Aero Wizard

[Shed_Monkey]

It seems the locals call it Tea Tree Bamboo, as I've added to that Google Earth image above, but I'm darned if I can exactly locate the apparently small area it grows in. I have read that it can be several different colours which rather suggests more than one species to me....but I don't really have a clue.

Google is of little help as there is a Yunnan Province tea that is processed in bamboo culms! drat!

http://www.wagnerrods.com/cane.html

According to the Charles H Demarest info the growers are in Huaji which is near Fuyang.

[Crucian]

Interesting stuff chaps, that golden bamboo looks lovely Jardine.
Built a heat gun powered oven at the weekend and it works fine, holds steady at 180' C. 20 minutes gives a nice light caramel colour.
Planed the strips to final taper this evening and it's surprising how much harder the cane becomes after heat treating, much more difficult to plane. Noticeably more springy too.
Will glue up the strips tomorrow evening.

[Shed_Monkey]

Sounding good - looking forward to the next installments.
Are you binding by hand or have you made a binder?

I have been flaming my cane before splitting and it makes a big difference to the way it splits when compare to some I split raw.

Cheers
Steve

[Jardine]

Hi Nobby,
I read the link http://www.wagnerrods.com/cane.html that you posted and I'm pretty sure now that the bamboo described there is one of the varieties we have in Northern Thailand. So I think it is more common than commonly recognised.
Best regards
Mem

[Crucian]

Sounding good - looking forward to the next installments.
Are you binding by hand or have you made a binder?

I have been flaming my cane before splitting and it makes a big difference to the way it splits when compare to some I split raw.

Cheers
Steve

Home made binder.

[Nobby]

I suppose we might ask the late Andy Royer's widow just where the stuff grows:

https://bambooandy.wordpress.com/


Some very interesting stuff in the FAQs:

http://www.bamboobroker.com/faqs.html


But even the experts get a lot of it 'wrong' it seems: 4 minutes 30 seconds in: Tonkin is a place....in Vietnam....and no pressing of the nodes?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEYQ-fqN2zE


I've an idea from something I once read, that Hardy had a man upriver, selecting the best cane even before it got floated down to other brokers.

Crucian, I did hear of one firm heat-treating the cane after milling and thus saving a small fortune on cutter purchases and oven run times, but I suppose if you can accurately sharpen a plane blade it's not an issue for you? I wish I was so skilled.

Wouldn't it be grand if someone uploaded a 'beginning to end' of cane rod making to YouTube? We'd start with the culm being purchased, progress through splitting, flaming and planing, go through gluing, straightening and furniture ...... and finish with a fish in the net!
Maybe it could be done just with an album of stills?

[Crucian]

Wouldn't it be grand if someone uploaded a 'beginning to end' of cane rod making to YouTube? We'd start with the culm being purchased, progress through splitting, flaming and planing, go through gluing, straightening and furniture ...... and finish with a fish in the net!
Maybe it could be done just with an album of stills?

What a great idea Nobby, might have to give that a go...

[Nobby]

Yay, I got a bite!

Happy to help in any way.

[Shed_Monkey]

Hi Nobby,

Actually you got 2

We're working on sourcing a batch of culms for a shared purchase at some point

[Nobby]

Good luck finding the good stuff then, fellers.

I've just created an un-needed g.mail account just so I can upload to Youtube....so far just a fox and a hedgehog in the garden at night, but it's not too hard to do. However, taking shots of yourselves working might be a lot harder. A lot easier than it might have been 15 years ago though......