I would appreciate any recommendations regarding production runs. Curious to hear if makers have better success cutting out all the rod sections at once and then moving on or are you/they cutting one rod at a time with a more linear production?? Very interested to hear as for me I seem unable to maintain quality and consistency if I have more than two rods going at a time. Is it more a product of necessity or preference to cut larger groups of strips and then match them for sections - My latest designs require that I predetermine where each strip will be located in the finished rod section - this has advantages and definite disadvantages.... could see the ability to select after tapering as a BIG plus though even beyond production.... Curious about production run varnishing tips too - having anything more than a half dozen sticks drying at a time is almost a formula for trouble for me - any tips here?  (Rob Smith)

Sorry, no help here. The very few times I've attempted to make multiple rods at the same time just didn't work out for me at all. I'm a carpenter by trade and I build custom homes one at a time, start to finish( or I used to, doing concrete work now to pay the bills) and it carries over into my rodmaking. I find that if I work on more than enough strips for one rod my short attention span kicks in and I get bored to tears with each phase, where if I focus on one rod I enjoy the whole process. No help with varnishing either, my varnish set up was purposely designed to handle no more than 4 rod sections at a time.   (John Channer)

I agree with the production run tries.  I have had no success doing any more than 1 rod at a time.  In the last few months, I have thought about going the way of production only to see my strips get jumbled due to poor marking.  I had 1 Garrison stagger and one 2x2x2 stagger end up as a 2x2xGarrison.  It was ugly.  And, I was to have the rod completed quite a while ago for a fund raiser.  Needless to say, it is still not done, and I have 2 rods sitting in the scrap pile.  The butt sections will make great tomato stakes, though.

Maybe roughing strips together is a good idea, but finish planing should be one at a time  -- at least for me?  (Don Peet)

Good point - That is probably the BIGGEST question mark for me too as the last time I did four rods together it took WAY longer than if I just did each one individually???  (Rob Smith)

That may just be it.  Might not be the way for me either.  Still wonder if its the process more than the processor though.  (Rob Smith)

I set up this last fall & split out 13 rods, straightened them (one at a time) ran them through my Bacon Beveler (again one at a time) & then started final planing them.  Now mind you I did 2-3 rods of the same size & taper along with 2 quads & 2 4 piece rods.

This worked out OK except for one thing.  this is the first time I ever got glue joints.  Two different Dickerson tapers, but then again I have seen original Dickersons with glue joints.

I will continue to do rods this way.  Now if I could just get someone to wrap the darn things for me.  (Bret Reiter)

I think it is more of a mind set than anything else. I've talked to Ron Kusse both on the internet and on the phone many times and he works a years worth of bamboo at a time. He splits all he needs, then spends however long it takes straightening all the nodes, roughing all the strips, tapering, heat treating, gluing blanks until his whole years production is ready to wrap and varnish. It works for him because that's his chosen career, I'm still in hobby mode so I get to do it the way that's most entertaining for me.  (John Channer)

The person that could answer this better than any one no longer participates on the list but having made 2000 rods in a little over 25 years and stating in Oregon Bamboo (IIRC) that he can actually make a rod from start to finish in 15-18 hours, AJ Thramer would be the one too ask for the best production methods. His numbers seem to indicate (at least to me) that he has it down pat.  (Will Price)

I think you need time to run production processes, I suffer from interruptions and therefore have trouble remembering where I was when I left off, this can cause a quality control problem. I now try to have no more than one rod in any given production stage, it stops me rushing things.  But my output is trivial.  (Robin Haywood)

Well, I have tried to do some semblance of production work only to find that it takes me longer to do two rods at a time than two rods one at a time! Like has already been said I can't stay focused. I was an auto body repairman for 20+ years and it seems that I had that problem there also. I could certainly do quality work but lacked in the butcher .... uh production area.  (Joe Arguello)

I am definitely with John on this one - trying to build more then one rod at a time seems to make the experience less satisfying and take longer. It might be OK if the job is making rods, otherwise it is to be avoided  (Ian Kearney)

I use a Morgan Mill and generally build 2 - 3 rods at a time. I will split a culm and prep the strips, then mill and match them into rods and glue them up.  From that point on I work on them more or less one at a time, although overall I usually have 3 - 5 in various stages at any one time.  (Bill Lamberson)