Searcy Sowbug

Update for the Montana Folks

2008-08-05T21:05:00.006-05:00

It's been slow around the shop this year. Actually, it's always slow going around here. It just seems like it's taking longer than usual to finish a rod. Maybe that has something to do with starting five rods at the same time. That's a stroke of brilliance I could do without in the future. I'm better suited to doing one rod at a time. I get tired of doing the same thing five times in a row. But I'm making progress in spite of my less than enthusiastic attitude.

The Montana fishing crew has probably given up on ever getting one of these babies. The rivers may be iced over by the time their rods arrive in Missoula, but they'll eventually get there. Something about waiting a long time for a bamboo fly rod makes them more valuable anyway. I suppose you could say I have a one year waiting list. That sounds pretty impressive never mind that there are only two folks in line. Actually there are three. I'm doing a rod swap with a couple other rod makers at the Southern Rod Makers gathering this year. That's going to be pretty cool. I've always wanted to have a bamboo rod made by someone other than me. I've just been too cheap to buy one.

Here's a few recent pictures from the rod shop (garage). I've made and mounted the female ferrules and cork handles this week. I started the male ferrules this evening. They should be done and mounted in a couple days. All that's left to do at that point is to wrap the guides and varnish the wraps, turn the reel seat inserts, make the reel seat hardware and varnish the rods. I'm thinking I might be done by the end of September. We'll see.

By the way, that's not blood in that picture. I use thread locker to make my ferrules. Solder is just too messy and difficult to apply compared to thread locker. I still use solder to make the butt caps for the reel seat hardware, but that's it. The ferrules are completely made with thread locker. I'm using the stuff that's rated for up to 500 degrees. That should cover most fishing situations. But anyway...the thread locker is red. That's the red stuff in the picture below.

FlexRod Update - Flex4.7.8.1

2008-07-21T11:31:00.004-05:00

An updated version of FlexRod is ready to be downloaded. Just click on "download" in the FlexRod menu to get the new version. If this is your first time to download the workbook, read the introduction first. A link to the introduction is in the FlexRod menu in the left hand frame of this blog.

The changes are minor but necesary. If you're using the Form Setup sheet in previous versions, I would recommend upgrading to the new version. Here's a brief description of the updates:

I've added the full taper diameters to the form setup sheet. Both full and half diameters are need on that sheet since they're extrapolated from tip and ferrule locations. The full diameters on the form setup won't match the original five inch station diameters. It's much easier to validate target diameters from the form setup sheet.

I've also added ferrule sizes and locations to the detail sheet. They should have been there already.

I made no changes to the Tapers sheet. Just copy your taper rows from Flex4.7.8.0 and paste them into the new version. Run the Calc or List Calc macros to update the stats for your tapers.

FlexRod has been downloaded about 150 times so far. I don't know how many of those are updates. I hope everyone is taking the time to update their workbooks.

More Music - Utzerath Style

2008-07-21T09:40:00.006-05:00

The relationship between bamboo fly rods and acoustic music is undeniable. There's a common thread that I can't quite put into words, but it's there. Jim Utzerath (FlexRod author) sent links to a couple videos of his daughter playing the fiddle (or violin depending on where you're from). She plays with a group called Dr. Hojka's Medicine Show (projounced Hoi-ka). More of Michelle's work is posted at www.myspace.com/drhojkas.

If there are other rod makers with acoustic links they'd like to share, post a comment in the Cbox in the left had frame of the blog with the link to the audio or video files. Scroll down below my mug shot to get to the Cbox. If we have a few to post, I'll start a new category on the blog for acoustic stuff.

Firefox V3.0 Problems

2008-07-20T14:28:00.003-05:00

The left side of my blog disappeared in Firefox when I upgraded to Firefox V3.0. It was a Firefox install problem, not a Blogger problem. If your Firefox browser recently started doing strange things, see this link to fix it.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2008/06/blogger-and-firefox-v30.html

You're going to have to uninstall Firefox and reinstall it.

David

The Perfect Fly Rod

2008-07-17T12:43:00.001-05:00

The perfectly tapered rod, with perfect guide spacing, guide sizes, ferrule size, ferrule type, bluing or not, reel seat hardware, reel seat insert, cork quality, grip style, winding check or not, tip top, thread size, varnish, thread material and thread color would be a very cool rod. But finding three talented fly fishermen (not collectors) that agree that it's THE perfect rod might be impossible.

Our preoccupation with making the perfect rod is a maker thing. It has little to do with the task it was designed to perform. But it's still worth pursuing so long as it adds value to the rod making experience. Just don't get caught up in the hype that tes the fly fishing industry. The big dogs of fly fishing sell tackle that they say will magically improve the casting skill of the poor guy that fell for the slick advertising. I know that to be true because I've been that poor guy a few times. I know better now, but I'm still tempted.

Bluegrass at it's Best

2008-07-13T18:40:00.004-05:00

This is a little off topic for this blog, but it seems that many of us in the rod making community love acoustic music. Bluegrass and folk music run deep in my soul. I grew up in the "folk capital of the world", Mountain View, Arkansas. I have instruments all over the house but can't play any of them worth a lick. I'm always impress by young folks that have natural talent and a passion for music. I learned yesterday of a family that's growing up with bluegrass in the house. I went to school with the parents. They're great folks! Here's a few of their home videos.

Here's the family web site:

http://www.clarkbrosband.com/

Guide Spacing Workbook Download

2008-06-28T11:37:00.003-05:00

I've attached my guide spacing workbook for download. This workbook is also available for download at Todd's Tips site. The spacing is based on an algorithm posted on the Rodmakers List several years ago. It appears, based on list archives, that it was developed by Jeffrey Baehre of Depew NY. Appropriate acknowledgments are included in the workbook. This spacing table is baked into FlexRod.

The spacing is calculated proportionally from the stripping guide to the first ferrule below the tip top. I've added a proportional adjustment (fudge factor) to place a guide that falls close to a ferrule just below that ferrule. The adjustment factor moves all the guides, not just the one at the ferrule. I've already made the necessary adjustments to the rod lengths included in the table.

Also included at the bottom right of the table is a guide size chart. That's my interpretation of several sources. Guide size seems to be somewhat subjective. The table is there, for what it's worth.

http://www.mediafire.com/?iyjbvdwm1kr

Ferrule Tube Specifications File

2008-06-28T11:23:00.003-05:00

I was setting up to make ferrules this morning and realized I hadn't posted the ferrule specifications workbook on the blog. I've posted it for download at the following link. This workbook is for tubing drawn specifically for making ferrules. I purchased a small lot of tubing from Chris Bogart a few years ago. As far as I know, there is no tubing available today. I have enough left for several years of rod making at my slow pace.

This workbook is based on several sources so it may not line up exactly with any of them. The "ferrule specs" worksheet is automated. Just input the ferrule size in cell C4 and full or truncated in C5. The specs will be automatically updated. The other worksheets are supporting documents from some of my research.

http://www.mediafire.com/?pfzuxgx2jtx

Parabolic Taper Design

2008-06-18T20:36:00.008-05:00

There has been a parabolic taper design discussion on the rodmakers list the past couple days. The following tapers were discussed. I'm posting them here temporarily for folks on the list if they're interested.

The first chart is a summary view of Ken's draft of a parabolic taper, Tom's revised version and a Para 14. I added 3 inches to the butt of the Para 14 to make them easier to compare.

The next three charts are detail views of each respective taper.

Glue Test #2

2008-05-29T21:06:00.020-05:00

It's been several months since the first post on this subject. I glued up the test strips and lost interest. I'm back at it again. The test strips are PMQ style untapered two strip blanks about .130 inches in overall diameter. That should approximate the diameter of a 5wt tip at the midpoint.

I had several tests in mind for these strips, but most of them didn't make much sense after I gave it some more thought. As noted in an earlier post, I'm using Titebond III. PVA glues like TBIII are know for their tendency to creep under a load. They are not recommended for structural construction like a laminated beam. The beam would eventually bow under stress because of the elasticity of the glue. See the Titebond III post for more pros and cons.

I've read what seems like hundreds of comments about the TB products on the rod makers list and Clark's. Some say that the tendency to creep in structural applications makes TB rods more prone to take a set than no creep glues. Others that use the glue on a regular basis disagree. Not that they will not take a set. But that they are no more prone to taking a set than any other glue. The battle of the glues rages on the internet, but I've yet to see a rodmaking test given to support either position.

So, I figured I'd do a simple test. I have two sets of test blanks glued up with URAC, Resourcinol, Epon, Hide Glue, and TBIII. One set was heat treated at 392 degrees for 15 minutes. The other at 266 degrees for 18 minutes. I'm guessing that the heat treating regimen has more to do with set resistance than the glue...but I could be wrong about that. The glued up blanks have been in my drying closet for several months. They should be fully cured.

I set up a form to put about the same bow in all of the strips with the glue line turned vertical (see the photo). I didn't bother to remove the binding string. That shouldn't be necessary for this test. I'm going to leave them bowed for several days at room temperature. It shouldn't get any warmer than 80 degrees in my garage this time of year.

Results:
All the test blanks took a set after 24 hours with no noticeable change after 48 hours. So much for set proof glues. That never made any sense anyway. There's no doubt in my mind that creep resistant glues produces a stiffer rod - all things being equal. But none of them are set proof when abused.

However, bending the test blanks for a couple minutes produced significantly different results. Bending a rod for 24 hours is clearly abusive. But just a couple minutes is closer to normal fishing conditions. The URAC blanks did not take a set in the two minute test. All the other glues took a set, although the TBIII blanks took a more dramatic set than the creep resistant glues.

This was not a lab quality glue test, but it should be close enough for making fishing sticks. URAC is the clear winner when it comes to set resistance under normal conditions. All of the glues will take a set when abused. TBIII is more likely to take a set under normal conditions than the creep resistant glues.

I've been fishing TBII and TBIII rods for several years now on the Ozark tailwaters. I haven't had any trouble with sets except in really hot weather. I can't leave my TB rods in the truck on hot days. Other than that, I just go fishing and don't worry about the rods. I'll keep using TBIII until my experience on the water changes significantly or a creep resistant non-toxic glue appears on the market. I would definitely switch to URAC if it was non-toxic.

Titebond III

2008-05-22T07:20:00.007-05:00

I thought I would document my thoughts on glue before I forget what I’ve learned. Deciding on a glue can be frustrating. There are several commonly used glues and each one has a passionate fan club among rod makers. You'll find folks who despise a glue and others who love it. Most have had a bad experience with one and switched to another. Some have switched back after they had a problem with a new one. Reading all the glue posts on the rod making forums left me dazed and confused. I’ve settled on Titebond III for now. Here are a few thoughts on the TB II and III:

Pros: Non-toxic. Easy to apply. Easy cleanup. Waterproof. No mixing. No bad odors. Good color match for bamboo. Cures at room temperature.

Neutral: Flexible when cured like EPON...action will be similar to an EPON rod. Brief open time (10 minutes at 75* room temp). Slow cure (at least one week).

Cons: Will fail at 175* for an extended period of time (don't leave a TB rod on the dash of your pickup truck in 100+* weather). Short time on the market (unknown long term performance).

Critical Step: The glue up process is the same as any other glue except for one critical step. Flexing the joint before the glue cures will significantly weaken the bond. Do not flex or twist a TB blank when the glue starts to set at about 10 minutes. Pour a blob of glue about two inches in diameter on a piece of wax paper and watch it cure. The glue is cured when the color is consistent throughout the blob. That usually takes about a week depending on the temperature and relative humidity. Don't even think about straightening the blank until that blob has cured. Straightening before the glue has cured will increase the risk of taking sets.

Sets and Delaminations: There have been numerous reports of sets and delams with all the commonly used glues (e.g. URAC, EPON, Resourcinol, Polyurethanes, Tightbond). No glue will prevent problems if it's applied incorrectly (e.g. mixed wrong, applied at wrong temperature, not enough moisture, to much binding pressure, starved joints, lumpy catalyst, etc...) or there are weak spots in the strips (e.g. moldy nodes, worm damage, bad angles, etc...). But we almost always blame the glue.

Glue joint failures are caused by abuse and quality control errors in the process of making a rod. They are not caused by the glues mentioned in this post. That would defy common sense given that these glues are used successfully in much more demanding applications around the world. Just pick one and run with it.

Be sure to take note of toxicity in your decision. Weigh the risk like anything else in life. Remember that farmers and lawn care professionals have made similar decisions and we’re struggling to maintain the quality of our fisheries as a result of those decisions. Be consistent but reasonable when it comes to environmental decisions.

Reflections by the Originator of FlexRod

2008-04-29T06:55:00.007-05:00

Jim Utzerath is the engineer and bamboo rod maker that created FlexRod in the late 90s. He has graciously agreed to share the history of the program and some thoughts about the future of taper analytics. If you know Jim, be sure to thank him for blazing the deflection trail for us. He can be reached at jutzerath@execpc.com. Here's his note as I received it a couple days ago:

Random reflections on FlexRod by its originator

Eight years have passed since FlexRod was created. I thought that it had vanished entirely, but thanks to David Bolin’s persistence, it seems to be struggling for life. Looking back, I thought I would pass on a few thoughts that occurred to me during its development, why it became what it is, and what I hoped it would be. Some of these thoughts might duplicate those of the program notes but not all.

The FlexRod project started from a paper written by D. Y. Barrer (You can still find it online: http://users.cybercity.dk/~bcc25154/Webpage/barrer.htm) which proposed a method to evaluate the equations for strain in a fly rod. A copy was sent me by my friend Bill Fink. I originally followed the scheme of the paper and soon found better ways to accomplish the calculation. The method is really quite simple. The stress is first calculated using moments ala Garrison but taking into account different angles at which the forces are applied. Then the strain (or deflection) is calculated using Euler’s rule that the beam bends to a radius of curvature proportional (by its MOE) to the stress. Since the curving rod changes the angles to which the moments are applied, you need to compute the stress again, then the strain again, then the stress, etc. till both remain the same as they were in the previous calculation.

In the Barrer analysis the moment was applied as force field acting in either or both the vertical and horizontal direction similar to the acceleration force used in the Garrison analysis. Though not completely realistic as a description of the casting motion, this method of applying force has several advantages. It duplicates the Garrison stress analysis, it correctly depicts a rod deflected by having a weight hung from it, and it avoids questions about the location of the pivots (elbow/shoulder/wrist) of the caster.

I began to work on FlexRod to support some of my experimental work involving stressing bamboo strips clamped in a fixture under a dial indicator. For what is worth, the textbook solution really is pretty accurate though the derivation of the formula assumes small displacement. Next I tried to match some of the Garrison analysis software for an unyielding rod (That’s why FlexRod has an option to hold the rod straight.). The weakest link in the analysis is that you have to guess the modulus of elasticity. As it turns out, the MOE does not stay the same from fly rod to fly rod and it varies with the thickness of the strip. Enter Bob Milward.

Bob Milward, I learned, had spent three or more years of research and was consulting with experts in physics, wood science, and botany from universities in California and British Columbia. He had tested hundreds of very precisely machined bamboo samples. When I first phoned him, he was very cautious about discussing his work because he was about a half year away from publishing. I swore on my mothers blessed remains that I wouldn’t do anything with his information till well after the book was out; so we ran up some huge phone bills talking about things bamboo. It was about this time that I distributed my files as you see them now (without adding any of the intended MOE modification features) through my friend Bill Fink and some other folks attending the Catskill Gatherings. FlexRod has remained essentially unchanged except for the enhancements that David Bolin created.

What happened next? My biggest concern was the estimation of MOE. When Bob Milward eventually published landmark book, Bamboo: Fact, Fiction and Flyrods, he states on page 42ff that the modulus measurements made on his thin samples proved there was a loss of stiffness from rind to pulp (no surprise here) and a loss from top to base of the culm. He later on writes that the predicted MOE of an assembled rod section is not what he would have expected from his samples. DARN, we are still left with an incomplete understanding of the stiffness of actual fly rods and hence how they bend.

Excuse me if digress here to comment a bit more about some of Bob’s work. The discrepancies between the MOE of his prepared samples and that of his completed sections were discovered as he was finishing his work and was of great consternation to him. He offered several explanations in the book but none completely satisfactory. When we spoke of it on the phone I thought it had something to do with the machining of the samples which might have altered the distribution of vascular fibers. It became more apparent than ever, to me, that we had to study the bending of the finished fly rod.

Another interesting item that you will find Bob’s book is his analysis of the curvature of the rod during the casting process. He used a different formula to compute strain than the Euler curvature relation suggested by Barrer. Instead he ed the fly rod as if it were divided into short cantilevered beams. Remember, all analyses of these kinds the fly rod as a series of short pieces that can be analyzed as simple un-tapered geometric solids. Garrison used 6” straight pieces. FlexRod uses circular arcs (which can be flat as well) of 1” (or any other specified) length. This type of analysis, sometimes referred to as FEA, is expected to become more mathematically accurate as the length gets smaller; so, I included a feature in FlexRod that lets the user diminish or enlarge the size of the pieces. I tried out the cantilevered beam method that Milward employed in a modified version of FlexRod and was pleased to see that as the size of the divisions got smaller and smaller, the answers tended to become exactly the same as my calculations based on arcs.

Anyone who does much mathematical ing realizes that the results must be verified against other s and validated against experimental data. FlexRod was verified against some of the Garrison implementations and against my own beam bending experiments and gave me reasonable confidence in the answers. In doing a lot of examples with different lengths of elements, an unexpected result was that: as the accuracy improved, the errors in the tip division (easily seen in a Garrison analysis where you must ignore the tip stress) could be reduced by pretending that the rod was half a division longer than actual. I included this “correction” as an option in FlexRod. The technique can be justified because the “tip error” happens because we calculate the load (moment, etc.) at the ends of the section and the stress in the middle; so there is a half element discrepancy.

I then turned my attention toward the deflected shape of actual fly rods. This, in itself, is nothing new; various manufacturers have used deflection methods to test finished products. Some methods are quite detailed and are reported by Philips in his book Technology of Fly Rods. When I wrote to Bill Fink about the possibility of measuring rods being cast, he offered to photograph one of his quad bamboo fly rods being cast by one his friends (Tom Smithwick, I think). Bill, I should explain, has his own pet interests in stress analysis one of which is to be able to translate the action of rods with conventional hex cross-section into his 5, 4, yes 3 side geometries. We hoped to match the curve in the photograph with a something generated by FlexRod to see what we could learn in comparing a quad with a similar hex. The result wasn’t very satisfactory because of difficulties scaling and correcting for optical foreshortening, etc. Even after a lot of work, the answers didn’t look quite right.

I figured that we were getting ahead of ourselves. Eventually we would like to analyze the rod during the casting process, but we should start with static testing. Sidenote here: Even though we talk about acceleration forces in our more advanced calculation we are still performing an analysis based on principles of static mechanics. If the analysis were truly dynamic, we would have to consider other properties of materials such as viscous damping and things that people don’t usually measure. I suspect that the MOE of bamboo under suddenly applied stress is higher than the static values we now use. Similarly the tensile strength of bamboo is probably also dependent upon the speed at which the load is applied since impacts appear to be more likely to break bamboo than steady pressure.

About this time there appeared in Rod Maker magazine a series of articles by William Hanneman describing a method he called Common Cents or CC. Though I didn’t think that the technique was as exactly the ultimate analysis, it did add an additional measurement which helps to describe the curvature of the rod tip; and the whole technique was easy to perform. And it proposed to provide additional information namely: the line weight and the tip action. I hoped that if the CC method might become used regularly by a few cane rod makers, there would be an abundance of data to describe static deflection. Then if a few more measurements could be added to better depict the behavior of the mid and mid tip regions of the deflected rod at, say 50 and 75 percent of the action length we could have a useful stress/strain analysis. For those unfamiliar with CC, the fly rod is clamped horizontally and weights are added till the tip dips to a third of the action length. We record the weight and the angle that the tip makes with the horizontal.

My friend Bill again obliged me by trying to promote CC at several of the Catskill group gatherings. The reception, he reported was disappointing. I think the cool reception had more to do with the inability of CC to predict the recommended line weight that the makers expected. And so the attempt to promote widespread use deflection measurements among bamboo all but failed. If the idea had caught on, I would have suggested the additional deflection distance measurements that would have described the arc of the loaded rod in such a way that the desired modulus data could have been derived. Incidentally, the amount of work required to go from the deflection data to the modulus measurements was very time consuming so I admit that I might be rightfully blamed for letting the project die.

My final effort in the study of stress analysis consisted of some correspondence in a forum started by Mike Montagne. He wanted to spearhead some technical discussions of stress analysis in bamboo fly rod making. After a few weeks of participation, the group apparently dispersed or maybe they tired of my verbose commentaries and simply ignored me. Mike M, incidentally had his own analysis method based on a geometric curve describing a deflected rod. I was interested in finding out whether his methods were general enough to describe any fly rod, not just those of his own design. That question remains unanswered.

Till my grandchildren are old enough to wade into streams, I have set aside my planing forms and pursue work and family and other interests for now. However if there are persons reading this little essay that are interest in advancing any of the above ideas, I would offer a plethora of assistance for the asking.

Taper Design - Keone Rodsmiths

2008-04-27T19:41:00.003-05:00

Danny Heus, owner of Keone Rodsmiths, has some interesting taper design articles on his web site. He specializes in quadrate (hexagonal) rods that are designed to maximize the efficiency of the power fibers. Check out his quadrate and hollowing techniques at these links:

Design Philosophy

Hollowing

I hope to make hexagonal rods at some point. But for now, I'm not interested in making another set of planing forms. Some day...

Finished Planing

2008-04-13T21:08:00.014-05:00

We're off to a rocky start in 2008. Tornado's, snow storms, flooding and more flooding. If the rain doesn't stop, there will be even more flooding along the White river basin. The lakes are hovering around the top of the flood pool. They opened the flood gates at Beaver, Table Rock, Norfork and then Bull Shoals last week. Homes and business that were dried out and almost ready to move back in are now full of water again. I live about 300 yards from the Little Red and 50 miles downstream from the Greers Ferry dam. Greers Ferry is about one foot below the top of the flood pool. I've heard that they will open the flood gates if the water reaches the top. That will devastate properties along most of that 50 miles of river. Hopefully, my house is high enough to stay out of the flood water, but there's no way to know until it happens. We're just waiting and watching.

I'm not sure where I found the time but there are two 7' 4wts glued up for the Montana boys and three 7'6" 5wts ready to glue up. I should be able to glue them all up this week. The 5wts will probably be demo rods. They're the ST2, ST3 and ST4 from the standard taper series. I'm fired up about these rods. They will either validate all the taper research I've done, or shame me back into making tried and true traditional tapers.

That picture of the drying closet is from the top, not the bottom. The light bulb is actually at the bottom of the closet. A 60 watt bulb will hold the temperature at about 90 degrees and the relative humidity about 25% lower than the rest of the shop. The florescent bulbs are used to enhance the varnish curing process with UV light. Not sure if it really does, but it seemed like a good idea.

I've accumulated enough bamboo shavings to fill a five gallon bucket. Mary thinks I should make something with the shavings. I'm just not sure what that might be. Suggestions would be welcome.

Since I was taking pictures for who knows what, I took a shot with the hand planes. I've been using two planes, one to take the strip down to about ten thousandths over final and the other to finish up. That way I sharpen once before I start each rod section. The black Stanley on the planing form is my favorite. It's an English made G12-020. It's a little wider and heavier than the earlier American made Stanley and the Lie-Nielsen 9 1/2. It's very comfortable in hand and requires very little pressure for a consistent cut. Fine tuning the depth of cut is smooth and efficient. So long as I keep the blade sharp, I rarely ever lift a node. Found it at the flea market covered in rust. I cleaned it up, tuned it and added a cryo Hock blade. Flea markets are a rod makers paradise!

Just a note about the Lie-Nielsen's in that photo. They're outstanding tools. The workmanship is perfect. I ordered both the 9 1/2 and the scraper with a "rod makers groove" when I was tooling up several years ago. I can't say enough about the quality of the Lie-Nielsen tools. However, I'm more comfortable with my Stanley G12. The rod makers groove was an unnecessary expense and I've found no practical use for the scraper in the rod making process. I just use the scraper to remove cured glue from the blanks. If you're tooling up, you don't need the Lie-Nielsen's. Buy a Stanley 9 1/2 and put your money in a hock blade and a sharpening system like the Work Sharp WS3000. I'll sell or trade my Lie-Nielsen's some day, but I made my first rod with them. They still have some sentimental value for now.

I'm going to clean up all the bamboo shavings, glue up the 5wts and get busy making ferrules this week. I should have plenty of time to work on rods for a few months. We're going to have nothing but really high water around here until July.

FlexRod Updates

2008-04-10T21:42:00.004-05:00

A brief description of all updates will be added to this post.

Transferring Tapers: The input columns of all versions except Flex4.7.7.4 and Flex4.7.7.5 are the same. Select the input cells from column A to AM, copy and then paste to the new version and run the FlexRod calculations.

If you're upgrading from Flex4.7.7.4 or Flex4.7.7.5, you will need to copy and paste your taper list from two ranges (column A to D and then E to AL) working around the new "Action Length" value in column E of the new taper sheet. Input the action length and run the calculations.

UPDATES:

July 21, 2008 (Flex4.7.8.1):
I've added the full taper diameters to the form setup sheet. Both full and half diameters are need on that sheet since they're extrapolated from tip and ferrule locations. The full diameters on the form setup won't match the original five inch station diameters. It's much easier to validate target diameters from the form setup sheet.

I've also added ferrule sizes and locations to the detail sheet. They should have been there already.

I made no changes to the Tapers sheet. Just copy your taper rows from Flex4.7.8.0 and paste them into the new version. Run the Calc or List Calc macros to update the stats for your tapers.

April 10, 2008 (Flex4.7.8.0) - Cleaned up the charts on the summary sheet. Reworked all the charts on the detail sheet. The Sectional Taper chart has been changed to graph rod sections starting at the tip top and ferrule locations. See chapters eight and nine of "Split & Glued by Vincent C. Marinaro" for a thorough discussion of sectional taper design. The sectional chart is based on Bill Harms and Tom Whittle's biography of Vincent Marinaro's approach to taper design. The book is available at www.wmharmsrods.com. Also, the form setup sheet has been reworked to extrapolate station settings starting at the tip or ferrule location of each section. The form settings can be calculated for any whole adjustment station increments in inches (e.g. 1, 3, 5, 6...).

March 27, 2008 (Flex4.7.7.8) - Added action length to taper sheet inputs and incremental deflection to charts.

March 24, 2008 (Flex4.7.7.5) - Slowed calculations down to improve accuracy when applying tension.

Tip Research #2

2008-03-29T22:36:00.005-05:00

The discussion on the rod makers list about tip bounce has been helpful. Follow-up research has led to more statistical stuff. I really need to go fishing and stop crunching numbers. So here's some more tip data from my database of tapers. Click on the image to enlarge the table. Out of 444 tapers, 58% have convex tips, 12% are straight and 30% are concave. Tip slope averages 20% of the tip top diameter.

The metric that may be the best clue that tip bounce will be a problem is the sum of stations 20, 25 and 30 greater than the sum of stations 5, 10 and 15. The average for all 444 tapers is about 46%. A taper with a low percentage may have a tip bounce problem. I've attached a list of suspects, but I have no experience with any of these tapers. I may be off in left field.

Tip Research #1

2008-03-28T11:24:00.011-05:00

I've been giving some thought to tip design lately. Bill Harms prompted that with a convex taper design discussion on the rod makers list several weeks ago. Bill and Tom Whittle are the authors of "Split & Glued By Vincent C. Marinaro”. They discuss convex taper designs in detail in the book. The book is available at www.wmharmsrods.com.

I've summarized tip designs in general from the list of 444 tapers used in earlier taper research. The tip styles are compared based on average diagonal values with a trend line representing 50% of the length of the rod. A positive diagonal value is convex and a negative value is concave. Of the 444 tapers, 58% of the tips are convex, 12% are straight and 30% are concave.

Butt taper styles are generally the opposite of the tip styles as 62% are concave and 38% are convex. Click on the charts to enlarge them.

Here's an example of two significantly different taper designs from the same maker. I picked them from the taper list at random to illustrate convex and concave taper styles. They're both Heddon #14s.

Here's a sectional view of the two tapers. The 191 tip is only slightly convex. The 190 tip is extremely concave.

All that's interesting, but what I really want to know is how to minimize or eliminate tip bounce. Does it have to be a convex tip to eliminate tip bounce? Or just a "fair"curve of any shape? Tip bounce is being discussed on the rod makers list today. We'll see where that discussion leads.

Fishing the White

2008-03-19T22:34:00.007-05:00

Mike Davis invited me to split the fee on a guide trip again this year. I figured since he caught all the fish last time that I would catch a break this time. I suppose I'll have to try again next year. He fished circles around me again...but I caught the biggest one!

We fished with Jim Traylor. If you're looking for a guide in the Mountain Home area, you won't go wrong with Jim. I highly recommend him.

FlexRod Download

2008-03-16T20:47:00.030-05:00

FlexRod is a taper analysis tool developed by Jim Utzerath in the late 90’s. All the components of FlexRod are self contained in a single Microsoft Excel (version 2003) workbook. Following is a list of FlexRod features:

User input variables:

· Rod length

· Action length

· Number of pieces (1, 2, 3 or 4)

· Number of sides (hex, quad, or penta)

· Taper dimensions

· Line weight

· Casting distance

· Tension and tension angle (to simulate fish fighting impact)

· Load factor (i.e. tip impact factor)

Automated variables:

· Estimated line weight

· Guide spacing

· Ferrule size(s)

· Ferrule position(s)

Analytics:

· Taper list

· Taper statistics

· Garrison style straight stress curves

· Bent stress curves representing a loaded rod

· Deflection curves representing a loaded rod

· Full length and sectional taper charts

· Summary sheet for taper comparisons

· Detail sheet with a micro view of a single taper

· Hex form setup for variable station increments in inches (e.g. 1, 3, 5, 6, etc…)

Taper Statistics:

· Bamboo weight in ounces

· Total weight excluding reel seat and grip

· Counter weight (weight at the butt required to balance the rod near the front of the grip)

· Average diagonal values for the butt, tip, and full length

· Tip and midpoint deflection in inches

· Effective length (straight line distance from butt to tip of a bent rod)

· Effective length as a percent of the total length

· Tip, butt and full length slope per 5 inch station

It’s really not that difficult to wade through all the moving parts. I’ve consolidated the input fields to Jim’s program in one worksheet to keep it simple. Just about everything else is automated.

When you open the FlexRod workbook you’ll see a taper list and five tabs at the bottom of the screen representing the five user worksheets. There are several hidden worksheets that do all the automatic stuff in the background including Jim’s original worksheets. I’ve added new worksheets to organize the tapers and print reports. Here’s a brief description of each worksheet:

Tapers – all tapers and user input variables are loaded in this worksheet in list format (i.e. one row per taper). After the FlexRod calculations have been completed, the statistics for each taper are updated in each respective row. The rows can be sorted as needed to compare groups of tapers (e.g. by line weight, length, effective length, etc…). I’ve included a few personal tapers and some Payne’s, Young’s and Garrisons as examples. I have not included a database of tapers. I don’t want to add more confusion to the internet taper version chaos. There are several good taper databases already available on-line (e.g. RodDNA, HexRod, Todd's Tips Site , and the rod builders forum). You’ll need to input your own taper list in FlexRod.

Summary – A one page comparison of up to three tapers including straight stress, bent stress, deflection (bent rod) and a few statistics. The charts are updated automatically from the taper sheet and formatted for printing. This report is best reviewed in printed form.

Detail – A one page micro view of a single taper including statistics, diameter, stress and deflection values by five inch station. The charts include full length and sectional trends and a comparison of straight stress, bent stress and deflection. The taper can be modified on this worksheet and re-run the FlexRod calculations without returning to the tapers sheet. The modifications can be automatically saved to the tapers sheet as a new taper. This report is best viewed in printed form.

Forms – This is a hex planning form setup sheet. Input the adjustment station increments (1, 3, 5, 6, etc…) at the top of the worksheet and the station diameters will be automatically calculated starting at the tip top and ferrule stations.

Documentation – Lots of stuff that you probably don’t need to know. I needed to document it somewhere so I wouldn’t forget how this thing works. Its boring stuff, but I recommend that you read it before you start using the workbook.

Why FlexRod? Well, because I like to analyze things by the numbers. I’m an accountant and financial analyst by trade. The numbers thing goes with the territory. Stress curves are just about useless if you haven’t already fished the rod you’re analyzing. And even if you have, it’s almost impossible to know how another taper will perform by comparing stress curves. A lot of on stream experience is required to “read” a stress curve and apply it in any meaningful way. Said another way, you need to build the rod first and then analyze the stress curve. That’s backwards by my way of thinking.

When you combine straight (Garrison style) and bent stress curves with a deflection chart (like the "flex index" charts in the Orvis catalog), everything begins to make sense. On stream experience is still required, but you can see how the rod bends under a simulated load and how the stress values relate to the bent rod. Adding a bent rod chart to the analysis is like removing a blindfold. Really…it’s that simple. And you can thank Jim Utzerath for that. Jim’s reflections on FlexRod and the future of taper analytics are posted at this link.

FlexRod in its current state is not a taper design tool. It’s a taper analysis tool. RodDNA and DynaRod both include several taper design tools. When I built the worksheets for FlexRod, the goal was to compare hundreds of tapers looking for common characteristics without getting lost in the details. I needed a taper database that included a few meaningful statistics for each respective taper. The summary and detail reports are great when you’re analyzing up to three tapers, but most of my research is done on the tapers sheet. I've posted some of that research in the Tapers post category. I have over 500 tapers in my personal workbook. Most of them came from the RodDNA database. I can compare tapers by line weight, maker, slope, effective length, etc…in just seconds.

Feel free to download FlexRod for your personal use. Do not redistribute it for commercial purposes. You’re welcome to use it in your rod making business. The summary sheet would be a great way to illustrate your tapers for potential clients and fishing buddies. Everything they need to know is on a single printed page for up to three tapers. Just don’t repackage the program and offer it for sale.

I’ll be updating the workbook as new ideas emerge. A description of the updates will be posted on the blog. There’s a link to the updates post and the current version of the download in the FlexRod menu. Be sure to save backup copies of your workbook as you add tapers.

I'm using MediaFire to host the download file. MediaFire is a free download service that sells advertising spots on their site. An advertisement will probably pop up in a separate window when you download the file. That's a small price to pay for a fast, free download service. Let me know if the advertising is offensive or abusive.

Planning and Cooking

2008-03-05T20:14:00.009-06:00

I'm finally making a little progress in the shop. February was tornado clean up month at my folks house. Actually, this is going to be clean up YEAR in Mountain View.

The Montana boys should be pleased to see the shavings in this picture. They're the byproduct of two butt sections that are ready to glue up. Snow is in the forecast again this week, so the tips will probably be ready this weekend.

I was reflecting on the Smith river trip as the curls were piling up. We shared a lot of good food that week. Terre's steaks were great and Kyle's spaghetti was perfect. But the Hyde family fish fry was the peak of the week.

The family was out of town at a baseball game, so I got to thinking about cooking some fish for dinner. Made a run to the store and came back with a NY strip instead. The grocery store seafood in Arkansas isn't really camp quality. We keep the cast iron camp gear set up in the garage and ready to cook. I pan fried the steak along with some potatoes and onions in honor of the Smith river trip. I thought it was a fitting tribute to the food and fellowship last summer. I'm still not sure if there really are any fish in that river. Here's to the Smith!

Tornado in Mountain View

2008-02-07T07:35:00.000-06:00

Spent the day in Mountain View helping my parents begin cleaning up from the tornado. Their house is okay except for some roof damage. They fixed the roof yesterday. Everything around the house is damaged or destroyed. Most of the houses in their neighborhood were destroyed. No one was hurt in their neighborhood. Here's a link to the photo album.

Mountain View Tornado Album

Why Bamboo?

2008-01-14T19:23:00.000-06:00

I've thought about a post on this subject for a long time. It's a really good question. One I ask myself occasionally. Like when I'm buffing the oxidation off the nickel silver ferrules so they won't stick. Or when I'm carefully wiping a rod down before I put it back in the tube so it won't mold. I've got a stack of graphite rods that haven't been used in several years. All homemade rods of course. It's not that there's anything wrong with them. I'd just rather carry a bamboo rod.

But why? Well, it's not because bamboo does things on the water that a synthetic rod won't do. I'm not into tackle hype. Bamboo and synthetics will both get the job done in the 3wt to 6wt range. It's not a popularity thing. A bamboo rod is a social misfit in most fly fishing circles. So why am I making these things and actually trying to catch fish with them?

Best I can figure, it's the fact that the rods are crafted directly from God's inventory of raw materials by the hands of a determined craftsman. The bamboo appeals to the very same emotions that draw me to the river in the first place. If you've ever wondered why you can't get that same "standing in a river waving a stick" feeling walking down a concrete sidewalk on a busy downtown street, then you know what I mean. There's something about experiencing God's creation first hand that just seems, well...natural, like a bamboo rod.

Functionally, the fact that there are hundreds of tapers that cast a pleasing line with significantly different casting styles makes the hunt for the right taper intriguing. The swing weight, elasticity and resilience of the bamboo add versatility and efficiency to the casting stroke in the hands of a technical caster. And they're just gorgeous fishing rods!

I don't think any of that makes bamboo a superior fly fishing tool. But there's no way that a synthetic rod can match the emotional appeal of bamboo. It's more than a fishing tool. It becomes part of your fishing story.

Smith River Montana - June 2007

2008-01-14T19:00:00.000-06:00

I suppose I should explain why there are no fish pictures in this video. If you'll play it again and look closely at the first few pictures you should see some really dark clouds gathering in the background. It rained non-stop for the first 24 hours of the trip. The river was blown out by what the weather man said would be scattered showers that day. If you're familiar with the Smith, then you know that the next access point is 50 miles down stream. So...we had a great time taking pictures, eating great camp cooking and throwing monster flies in really muddy water. It was a lot of fun without the fish. But...a trout or two would have been a good thing. Maybe next time.

New Year Cleanup

2008-01-10T19:57:00.000-06:00

I'm in cleanup mode this week. Cleaned up my desk at work. Made a backup copy of all my 2007 Excel documents (hundreds of them) and started a 2008 folder. The momentum at work has carried over to the blog at home. The sidebar was cluttered with videos that everyone should have seen by now. I figure the first page of any blog should include as little stagnant info as possible. Most of the content on the first page should be recent stuff. So I've moved all the videos to blog posts and added a new category. Just click on the "videos" category to browse through them whenever.

I backdated all but the last couple video posts. The Animoto videos are a new thing. I stumbled across the Animoto site a couple weeks ago. Just upload some photos and an MP3 audio file to automatically produce a professional looking video. Very cool! But it took a while to find a site where I could download MP3s with the correct Creative Commons license to use on the blog. I finally found SoundClick after wading around totally confused on other sites. There are several artists at SoundClick that offer "Free" licensed songs for non-commercial use, but you have to look for them. Read up on the Creative Commons stuff if your going to try out the Animoto site. Keep it legal.

I added a new links table in the sidebar several weeks ago. I hope it's obvious that those are...well, links. If you're into the bamboo rod making thing, the "Rod Making" links will take you to the very best sites the world wide web has to offer. The "My Photos" section will take you to my online photo albums - ho hum. If you're looking for fishing info in the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri, a couple of very good forums and the generation sites are listed under "Ozarks". Then there's the "Must Visit!" list. Well, you really must visit those sites. They're very cool.

The "about me" stuff was cleaned up a week or two ago. I figure there are just a few things about me that matter. So I scaled all the babble down to my name and a few relevant points. I really don't matter at all without Jesus. I'd just fish all the time if SWMBO didn't send me to work 5 days a week. The kids...well, what can I say. They've raised the bar for all the teenagers in their generation. They're good looking, smart, hard working and...they love their dad. The accountant gig pays for all the rod making stuff in the garage. And the amateur rod making thing keeps me humble. The rods never turn out perfect, but the next one will be...

So there you have it. The sidebar is cleaned up and ready for 2008.

David

Making a Bamboo Fly Rod

2008-01-10T19:41:00.001-06:00

Click here to see the photos in this video with captions that briefly describe each step of the process. Click on "Making a Rod" in the post categories to read through the corresponding posts.