Building an Oak Fly Rod

[peter dallman]

OK...Having made over 30 wood rods and fished them for nearly a decade.. follow John's book to the letter. After you master that, then deviate. It is he culmination of years of testing and work. I know. To be honest and not bragging, he told me today I was his equal in rod building. The rod they mention are not strip but single piece. It works but the glue lines allow you to make thinner yet stiffer rods that are similar to bamboo or graphite in weight and performance you cannot match in a single piece rod. Laminate as John tells you to do. I make quad rods that I do not round but plane down with flat side. John mention this but I perfected it. They work just as good, but only for a few seasons before the odd loses action due to the lack of the 2 extra glue lines. I can make a rod in 3-4 hours start to finnish. I can start at 7 am and be on the water by 2 in the afternoon. I use 5 minute epoxy on the wraps.

The wood in the article mentions greenheart, don't use it it actually sucks in my opinion. It was used then because it was cheap. Degame or lemonnwood as it is know in the states is exceptional, but grows in Cuba and is really hard to get. Accept I have a lot of it and sent it to John and he made some rods and LOVES it. Lemonwood is perfectI have a steady supply of exotic wood. I have an entire English yew tree from Sherwood forrest in my loft. Don't beleive me and I will send you a picture. . Bleu Meho is another. But that is from New Zealand. My first choice is American beech, second, birch, third red oak. All make great rods. I make the wood salt water rods they speak of in the article as well. I sent some pictures, they are on the site. They sell for $800-1000 and there is a waiting list. Have any questions, post them to me.

[Sportsman Matt]

Sounds good Peter. I've been toying with a couple ideas, I'm taking a trip to Rockler in Salem NH Monday to see if I can get either a 30 degree bit or I saw a combo 30/45 degree edge cutter for the router table, cuts both top and bottom edges of the piece at either 30 or 45 degrees on both corners and adjustable in height between cutters, so I am thinking the dual cutter with a featherboard tunnel setup like in the book, but if the clearance is able to go to 0 between the 2 cutting heads, then instead of 2 passes, I would only need one pass to cut either a 90 degree strip for a 4 piece, or a 60 degree strip for a 6 piece.

As for planing, are you planing the inside or outside when you do the hex or square shape?

Thanks

Matt

[Sportsman Matt]

Update So far....

Took a trip to Rockler in Salem NH, looked at all the fun toys I someday need to buy and build my own workshop. I did buy a 1/4" shank 60 degree sign cutting bit, digital calipers, and a featherbopard for the table saw.

Got home and put the bit in the router table, and found that I couldn't adjust the height of the table.

Turns out the metal frame was catching the plastic flashing on the motor housing of the Ryobi Router I have, some quick filing and I got the router adjusting fairly smoothly. Then I ran into problems.

I made several test passes and couldn't get a decent even cut. Turns out the bit was too high for the second and following passes, making flattened hexagons. Solution, adjust carefully, then feed the piece nice and slow.

After that, I ran the 3/4" x 3/4" oak through the router table, got it to go through rather smooth, then decided to do the taper on a plaining board. So I routed out a v groove in a 2x6, placed a stop at one end to plane the wood against, and so far I've got the taper starting.

Pics to follow.