"Dancing with Boos" I

The process of making a new rod can't be compared to any other building process because you're transforming a death piece of grass into a "full of life" fishing instrument. You need to have very clear what you're looking for, what would you need and how you can help in the hole raising process. The best way to work in my humble opinion is to take a culm, feel it, and decide what you can get from it.
But this is not the common way. Because of orders, this process begun in a different way. You get an order and them you look for the piece of cane that can fill the necessities to make it. Into that culm resides the soul of the future rod, so here begins the "dance". Like in a dance many details will point you if you made the right choice or not. And in dance partners are partners.



I have a privilege at that point, I take my bamboo from plantation, so I select very carefully if a culm is ready or if it need to grow in capabilities. Also I can select that ones exposed to wind, instead of that ones that live protected in the middle of plantation. This culms are strong because of their constant flexing fighting for life. Here I also look for straight and external good looking qualities.
After this selection, bamboo must be exposed to sun for the "cures" process.
I own a good place to storage so I have my culms pre selected for using them on different tapers. Also I'm able to keep them full long, so at the time of selection I make the necesary cuts.



Argentine native bamboo gave me all what I need to make my rods. Great amount of powerfibers, 2' to 2.5' in diameter, 10 up to 14 feet long, interesting node spacing and straightness, plus the advantage to select each cane that is going to be taken, extra work but you learn a lot walking into the plantation.