|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
 |
|||
|
See Chris Bogart's excellent site for a description on building nodeless. I pretty much do it his way.. When I do nodeless, I :
I have had good success using Epon and Gorilla Glue for the rods. Just be aware that the Titebond II at the splices is susceptible to high heat. I would be wary of using heat to set the glue because of the Titebond II. That's why I started using Gorilla Glue instead of the Epon. (Bob Maulucci) I pretty much follow the same procedure except: I roughly square the chopsticks before I splice. This gives a good square cross section for the clamps to push against. Otherwise, the clamp pressure tends to pull the enamel side apart on some strips. (Bill Hoy)
Maximizing bamboo: Node preparation: Planing nodes: Node staggering: Heat treating: Heat straightening: Rod action: Rod strength at the node/scarf: Personally I think the two methods have as much going for and against them as each other. Some operations are easier some are not. If you are a beginner and don't want to make an oven try nodeless. If you live where due to import tax laws and lousy exchange rates a culm costs > $200 so every inch counts definitely try nodeless. If you have a quick means of cutting and gluing scarfs try nodeless. If you cannot accept the possibly of scarf failure (ever) due to any number of possible reasons don't try nodeless. If you like nodes (yeah???) don't try nodeless. (Tony Young)
List of materials 2.5" drill press vise from Harbor freight $4 Cut the CRS angle iron into 2 eight inch sections. Knock off the corners and edges. These are going to be your planing surface. Put 2 of the side together and lay them on a flat surface. Make sure the face of the bars are even one to another. Now clamp them together tight. the drill press vise and knock of any edges on the jaws and look to make sure the jaw surface is free from ridges or protrusions. Place the clamped together angle irons within the jaws of the vise. The vise will provide the clamping power to hold the cane when cutting a splice. Place the angle irons in a position where the jaws of the vise will provide the best clamping in the area of the cane to be planed. Mark the underside of the angle irons along the edge of the vise jaws. Apply epoxy to the underside of the angle irons and then insert the clamp angle irons into position. Clamp with moderate pressure and make sure the faces of the angle irons remain flush. I use a 6 degree angle on my splices a 4 degree angle works well also but does make for a longer splice. Make the angle you choose on a piece of paper from the top edge. Lay a true edge of your thin piece of metal, plastic or wood along this angle. Now mark a line across the top your material by using the edge of paper to get the angle. This line is parallel to the top edge of the paper. Cut you material along this line. When lined up and sandwiched between the faces of the angle irons it will then give you an angled shelf for the cane to sit upon. Glue this to one side of of the angle iron. Make sure all glue is dried. Now dress the top of the angle irons as you would if you were dressing forms. I mark the planning surface with a sharpie marker and use a flat file to flatten the planning surface. I keep filing until the sharpie is remove evenly and the surface if flat. Once the faces are cleaned up you now have a mini planing form set up to do splices. After all that I probably will set up my router with a laminate bit to do my splice. Oh well! at least I did something today. (Adam Vigil)
I clamp for 1/2 to 1 hour but don't stress for 24 hours. (John Long) I try to leave scarf joints clamped overnight, just to be on the safe side, but that's probably a bit of overkill. (Mike Roberts)
I glue one splice at a time on each strip. If the full strip includes five sections, consider them A, B, C, D and E, I glue A to B and D to E, then AB to C and finally ACB to DE. I find it easier to handle only a single splice at a time. In the long run it doesn't take any more time unless you have a very large supply of clamps. When I glue the splices I place the sections enamel side down on a piece of glass and apply the middle of three clamps. I then turn the unit over and adjust the fit as necessary and apply the clamps to either side of the first. Between gluing sessions I use a little scraper with a razor blade to remove the dried glue from the glass. When I am gluing I will split a culm, heat treat, put the angles on the sections and then glue a set of strips two or three times per day until all the strips are completed. A 12' culm will usually yield 40 - 60 strips depending on how long they need to be. (Bill Lamberson) As clamps, I use old fashioned clothes pins and I reinforce them with a rubber band around the clamps. Works fine and you can afford to have a lot of them, which speeds up the gluing of the splines. I glue the splines for a rod in one day. (Geert Poorteman) Further on Bill's advice, someone recently commented on his procedure by saying "Garrison lives." If you've seen any of Bill's rods you'd say the same thing - they are exquisite, so I'd take his advice. He also has excellent taste in tapers. Last time we talked he was using Titebond II for the scarf joints and resorcinol for gluing up the sections. (Barry Kling)
Just wrap the scarves with thin cotton thread used to sew shirts or whatever. When it's time to get rid of the thread just plane it off when you start work on the spline. Works great. (Tony Young) I've tried them. They didn't work worth a crap for me. I press the enamel side of the strips against a piece of glass to hold them even while I apply the clamps. The little rotating face on those clamps had to be past the enamel surface of the cane for them to hold steady. If I just pressed them down to the glass like I do with my regular Pony clamps these popped off. It was possible to get them to hold by just holding the cane with one hand and applying the clamp with the other, but for me it is much harder to get the joint even that way. Also, the spring on them seemed pretty weak compared to the Pony clamps. I think Al Medved just uses little metal binder clamps made for paper clips. They are very cheap and wouldn't suffer the same problem as these. (Bill Lamberson) I just did a dozen splices with the little Bulldog binder clamps this week, and they worked quite nicely. I do wish I had watched your demo at SRG on nodeless stuff. Some of them didn't line up quite perfectly, and I wish I had known about the glass trick. Also, get the medium size, not the small. Even some of the mediums are difficult to get open wide enough to fit around butt section sized splices. Live and learn, I guess. (Harry Boyd) I have been using the medium Accu binder clamps and they seem to work fine. I use three per splice. I place the first in the middle and make sure that the alignment is correct, a glass plate or other flat surface can help, and then place one on each side. I then feel the splice with a finger to make sure all is OK. If not, I make any required adjustments. These clamps are cheap and can be bought at any stationary/office supply store. The house brand is often less expensive and works just as well as the name brand. (Mark Cole)
I would use the med. or large ones but binder clips are, in my opinion, the least desirable clamps to use. There is a new type of pony clamp on the market made by Quick Grip. They are yellow with black swiveling jaws which also have a narrow 60° groove (which sometimes comes in handy). They also lock and have a release lever. They are available in a bunch of sizes but I like the 1 1/2" for nodeless work. I guess they are more of a clamp than the usual pony spring types. (John Long) I use the Medium ones and I go thru and sort out what feels like the strongest clamping. The rest I set aside or give to the wife to use. (Jim Tefft) I can't look as all my rod making stuff is packed up in Leadville awaiting our arrival at the end of next month but, I think that I used the medium clips -- three per splice. (Mark Cole)
I've only built a couple of nodeless. I have cut out the nodes first then used the kitchen convection oven to heat treat. the sections split beautifully after heat treating. No reason I can think of not to use your bamboo oven and cut out the nodes later. (Dennis Higham) The way I do it when I do is first mark the butt end of the section above the nodes by drawing a line around the circumference before cutting. I then cut the node off then split and heat treat in the kitchen oven. Cooked bamboo is harder to work with than before cooking it. (Tony Young) I would recommend you take the whole culm and cut about 1" each side of the nodes (I do it on a band saw) and mark a band around each section with a felt marker; i.e. 1 band, 2 bands, etc. to keep track of their original placement in the culm. You can either heat treat now in your kitchen oven, or do your splitting now and then toss all the strips into the oven. You can save the node rings and make napkin rings.......(John Long) I split the culm in half. Mark each section. Cut out nodes with a power cut off saw. Heat then split. Works well. (Adam Vigil) Bob Milward confirmed your heat treating formula, at Corbett lake last week. He hadn't seen your findings in the planning form but had come to the same conclusion as you did. The interesting part I found is that it was pretty much what Walt Powell told me that he did about five years ago, except he cranked up after heating to 350 degrees and turned his cane dark. Milward said anytime one darkens the cane with heat treating that they have started caramelizing the sugars in the lignin and the bamboo was loosing strength and stiffness because of it. It was nice to see that some one had actually did some testing and found out the optimum heat treating, good job. (Patrick Coffey)
It wont make any difference as it's the surface area that's glued that holds it together. Keying the scarf wont be worth the effort IMHO. (Tony Young) A compound scarf may be stronger but not necessary. If the glue is going to let go on a normal scarf it will do so on a compound also. The saving grace of nodeless building is that the scarf is surrounded by other splines. I have built nodeless and it is fun but when a splice lets go the fun is out the window. I will build nodeless in the future but only when I find a glue that is so strong the cane will break before the splice. I have not found such a glue yet. Most people start with nodeless because of a lack of an oven that will fit 5' piece of cane. If a oven is the problem you could use a torch to heat treat if the proper technique is used that is. If the nodes are the problem you can soak your cane and press the nodes. This removes a lot of the node pressing nightmares. Shoot many guys are returning to the sand off the hump method. In reality not heat straightening a node may just prove to be stronger due to the decrease of damage to the cane from heat. The old-timers did not press nodes they sanded and filed that hump away. (Adam Vigil) I've messed a lot with nodeless and have come to the belief the only glue to use for the whole rod including the scarfs is resorcinol. (Tony Young)
Let me tell what I want to do in the following order. Not wanting to put any heat on the glue joint, rough plan the strips a little oversize for the largest dimension of the section, bind and heat treat. Cut the splice angle and glue the strips. I've tried using: all kinds of clamps, made clamps, made V blocks and forced the joint into the V and plain old warp the joint. All to no avail. Everything slips slightly or at least doesn't line up right as far as I'm concerned. The only way I can get a good glue joint is heat treat the split chop sticks, splice and then plane the strips. To me, I lose any straightening, what little there may be, during the heat treating doing it this way. Any ideas? (Don Schneider) I gave up rough planing before gluing splices real quick. I heat treated, cut the splices and glued. If they needed straightening, I did it after the splice gluing. Compared to noded, I never had a straightening problem with nodeless. (Onis Cogburn) For what it's worth: I have nothing but trouble trying to bind my nodeless splices with thread I always get some serious shifting which, because I flame, results in a very visible splice joint. (This happened last night as a matter of fact.) I'm going back to using the Pony clamps (per Chris Bogart's article). I use three clamps per splice and fit both pieces together - enamel side down - on a thick piece of glass to ensure the enamel surfaces are even. For my next rod, I'm going to experiment with Epon for the splices. I'm increasingly concerned about the long-term integrity of Titebond II after the straightening process. I'm usually very careful with the heat application and I'll really flex a strip to attempt to cause a failure if I think I've overheated a splice. As far a straight strips go, I dry fit the pieces together - looking for alignment of the surfaces to be glued and then eyeballing the strip to be as straight as possible. Sometimes I get good results, but never good enough that I don't have to straighten. (Eric Koehler)
For those that have built nodeless, have you found this to be the case? If you take a traditional 5 wt. taper and make it nodeless, does it come out as a 6 wt? (Bill Walters) Al Medved nodeless 5 weights were 5 weights not 6 weights. 4 weights were 4 weights 2 weights 2 weights, etc. (Timothy Troester) I don't know how to say this without being rude, it's wrong. A #5 with nodes is a #5 without them. I never found there to ever be any differences between noded and nodeless rods apart from the lack of nodes. They aren't faster, slower, stronger, weaker or any other thing you could imagine. The only reason you'd go with nodeless is you can use up what would otherwise be scrap off cuts of bamboo and or you don't need a specialized oven to heat treat them. I think the amount of work cutting and scarfing is about the same as doing whatever you decide to do with nodes. I don't know if the nodes are weaker than the rest of the spline or not, nor do I think it matters one wit. Rods never break at the nodes. Nodeless rods with problems often break at the scarfs. Having made quite a few nodeless rods and having more than my fair share of problems as a result I still make them but I'm particular about how which I've mentioned often before and it's only to use up what would otherwise be scrap bamboo as it's so expensive and hard to get out here that any waste is too much waste. When I decide on the taper to make one of these nodeless rods I fully expect it to be exactly the same as any other rod I'd make to that taper, no different in action at all beyond the normal small variation you'd get anyhow, certainly not a line weight or something has gone badly wrong. If you were to use inters to reinforce the scarfs that would add a line weight possibly. (Tony Young) I am not sure that I have noted a difference of a full line weight, but my experience has also been that nodeless rods are a bit stiffer than conventional. I think Bob Milward suggests the same thing. During casting the fibers in the bamboo extend and compress and may to some extent slide past one another. My speculation is that, perhaps depending on the glue, the scarf joints break the continuum of fibers and inhibit their movement within a strip, hence causing it to be stiffer. (Bill Lamberson) I don't know Clark Davis or Chuck N, or how they arrived at the decision they did, but I can tell you from personal experience that the nodeless rods I've cast were basically the same as the as rods with nodes. I've cast several of Al Medved's nodeless rods and every one of them cast superbly. None of Al's rods were stepped up a line weight because of the fact that they were nodeless. (Jim Bureau) I've cast and certainly admire Al's rods, but I don't have any way of comparing them to the same tapers with nodes. Admittedly, I don't have the experience that a lot of you do, I've only built 50-60 nodeless rods. The only thing I can tell you is that mine have seemed to have the same general bending characteristics, but just seem to be a bit stiffer. It is pretty easy to knock the dimensions back just a bit on the nodeless rods to make them more similar to the conventional. (Bill Lamberson) If you've made 50+ nodeless rods you're far ahead of me. I've never made a nodeless rod as of yet. I've cast quite a few nodeless rods and basic reasoning would lead me to believe that they would be stiffer then a rod with nodes. Most casters I've talked with feel the same way as you do, that these nodeless rods are slightly stiffer, but not by a full line weight. It's also difficult to compare two rods of the same taper, made by two different builders. More often then not, the fly line is never the same on the two rods. That alone will make the comparison quite difficult. (Jim Bureau)
What is the street wisdom about heat treating before versus after splitting? If you heat treat before, how close to the final maximum width can you safely split? (It looks like Garrison added 1/3 but this partially allows for HT shrinkage.) What is the current thinking about the "sanding disk" method? (I purchased a 10" disk from Wood Worker's Supply that fits on a table saw and seems very precise. I am working on an adjustable jig that slides in the saw's miter groove. The advantage I expect is that the disk can be set up to rotate directly into the fibers at the point of the scarf and reduce tearout for either right or left hand bevels. Shouldn't this work as well as a beat-up splicing block?) I think cane splits better after heat treating. Here is my method, worked out by trial and error (mostly error): Don't try cutting too close to the nodes; even if the cane looks fine it will have some crooked "grain" near the node and when you split the strips they will have a little dogleg bend at the end. Plan on loosing an inch on each side of the node. I split each intra-nodal section in two before heat treating, and mark the inside using an art marker with a fine nib at one end and a wide nib at the other. The section at the small end of the culm gets 1 thin strip, next section gets 2, etc. The wide mark is a 5. Etc. Try to heat treat all the sections, even if it is more than you think you will need, lengthwise. You might need it. I've got a coffee can full of nails & screws for ballast, with a bungee cord knotted around it. I slip the half section under the cord to hold it vertical, and mark around the top using a flexible plastic ruler and a pencil. I use 1/4 inch for the tips and a little more for the butt strips. You can probably go finer, but cane is cheap. On the other hand, if you make your strips too wide your splices will get longer and you will loose length. Geometry is a cruel master. I split with a junk wood chisel ground on both sides and a mallet. Make your first whack at each split solid, not a little "tap" which will make the chisel bounce off the mark. One whack then a twist of the chisel and the strip is split. I've not tried the sanding disk method, but it sounded interesting. I cut the bevel on a bandsaw with a fine tooth blade and a little sliding jig, then a few passes with a plane in the splicing block will smooth the cut ready for gluing. A grooved plane sole will preserve your splicing block. If you haven't got a grooved plane that might be a priority. (Frank Stetzer, Hexrod, Taper Archive, Rodmakers Archive)
I'd guess that 8-10 pieces per sharpening for hardened steel blades is quite good. My suspicion is that most guys sharpen every 3-6 strips. The surefire alternatives to frequent sharpening are to use either HSS or Carbide tipped blades. Hardened steel blades in block planes seem to allow a little latitude in sharpening angle, my suspicion is somewhere between 28 degrees and 40 degrees is the working range. I've settled on 34 degrees for all my work, but there's no magic in that number. In theory, a little steeper angle has a little more metal behind the edge, giving it a little more rigidity. But the extra amount of metal behind at 40 degrees edge as compared to a 30 degrees edge is minute in actuality. My recommendation is to find a system of sharpening that works quickly, easily, and consistently for you. I use diamond paste on a powered leather wheel as first described to me by Tom Smithwick and George Barnes. Some folks like my setup, others do not. But it works for me. Find something that works for you, and sharpen at the very first hint that the edge is beginning to dull. (Harry Boyd) I use 35 with a couple of degrees more for the secondary bevel. (Steve Weiss)
I have to sharpen the chisel every 40 cuts or so, but that's easily done on a bench grinder. I've found that a bevel of about 35 degrees works well on the chisel. Eye protection is a must as the pieces of waste cane really fly from the cut. (Bill Benham) Good idea. Try putting a bit of a bevel on the underside of the chisel so you can drop the handle and climb out of a cut if it goes too deep. (Ron Grantham) I use a large chisel, very sharp, and slice them off without a mallet. A couple of years ago, someone suggested using a slick. great idea. (Steve Weiss) I believe that it was Tony Young who used a slick. As I recall, he said it just takes one clean slice. (Robert Kope) That is true. Use the bevel down, hold the chopstick firmly or clamp it and lean hard on the slick. Because it's so wide compared with a regular chisel you can take the top off in a single pass if the slick's sharp enough. Finish with a plane. You don't see slicks very often but I think Barr Industries have them, they got them made by a black smith. Being so wide and thick nothing much argues with one so they're useful for general carpentry and cabinet work also. The main difference between the slick and chisel apart from it looking like it's on steroids is the handle is off set from the bottom face of the blade rather than in line as with a chisel meaning it's cocked upwards so when you push your hands are above the line of the cut, very much like you're pushing a handle on a plane which is basically what a slick is. Excellent for cleaning up corners etc where a plane can't get into. I'd get a local black smith to make one if you were interested. (Tony Young) Woodcraft sells them. I believe they have 2 or 3 different sizes. (Larry Blan) Slicks are still used in traditional boatbuilding and log cabin building. Woodcraft used to carry them. I don't know if that's still true, don't have my catalogs handy. (Neil Savage) I have one that an old "Boatright" gave me over 20 years ago. When I got it he said it was over a hundred years old. To this day I am amazed at how well it holds and edge and sharpens, even after the "Clod" down the street borrowed it one time without asking and really mangled the edge. Took 2 days to reshape the cutting edge to sharpen it again. But it will still shave the hair off your arm after using it. Wish I had a dozen of them but am satisfied with having the 1. (Jimi Genzling) My slick is an old boatbuilders' slick also. It's a socket jobbie which I guess most are though they also come with a tang and leather bolster setup. The reason a lot of the old slicks hold an edge so well is they used what is strictly speaking wrongly called cast steel blades. Cast steel is what is marked on these blades if that is what they are and you can see the aminations if looked from the side. These have a laminated blade with tool steel on the back and cast iron on the belly of the blade making it cast/steel. This of course meant you could really pound the hell out of the slick yet have no fear of the blade breaking as you would if the while blade was made as hard as the tool steel lamination. I doubt the new slicks would be made this way so they prob wont hold so good an edge as the steel will have to be less hard else shatter in use. A lot of old chisels seem to keep their edge pretty well, a lot is to do with the steel used as well as (some say) the constant pounding over the years compresses the carbon making the steel better with use. I have no idea as to this though I'd prefer an old chisel every time over any new one no matter what brand though I do like the ones I make myself which are a lot harder than you can buy, I just have to be careful to never drop them. The cast steel blades are not unlike the Japanese chisels except they have the hard steel laminated in a channel of softer steel. If anybody ever comes across a slick, especially a socket model buy it. (Tony Young)
A related question. Some router based beveler designs I've seen pictures/drawings of cut with the direction of feed (a climb cut). Adam Vigil's design and, I believe, the JW Flyrods model are examples. Others, like the Medved style cut opposite the direction of feed. Is one better than the other? I would think that the Medved style that cuts opposite the direction of feed might have a tendency to lift or splinter fibers. But then most woodworking machines and practices avoid climb cuts as being dangerous. What are the thoughts/experiences of the list? (Bill Benham) Nodeless splines cut just fine. As for climb cut, it is smooth and trouble free. No splintering. The length of your try and firm hold downs provide plenty of pressure to keep the spline from shooting out. I have never had a spline even appear as if it where going to shoot out of the beveler. Just be sure to make 2 to 3 cuts at least on each side of the strip instead of one big one. Use leather gloves and you will be fine. Your beveler is like a Garrison binder, if you build it right to begin with it will do what it is suppose to from the start. If you are unsure on how to build a beveler I will be happy to help or if you decide to buy on JW Flyrod’s beveler it is a class act and you won't go wrong. (Adam Vigil)
My guess is that you could make a nice splice cut with a sanding disc mounted in a table saw. You would need a simple guide to slide the strip into the disc at the right angle. (Tom Smithwick) Seems to me that I have heard of someone (possibly Al Medved) using a laminate trimmer mounted in some way to cut tapers on planing forms. I wonder if this idea were transferable to scarf joint forms. (Carl DiNardo) From experience here I can tell you that a sanding disc will work, however, when I did it (IE: guide on table, etc.) I had a lot of scarf joint failures. No matter what glue I used 90% of the scarf's failed. Conclusion is that it is good to hog off the meat of the bamboo, but then transfer to a scarf block and hand plane. (Joe Byrd) I use a 12" sanding disk with 120 grit paper to cut splices. I have a fence on the edge of the table saw table on a Shop Smith. I position the strips and use the quill feed (like a drill press) to push the spinning disk against the cane. It is very fast, five to six cuts per minute. To my knowledge I've never had a splice fail in sixty nodeless rods built over the past five years. The splices are glued with Titebond II and the rods (mostly) with resorcinol, some with Elmer's ProBond polyurethane. (Bill Lamberson) I always build nodeless. I used a mechanical tool for making the splices before. Now I use a normal splicing block. It is a bit slower, but I have the feeling the splices are better. The tool is described on the net somewhere, but I can't remember where. But it is something like this... The basis is a motor with attached a disk. On the disk goes coarse sand paper. The motor is attached to a table with the disk upright and in front of the disk is a horizontal table which is 90° to the disk. There is a guide glued to the table with a shallow angle to the disk. This angle will be the angle of your splines. What you do is make the disk turn and feed the splines along the guide to the disk. The sand paper takes the cane off the spline leaving the desired angle. It makes a lot of dust but it makes the splines real fast. But why do we all need to do those things fast?? As for me, I make rods as a hobby, and if it takes time, that’s exactly why I picked up a hobby... to pass the time in an interesting way. In French a hobby is called 'passe temps', temps meaning time... The thing I will do next is making agate tip top guides and butt guides. I plan on guides for spinning rods too. It will take a lot of time, but what the heck!!! (Geert Poorteman)
I've built at least a dozen nodeless rods most of which have been fished a minimum of 200 days a year. No problems (yet). These rods were built ca. 5 years ago, using Titebond II for the scarfs and Epon epoxy for the strips. For what it's worth. (Jerry Snider) Splices don't pop if made well. Nodeless 6, 5, and 4 strippers, using Titebond II for scarf bonds and Epon strip bonding seem OK after lots of field experience. The thing that does fail is the nodeless two-strip quad with Titebond II scarfs. I have one with clear overwraps almost from stem to stern and they still fail. It's become a game to keep overwrapping to see who wins. Lessons learned. (Bill Fink)
I usually build nodeless and I stagger the splines 3X3. I also try to have dark and light colored slices next to one another so it creates an interesting pattern. I feel the staggering reduces the danger of breaking, but I have no evidence for this. (Geert Poorteman)
I have a scarfing block that was made by Bill Waara/John Long for scarfing strips to build nodeless. The angle is 4 degrees. (Ted Knott) I agree with Ted's answer since I also have a John Long scarfing block and it measures 4 degrees. (Jack Follweiler) Is it for scarfing new sections in or for making nodeless? Garrison's scarfing blocks for scarfing in new sections we set to 2 degrees if I remember right. (Mark Wendt) The scarfing block I bought from Golden Witch drops about 1" over a 12" run. (Kyle Druey) Thanks for the help. 1 in 12. Have you even noticed that the drawings in Garrison's book are incorrect for the butt scarfing block. The Top left drawing shows 3/4 * 3/4 where as the overall height is 1 1/2". Screwed up the angles big time. Hence, the question. (Don Anderson)
I build nodeless. I saw the nodes out and am left with the internodal sections. Splitting those is really easy, and I see no necessity using a bandsaw... (Geert Poorteman) The bandsaw would be an effective tool at the onset of a nodeless project. It gives uniform strips that could easily have the nodes removed and spliced. I have not built a nodeless rod in a while, but I would want uniform strips the next time for sure. I would be glad to give you more info on sawing, but the principles of sawing will be addressed in my article found in the upcoming January 2004 issue of Power Fibers (See issue 14). (Bob Maulucci)
Having made a grand total of "one" nodeless rod, the biggest advantage is not having to work those pesky nodes. Disadvantages? It took me a little longer to get the strips to the final planing stage, what with having to make the splices and glue them up. The strips do plane rather nicely, not having the node to plow through. You do have to be a little extra careful to notice when your plane blade is starting to dull, since you don't have those friendly nodes to give you the sharpening reminder. (Mark Wendt) In addition to not having to work with nodes there are a couple of other things you may want to consider. In addition to cutting out the node, also make your cut generous enough to get rid of the little dip & twist on each side of the node. One more thing you don't have to contend with. I use a thickness planner to make all of the chopsticks the same size. To me, having all of your pieces the same size, in cross section and length, makes all of the following steps easier. You only have to expose the bamboo to heat once. You can heat threat the chopsticks in your kitchen oven. You have complete control over where the splices are in a section. In other words, not close or under a ferrule. I've designed what I call a "Splice Clamp" to clamp the pieces together while the adhesive sets up that eliminates the need for using spring clamps and applies more pressure to the joint than 3 spring clamps. It is also faster to use. It not only clamps but also aligns the pieces so that you end up with a straight strip without twists. The "Splice Clamp" can be configured to clamp strips for square/rectangular or triangular cross section. If anyone wants a picture of the "Splice Clamp", let me know and I'll send you one off line. (Don Schneider) I forgot to mention that I used a set of Don's clamps when I made my nodeless rod, and they work as advertised! I put on a little demo of their operation at the SRG this past year, and the folks that watched it can attest to how easy, quick, and accurate they are to use. They clamp the splices very nicely, with equal pressure all the way across the joint. And as Don mentions below, the clamping pressure is quite strong. The usual disclaimer - no financial interest, etc... Just enthusiastic about a well designed, and very functional tool to add to the arsenal. (Mark Wendt) Speaking of nodeless rods - I am in the process of building two nodeless rods (1 quad and 1 hex) and used Jeff Wagner's nodeless jig to cut the scarfs. The jig holds the strips and using a bandsaw I cut off most the the scarf and then using a flush bit and a router in a table, am able to finish the scarf cut. The whole process of clamping the strip, running it through the bandsaw and the router takes me about 45 seconds ( I think Jeff's site indicates it takes him about 30 seconds). It works pretty and slick sure beats planing the scarfs, no blades to resharpen, etc. No financial interest, and all the other disclaimers. (Bob Williams) I think the biggest advantage is that you'll get the maximum utilization out of a culm. If there is a scratch, worm hole, leaf node, etc. you'll probably loose only the strip with the defect and not the piece above or below it. Makes sense for those paying a premium for their cane. (Brian Smith)
Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction for instructions on how to build the device. I don't have access to Garrisons book so, something online or e-mailed would be very much appreciated. I'd rather build it than buy it..... making tools is half the fun!! (Mike Givney) Try Chris Bogart's online guides: If you don't have it bookmarked, try Rodmakers and this site (Bamboo Tips). Both are amazing repositories of tips, tricks, tools, links and even some "interesting" folklore about what some of our esteemed fraternity colleagues have managed to do to their surroundings and bodies with fly roods and the tools to make them :) The first URL has a diagram of a splicing block. Pretty straightforward to make yourself. Alternately, try Golden Witch. Follow the links to "Rod building", then "tools" then "Splice and scarfing blocks". No financial interest etc. (Greg Dawson) Where are you? might be someone in your area who could show you one. Otherwise, consider making one from three pieces of lumber... Two pieces of 1" x 2" x 8" hardwood, and a third piece in the center about 3/16" x 2" x 8". On the center piece, one of the long corners is cut away at 3 degrees - 4 degrees for about 3". All three pieces are doweled together and held in a vise. (Harry Boyd) That's exactly the way I made my splicing blocks, and it worked quite well. I had a few dowel pins left over from when I made my forms and used those to help keep things straight. I used three machine screws, which thread into some brass threaded inserts to clamp down on the strip, and hold it in place, then the whole unit is held in place by my bench mounted wood working vise. I hog off most of the material before planing using a very sharp 3/4" wood chisel, then plane the strips down, and finish off with a few light passes with a file. Takes about a minute per piece or less. Takes longer to get the strip out and put the new one in than it does to have the splice planed. If I remember right, I used a 1/8" thick piece in the center, because I was planing the splices in strips that had already been rough beveled, and I wanted a little space between the clamps so I could clamp down on the strip solidly. Worked quite well, and you don't have to worry about setting up an accurate angle on your table or band saw to cut that angle on the top like the "Garrison" method shows. The 1/8" thick piece was glued in place using Titebond, after the angle was laid out on the inner face of one of the clamps using a machinist's protractor and a straight edge. I used the same technique when I made up my scarfing blocks that hold hex shaped sections for rod repairs. (Mark Wendt) After going through several wood splicing forms I made a metal one. Had a couple of pieces of 1x1 CRS about a foot long left over from when I made my forms. With a piece of 3/16" flat stock about 3/4" wide I squared up one edge and put a 60° angle on the other edge. Laid out the 4° angle on one of the 1 x 1's and fastened the 3/16" piece to it with flat head screws. One dowel in the middle and a countersunk machine screw on each side to pull it together. What stuck out I cut off and smoothed up flush with the 1 x 1's. So now I have one side for square/rectangular & the other for roughed sticks. A little work but I won't have to make another. (Don Schneider) When I was making nodeless I used a home made device like you suggested. I just used 3/4 inch plywood and put a 21:1 taper for the splice on one of the blocks and the other flat. I used dowels like you suggested and put the contraption in a wood vice. I was using a plane with a groove so cutting into the splice block was not a problem. Some, with a Shopsmith and the 12 inch sander just sand the taper, that worked even better for me. From my very limited experience I can say that having the strips the same width made it much easier. It also helps to have the strips flatter on the enamel side to keep it from rocking. (David Ray) I made a splice block, although I haven't made a nodeless rod (yet). Mine has a couple of springs around the bolts that hold it together, so when I back off the vise the splice block opens automatically. I used 2 nuts and bolts to hold it together, and 2 pieces of brass rod for alignment pins. Try to get the bolts high enough that they won't interfere with the vise jaws. I had to move mine. (Neil Savage) Just wanted to thank everyone who responded. I had the day off and with a quick trip to the shop I turned those suggestions into a first rate splicing form. I'll give it a go this weekend! I posted at 8:30 am and had it built by 4 pm !!!!! (Mike Givney)
If you want a darker tone to the cane how long do you cook? I'll usually cook at 350 for 10 minutes for a blond look. (Jim Tefft) When I was making nodeless rods, I used 375 for 8 minutes and I got just a little darker than what I would describe as blond. (Joe Byrd) We have a convection oven which cooks a little faster than a conventional oven. 325° for 15 minutes or till it looks right. Kind of like watching toast till it gets the right color. How's that for being precise??? (Don Schneider) When you use the wife's oven to heat treat the bamboo for nodeless construction how badly did it stink up the kitchen and also did the bamboo smell stay in the oven very long ? I'm wondering if I have to do this while she is shopping or away somewhere and if I have to run the oven high temp clean system. (Jack Follweiler) I found the calibration of my wife's oven to be about 35 degrees low.(Somehow she serves up great baked meals) I got her out of the house on a shopping spree. It was expensive but I had time to run a few simple tests with sample strips and found that 10 minutes at the oven set at about 337 gave me just the slight color change that I like. Subsequently we had the kitchen redone, everything new except that oven! Maker's wives have to make sacrifices sometimes. (Bill Fink)
The first several rods I built were nodeless, with PU glue for the splices. Yes I did have a couple splices fail on the one rod I fish most heavily, after a few years. That is not good. I would not use PU again for that purpose. For the strips its fine but for the splices its not good enough, IMHO. I agree with Bob Milward that the unsolved question with nodeless rods is what glue to use for the splices. The best glues are two-part, like resorcinol and URAC, and they are a pain to use for splicing. Many people use yellow woodworking glue for splices but I have not tried it. (Frank Stetzer, Hexrod, Taper Archive, Rodmakers Archive) I use ProBond and haven't had any problems once I read the directions. The ProBond instructions say it requires moisture to cure. I dunk each surface of the splice in a cup of water, apply the glue and clamp for 24 hours. I also use ProBond for glueup. Generously spray water on the strips, apply the glue and bind. After about 3-4 hours, remove the binding, wipe down the section with acetone and rebind for 24 hours. Once ProBond cures nothing touches it, including acetone, except sanding or scraping. (Don Schneider) I have used Gorilla Glue for the scarf joints and the strips. Worked out just fine for me. I'm very pleased with the glue. I guess I need to try the other PUs. (Ed Berg)
Get in touch with Dave Hellman at hellmandave@yahoo.com A great guy to deal with and he makes a very nice metal splicing block. (Chris Carlin) The few blocks that I've see all have a very narrow angle. I can see why that is necessary when splicing a tip. Does the angle really need to be that narrow when splicing the splines of a nodeless rod? It would seem that if you stagger the splices like you do nodes you should be able to make them with a steeper angle and therefore get more length out of any given section, depending on the rod length maybe even make less splices? Thoughts? (Henry Mitchell) Interesting. the "normal" splice is about a 4 degree angle for boatbuilding/woodworking. Modern glues are so strong, I'm inclined to think if you use a Garrison stagger, so no 2 splices are adjacent, there would be no problem. Guess some experimentation is called for. (Neil Savage) I've been using a 4° splice for my nodeless rods. Haven't had any problems using the Garrison firing order staggering, uses more bamboo but not enough to worry about. My splice block is made of metal with a rectangular slot on one side and a equilateral triangle slot on the other side. Prior to using a metal splice block and using a wooden one I noticed my splices were getting shorter because of wear on the block. The splice angle was increasing to the 5° - 6° range. (Don Schneider) I believe the shallower angle is necessary as the splice might only be an inch at best on a tip section and although it is glued all around by the strips, that still doesn't leave a lot of glue to hold the splice together. Most people have started out and 6 degrees and went to 4. Almost all had failures and it seems as though the difference is the angle. (Mike Canazon)
I run my nodeless strips through my beveler with no problems so far but I have only made 6 nodeless rods. I do run the strips with the cutters running along the scarf on each side so that the ends do not possibly catch while they are coming down to size. Makes me a little nervous running the scarf sharp ends into a cutter head. (Gordon Koppin)
Out here "California" bay area, I met a guy some months back at a fly shop "The Great River Company" who had some real real nice nodeless rods peddling them for consignment at the shop there. He'd make one section chocolate and another blonde and the contrast was very interesting to say the least - WILD!! My fishing buddy Jimmy knows the guy as a distant relative and I'm thinking of having the guy build me a blank but wonder what durability is. Wonder if he's got a guarantee against delamination joint failure . (John Silveira) My own nodeless rods made with Gorilla Glue have been through more of my clumsiness than I would expect any rod to survive. For what it's worth. (Ed Berg) I've been building nodeless rods for years. I like them for several reasons. First thing I do is make all of the chopsticks the same size, butts, mids & tips. Second, I only want to apply heat to the bamboo once. The kitchen oven does a even/equal/same heat treating to all. Third, with a metal splice block and my splice clamps the assembly is very quick and the strips come out straight. Fourth, power bevel the 60° on all strips, again all strips are the same size & glued together with ProBond. From there on proceed as normal. Some have asked, "Isn't that a lot of splices?" My answer is, The same number as there are in node rods without a lot of the hassle and only one application of heat. I use my rods very heavily and do not baby them. Some might say I abuse them, which is true & intentional. If the rod is going to fail, I want to be the one that breaks it. Never had one come apart. (Don Schneider) Did you find that the nodeless were slightly faster than non? I have made one that came out one line weight greater than the none nodeless. (Ralph Tuttle) Yes, I think nodeless rods come out a little faster for the most part. Most, if not all of the rods I build are 8' to 10'. In the Northwest longer rods seem to me to be the length of choice, at least to me. This is because of larger rivers and the chance of more wind and larger wind resistant flies. Most of the fishing I do is from a float boat using a "Chuck & Duck" casting style. Casting 2 or 3 times per minute hard into within a few inches of the bank usually under some kind of over hang. Do I lose a lot of flies, you bet, but the thrill of seeing that large open mouth come out from under the brush is worth it. Just count to two before raising the rod tip, hard to do sometimes. (Don Schneider) Would nodeless be enough to up the line weight by 1/2? I have a rod that is a 3/4 and I would love to have a true 4 wt. copy. Maybe building nodeless would accomplish this, if the same dimensions were used? (Bill Walters) I think you may end up with what you want. My experience is a 5 wt taper comes out closer to a 6 wt. (Don Schneider)
|
|||
