200801 - Issue 30 Description

January 2008
Issue 30

Power Fibers is published in Adobe Acrobat format. To view the magazine, you must download the Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can get it here.

To get this issue, order the 2008 Issue CD on the “Backissue CDs” page.

The January, 2008 issue of Power Fibers contains:

“A Rodmaker’s Dream”

'Twas a dark winter's solstice and while everyone slept,

out in the rod shop little gnomes deftly crept.

About their endeavor they silently went

On cutting and dipping and wrapping they're bent.

Shavings were falling, all curly and...

Another Use for Corncobs

We had been feeding the squirrels and crows corn and the cobs were discarded. I had noticed the pen makers were making pens from corncobs but the blanks were too small make grips and seats. I decided to give it a try with the cobs left from the corn we were feeding the critters. The original corn we were getting...

Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear

That's the warning we commonly see on the rearview mirrors on our cars here in the USA. As Casimira and I drove the Autobahn from Munich to Waischenfeld, Germany for the 2007 International German Rodmaker's Meeting, we noticed the warning was absent from our little rental car. We stayed in the rightmost lane- cautious- and kept our speed...

Handmill Corner: How to Prepare Strips

I have enjoyed a Morgan Hand Mill for many years and have had the pleasure to make many rods on it. I learned that although it has many advantages over using a planing form, it also has its own problems. Like other areas of bamboo rodmaking, one of the few things that we can all agree upon is that probably no two people make their rod in exactly the same way. The same is true in preparing....

Classic Taper: Heddon Folsum #1015

The subjects of this article are Heddon products sold under the Folsum Arms label with the model designation #1510. These rods represent the bottom end of the Heddon Folsum line. The markings on both are pre-1939 (Folsum written diagonally across the flats with the model number written at the winding check)....

Making Bamboo Ferrules

I was introduced to the concept of bamboo ferrules by Robert Kope at the 2006 Bamboo Rodmakers Gathering at Corbett Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Bob had brought a number of rods with integral bamboo ferrules and gave a brief discussion on how to make them. To construct the ferrules he had to swell the butt end of the tip section...

A Versatile Wrapping Jig

I believe most rod builders craft their first wrapping jig simply so they can set the blank down in the middle of wrapping the guides to have a sip of coffee, or an adult beverage. However, as is the case with many tools, once a builder gets accustomed to using a jig it’s hard to get along without one....

Birch Bark Grips

Finding the grade of birch bark to be used for the grip is a search itself. I have found some birch bark to be what I call Flor grade, AAA, AA to throw away. There are many sources of bark, the best is where I can talk to an individual and describe what it is that I need...

Sharpening Station

There are some who say that you don't need a jig when sharpening hand tools. There are some who claim that this or that bench stone produces a fantastic edge. There are lots of stories about the old guy who sharpened up his tools on a bit of slate and got fantastic edges.

If you want the best possible edges you should ignore...

January 2008Issue 30