salvelinusfontinalis
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2006
- Messages
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Been awhile since I posted anything on my bamboo rod tubes. Its been a super slow process but I must admit I have not donated much time to it. I have 7 to do now and only 1 done lol. However I have many started and saved a few that got destroyed through my learning. So I learned how to repair them too, been a fun thing to do!
Now I have somethings to present to you and a few hike in tubes I have been using for a few seasons now. Durable as heck and not bad to wear.
Anyways I will run down the entire process of making this bamboo rod tube. If you get these materials you can make it yourself pretty cheaply. Same with the aluminum tubes! Lets begin.
BeeHive Tube:
My local hardware store offers up bamboo stalks for peoples gardens and fencing. These vary in wall diameters, lengths, outer and inner wall diameters. No two are alike at all. Some are doglegged badly, other pretty straight, some strong and thick, others thinner. So how you work on them is going to change for sure.
Each stalk is 5 dollars.
Here you can see I still have some glue to remove. Almost done!
This one in particular I did not have to cut. It is 46" in length and has a outer wall diameter of 2 3/8" and an inner diameter of 2".
This left room for me to cram a thinner aluminum rod tube straight down the pike after breaking out the membranes with sharpened
rebar. Then you sand off the white coating completely off. You cant sand them enough because the wax outer layer is all over it including the cracks around the knots. you need to really sand those areas good. lay down an mild stain to see what wax you missed, re-sand and stain again. Use a medium heavy grit and work your way down to superfine. Expect slight imperfections. Its bamboo and a rod tube. It wont be perfect.
My advice for any cracks is to inject them with a dark epoxy after all your staining. they will seal up, hold and last. Not disappear but last and not get worse.
After you are happy with the staining and sanding (I used a blonde maple minwax stain on this tube, spray 5 thin coats of Helmsman spar urethane. Only use this, its good stuff.
Let it set at least 24 hours. In my case it was 1 year.
Get Glass Jar at Hobby Lobby with Wooden pop top for 1 dollar. Buy 2. Stain Top in Mahogany. Also Spray them with Helmsman Spar Urethane. Comes with Gasket.
wrap the ends in sisal rope 1/4". Use glue to make it take.
Apply Wooden Pop top in between the layers of sisal rope.
Once set dig out excess glue.
now wrap twine between the rope. it will hide the excess glue you miss. lightly spot glue this one in.
Glue on bottom cap after putting a small amount of high density foam in the bottom to protect the rod.
Wrap twine in wood groves.
Glue down gasket. I didnt glue mine down yet so you can see what I did.
Mark tube if you wish.
Spray 4 more coats of Helmsan over entire tube, Sisal rope/twine and wooden pop top.
Done.
Next two Projects These pieces are sanded, stained, epoxied/ spared and painted if needed.
6' Single piece of bamboo for Vince Cummings 5' 1 pc rod.
All I need to do is the End Caps. Already have materials. It will be all bamboo/ With a gold pinned latch.
This one was a badly cracked tube. Was really bummed. I glued it and pressed it back together but you had this big black line. I stared at it in my living room for months. I saw this in my head so I painted it on. Now the crack doesn't matter.
I will post the tutorial aluminum rod tubes later this week if there is interest. Here are some pics of them:
The black one is awesome. I use it alot!
Now I have somethings to present to you and a few hike in tubes I have been using for a few seasons now. Durable as heck and not bad to wear.
Anyways I will run down the entire process of making this bamboo rod tube. If you get these materials you can make it yourself pretty cheaply. Same with the aluminum tubes! Lets begin.
BeeHive Tube:
My local hardware store offers up bamboo stalks for peoples gardens and fencing. These vary in wall diameters, lengths, outer and inner wall diameters. No two are alike at all. Some are doglegged badly, other pretty straight, some strong and thick, others thinner. So how you work on them is going to change for sure.
Each stalk is 5 dollars.
Here you can see I still have some glue to remove. Almost done!
This one in particular I did not have to cut. It is 46" in length and has a outer wall diameter of 2 3/8" and an inner diameter of 2".
This left room for me to cram a thinner aluminum rod tube straight down the pike after breaking out the membranes with sharpened
rebar. Then you sand off the white coating completely off. You cant sand them enough because the wax outer layer is all over it including the cracks around the knots. you need to really sand those areas good. lay down an mild stain to see what wax you missed, re-sand and stain again. Use a medium heavy grit and work your way down to superfine. Expect slight imperfections. Its bamboo and a rod tube. It wont be perfect.
My advice for any cracks is to inject them with a dark epoxy after all your staining. they will seal up, hold and last. Not disappear but last and not get worse.
After you are happy with the staining and sanding (I used a blonde maple minwax stain on this tube, spray 5 thin coats of Helmsman spar urethane. Only use this, its good stuff.
Let it set at least 24 hours. In my case it was 1 year.
Get Glass Jar at Hobby Lobby with Wooden pop top for 1 dollar. Buy 2. Stain Top in Mahogany. Also Spray them with Helmsman Spar Urethane. Comes with Gasket.
wrap the ends in sisal rope 1/4". Use glue to make it take.
Apply Wooden Pop top in between the layers of sisal rope.
Once set dig out excess glue.
now wrap twine between the rope. it will hide the excess glue you miss. lightly spot glue this one in.
Glue on bottom cap after putting a small amount of high density foam in the bottom to protect the rod.
Wrap twine in wood groves.
Glue down gasket. I didnt glue mine down yet so you can see what I did.
Mark tube if you wish.
Spray 4 more coats of Helmsan over entire tube, Sisal rope/twine and wooden pop top.
Done.
Next two Projects These pieces are sanded, stained, epoxied/ spared and painted if needed.
6' Single piece of bamboo for Vince Cummings 5' 1 pc rod.
All I need to do is the End Caps. Already have materials. It will be all bamboo/ With a gold pinned latch.
This one was a badly cracked tube. Was really bummed. I glued it and pressed it back together but you had this big black line. I stared at it in my living room for months. I saw this in my head so I painted it on. Now the crack doesn't matter.
I will post the tutorial aluminum rod tubes later this week if there is interest. Here are some pics of them:
The black one is awesome. I use it alot!
