SHOP NOTES | C.J. BOVA RODS

Anyone who keeps a lot of bamboo around knows that things do go bump in the night. At first you may think somebody is trying to break into your shop or house repeatedly, instead you find more often than not it’s your culm co-habitants. Loud pops, snaps, and bangs in the middle of the night not only set off alarms systems but scare your visitors to death. Essentially the culms are checking, meaning they are naturally splitting because of temperature change, moisture content, and age. After a new shipment arrives the Winchester comes out because I can never tell if somebody is breaking in or it’s my Tonkin bundles having a party. Either way ADT knows exactly when I get a new shipment. There really is no way to stop bamboo from doing it’s thing until you decide to split it yourself. They will having their little gatherings and chatter away until they “check out”, which is my way of saying they’ve decided to go silent. When the “get to know you period” is over and they have acclimated to t...

It was a pretty afternoon at a bamboo rodmakers gathering in the late 90’s up in the Catskills, I was actually listening in on a conversation between a few rodmakers about how they couldn’t get a little Leonard rod apart. Evidently there was a stuck section where the male ferrule and the female just would not budge. I watched three guys nearly turn blue trying to get the sections apart. I was having visions of arterial spray shooting across the rod rack as one of them had a vein in his neck bulge as he gripped both sections. I started getting a little worried about the rod because one of the guys had his hand over the guides, so I innocently interrupted. Having worked on many older rods not only taking them completely apart but being able to put them back together I knew that the ferrules had multiple consistencies of copper content. Generally speaking nickel silver is a combination of 65% copper, 18% nickel, 17% zinc. Early ferrules often had higher amounts of copper which caused the...

Bamboo rods are actually very durable and one should never worry the rod to death. My rods have a very high grade Marine spar they are dipped in. With four coats of spar varnish and wraps that sit on two layers of spar there is little to worry about. Spar is a great medium that is very forgiving because it can be polished and feathered. Spar dries, but like pitch and artists oils, it remains flexible and polishes well. If your rod becomes spotted with water marks or even scratched you simply take 1 part rottenstone and 2 parts tung oil mix it together and wipe on with a soft piece of t-shirt material. Slowly buff it evenly, then wipe down the entire rod with warm soapy water. Make sure you use the mixture sparingly and do not get any on the grip or hardware. I typically do this free of charge for my clients after several years of use, and sometimes re-dip if the rod is in need of a new coat. My personal rods are so heavily used that the tips get sanded and re-dipped every five or so y...