Part 1: Selecting the Blank

As I have already mentioned, the making of a wooden fly rod is a long term project – there is just no way to do a good job if you are in a hurry. In fact, some of the best craftsmen who build split cane rods by hand build only a small handful of rods each year, and sometimes take over a year to complete a single rod. Native artisans in centuries past were also known to take a year or more to construct quality wood hunting bows that would be passed down through the generations. The native elders believed that the attitude of the person building the bow would be imparted into the final product – if the builder was impatient (or experiencing any other negative emotions) the bow would be “cursed”, resulting in many unsuccessful hunts. Fly fishing itself is a sport of patience and positive engagement; an approach that if applied to constructing a wood fly rod, should result in a rod that you will be proud to fish with.

The first step in selecting the blank is deciding what wood to use. All of my rods have been built using Saskatoon berry (Amelanchier alnifolia). I chose this wood because it is common locally, is a moderately hard wood with long fibers, and under the right conditions grows relatively straight and tall with minimal branching. This wood is sometimes called serviceberry and was also used by local natives in the construction of arrows, tool handles and sometimes hunting bows. There are many other potential wood options – with yew, cedar, juniper, fir, ash, cherry, greenheart and lancewood being the most well-known candidates. While some of these woods are ideal for multi-strip rod construction because they can be easily split into long, thin strips, Saskatoon berry is not conducive to this method because the fibers tend to grow in a slow spiral, making it impossible to split the wood properly. But because my build process involves the relatively simple approach of sanding a sapling to the desired taper, this is not a barrier. Unfortunately I do not have any experience with these other woods so the best approach would be to do some research to see what grows in your area. Whatever wood you choose, it needs to grow straight and tall as a sapling with minimal branching, and needs to attain a length sufficient to build the desired rod length (the maximum length of the rod is often limited by how tall the chosen wood grows).

The next step is finding and cutting the rod blank. The best time of year to do this is when the sap is down; usually from December to early March. At this time the leaves are off the trees and there is usually snow on the ground which makes it easier to spot a likely candidate among the many other saplings present. The process of finding a good blank can involve many hours of searching. Like the rod building process itself, there are no shortcuts to this step – taking the time to find a sapling with a minimal number of flaws will ultimately result in a rod that is less likely to fail while casting. The criteria to look for are:

1.      The sapling needs to be almost perfectly straight. Minor, very gradual bends in the wood can be straightened during the drying process, but anything beyond this should be rejected. Look for something that appears to be almost arrow straight through its full length.

2.      The sapling should be at least 6” longer than the desired final rod length. As the wood dries, some cracking may occur at each end – these parts will need to be cut off at the start of rod construction.

3.      The sapling should have no significant branches or knots. Branches and knots cause weak areas in the main stem of the sapling and need to be minimized. Look for a sapling that has no branching through its length and no knots where dead branches have fallen off. A few minor branches (tiny side shoots less than ¼” in diameter at the base) and knots are OK if there are not too many of them. Knots or branches that are less than 1/8” or less will pose no problem at all, knots or branches that are close to the ¼” limit need to be at least 6” apart – anything over ¼” renders the blank unsuitable.

4.      The sapling should be fairly close to the final rod taper. Look for a sapling that is between 5/8” to 1” in diameter at the base – 3/4” would be about ideal. The closer the blank is to the final rod dimensions, the less material that needs to be sanded off.

These criteria may seem rather stringent, and the possibility of finding a blank that meets these demands near impossible, but they are out there, and there are a few guidelines that will help you. Start by looking in areas where there is a high concentration of taller saplings. These areas are usually characterized by either overcrowding, or competition for light with other taller trees. Conditions such as this result in a sapling that is forced to struggle through most of its life – growth rings are tight and the fibers are more compact and stronger. The intense competition for light also results in a sapling that grow straighter and with less branching as they focus their efforts on reaching higher than the competition as quickly as possible. My approach is to spend a few weekends slowly and methodically searching several areas, flagging those trees that I think have the best potential. I then go back later and re-assess each flagged sapling and decide which one (if any) to cut. Once cut, the blank needs to be clamped in such a way as to keep it from warping as it dries (note that the drying part of the process requires a full year to complete) – something I will cover in the next post.