The Crafting

Feather River Fly Rods are not production bamboo fly rods. Each rod is hand crafted from a single culm of Tonkin bamboo. Flamed to the tone of your choice (see Rod Components) usually the darker the flaming the stiffer the action where as the lighter flamed, or rods with no flaming have a softer action.

The cane is hand split, the nodes are staggered, filed and flattened. The strips (18 for a 2 piece rod – 24 for a 3 piece rod) are straightened with a little heat, then they are each hand beveled to 60 degree triangles tightly bound and heat treated to a predetermined temperature and time depending on the degree of original flaming, to relax and “set” the strips in relationship to the others around it in the finished rod.

Then the stripes are unbound, and hand planed to the final Taper (see The Rods).

The strips are then glued with URAC 185 glue and bound again in their proper sequence, until the glue is set. After the string is removed and glue sanded off. The blanks are personalized with the client’s name and other pertinent information.

The sections are then dipped 3-5 times in Marine grade Spar Varnish with at least 48 Hours between coats.

Now it is time to cut the rod blanks to the proper length and attach the Nickel Silver Ferrules, the Blackened Nickel Silver guides, Winding Check and Agate, with Pearsall’s silk thread color of your choice and the tipping color of your choice (see Rod Components).

Then 3-5 coats of marine grade spar varnish are applied to the silk wraps with at least 48 hours between coats Then the handle, reel seat (see Rod Components) are installed. To protect the rod a cotton rod sack and a brass capped rod case are included.