of Pen Blanks
Text and photos by Joe Arguello
Well, as we all know there are a bunch of nice pen blanks out there. Many of these are some of the
most beautifully figured burl woods available at a good price, or maybe not such a good price. How
about if you could get them for half the price? Well if you get two reel seats out of one blank, isn't
that just what you have done? In my strange way of thinking that's just it. We know that pen blanks
are mostly 3/4" x 6" and the reel seats I make I like to make about 3 1/4" long. I think most com-
mercially available seats are something like 3 1/2" long and look way too long especially on a slid-
ing band reel seat on a shorter rod. So this tutorial is for making reel seats of 3 1/4' length, and get-
ting two seats out of a 6" blank. So here we go:
Here's a blank that I recently got from Ron Hossack, this is some beautiful Spalted Crabapple.
What a shame it would be to get only one seat out of these 6" blanks!

So, I cut them in half and glued a small piece of cutoff burl maple on the ends.
Now I simply turned them as in my reel seat tutorial found in Power Fibers, issue 38.

Here you can see the process in different stages:
And the finished product, what I do is turn the blank and then face off the end that was glued on so
the glue line is just under the butt cap.
So, don't throw out 40% of your reel seat material, make two seats out of those really nice pen
blanks.
Hope you enjoyed this.
Joe E. Arguello
PowerFibers Online Magazine
8412 North Maple Court
Zeeland MI 49464
Phone: 616-772-5043
Cell: 616-886-8695
Power Fibers is an online magazine that is dedicated to all things
related to bamboo rodmaking and fishing. We welcome submis-
sions of material from you, the readers. Submissions can be for
rodmaking techniques, maker interviews, product reviews, book
reviews, tapers, bamboo fishing stories or fly patterns and how to
fish them. Please visit our web site and go to the “Write for Us” link
PowerFibers for more information about submitting articles for the magazine.
Dedicated to
Bamboo
Rodmaking
We’re on the Web!

www.powerfibers.com
Visit Our Web Site to get your

official Power Fibers hat. Just $22, shipping included.
We also offer custom rod bags and rod tube travel bags.

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July, 2010 (Volume 40)

Inside this issue:

A Jig for Scallop and 53

Joe’s Rod Shop Tutorial 72

Photos Courtesy of Harry Boyd

A Small Gathering of Rodmakers

Earl “Red” Coakley — 2511 25th Street — Nitro WV 25901

The First Cast

Quick Book Review: Bamboo—Fact, Fiction and Flyrods—II

I highly recommend Bob’s new book. Visit http://www.bobmilwardbamboo.com/ to order your

Reel Makers Contest

Alaska Custom Cane

Oil Artwork by Rhonda VanZandt

Contact the VanZandts at [email protected]

A New Use for Your Unwanted Bamboo

Try an Experimental all Bamboo Ultralight Canoe

Brian’s approach is quick, inexpensive and low

Platt on the other hand builds a variety of small,

(Continued on page 11)

The breast hooks

(Continued on page 12)

60° / 90° Nodeless Splice Clamp

By the way, that Jawhorse is a really

As you can see from the photo at right, I am squaring up a

The finished strips were straight and square enough that I

Once the strips were milled construction could begin

the bamboo had a mind of its own and kept

The stations themselves were C-clamped to a

I have had some West System epoxy stored in

This interior shot

Detail shot showing the Kevlar run

Classic Taper: 8’6” WeberKraft by Heddon

Little Hollowing Jig with a Dremel

Tools and materials needed (photo 01).

(Continued on page 22)

First the PVC-pattern board is

(Continued on page 23)

Photo 05 At this time, one

(Continued on page 24)

(Continued on page 25)

Straighter strips from oven

Two professional instructors

Boyd Rod Company

Rodmaking 101, Part III

In the last issue we were ready to plane the inner

Photo 4 shows the binder in use.

Sort out the strips so that the nodes are stag-

A binder can be made by cutting a couple of

removed and replaced with fresh tape, there will

We are now ready to glue. I use two part Epon,

other glues can be used like Titebond II and

After binding the sections, roll each section like

water to make the glue is warm which helps it

tions for 18 to 20 hours before removing the

then bound with a binder or by hand (photo 11).

not cured, it is still somewhat soft (photo 13).

With the binding thread removed, there will be a

four hours. I like to bind the sections individu-

A fresh razor blade is used to remove the soft

The sections will now need to be heat set to cure