BAMBOOS OR CANES USED FOR MAKING SPLIT BAMBOO RODS

By George Leonard Herter, Edited by Lisa M. McMahon

A great deal of false information has been published regarding the bamboos or canes used for making split-bamboo fishing rods. In fact, practically all published information on this subject is incorrect. I will endeavor to straighten out some of the worst errors.

Bamboo is a genus of grasses. The word "bambusa" is sometimes used in place of the word bamboo. This is incorrect. Bambusa is only one of the many genera names for bamboo. There are some six or seven hundred known species of bamboo at present. They all have underground root system much like ordinary quack grass. Each system has from five or six to over a hundred stems sprouting from it. Bamboo grows in height from a few feet to over a hundred feet. Different species of bamboo vary greatly as to the diameters. Bambusa Guadua of New Granada and some Philippine and Java bamboos will grow to as large as fifteen or sixteen inches in diameter. The foliage found on bamboo is denser at the top of the bamboo than toward the bottom. The branches do not develop on the stem until the stem has reached its full height. The stem of bamboo is jointed like ordinary grass. The joint is called a "node" and goes completely through the stem to form a partition. The outside of the stem, when dry, is hard and siliceous. The inside pithy and soft and, in most cases, hollow. The stem, or stalk, of bamboo is botanically called a "culm". The word "cane" so often given to a stalk or culm is also a botanical name. Cane refers to any plant that has long, elastic stems that have a hard outer surface.

Bamboos are found in all mild climates that are not too dry, such as the southern part of the United States, Central and South America, Africa, China, South Pacific Islands, Burma, India, etc. Certain bamboos of India and China, however, are the only ones generally used for split-bamboo rod making. Bamboos have a great many uses besides fishing rod manufacture. Bamboo sprouts are eaten like asparagus. The juice of some bamboos thickens and is called "Indian Honey". The various bamboos have seeds, nuts and apple-like fruits that are used as food. The stems or culms are used to make furniture, nails, baskets, houses, fortifications, water pipes, water bottles, etc. In World War II many of the Japanese "pill boxes" were supported with bamboo.

CALCUTTA CANE

Calcutta cane or bamboo is a trade name given to bamboo coming from India or that general part of the world. It means no specific species of bamboo; in fact it does not even necessarily mean that the bamboo is from India. There are a dozen or more different species which have been imported as Calcutta cane. Bamboos from India and surrounding territory, exported as Calcutta cane, are, in general, species like Bambusa Arundinacea or Arundinaria Falcata or Bambusa Tulda that are fine grained with the power fibers (or fibers that make up the main strength of the bamboo) close to the outside surface of the bamboo. Calcutta bamboos were formerly used for split-bamboo fishing rod making very extensively; in fact, they were the first bamboos to be used for split-bamboo fishing rods. So-called Tonkin canes or bamboos, however, proved so superior to Calcutta bamboos that the use of Calcutta bamboos, except for a few specific purposes, has been abandoned.

One of the many popular myths about Calcutta bamboos concerns the brown burned places usually found on these bamboos. Many reasons were given for these brown burnt marks. A popular one was that the men cut the bamboo then burned the leaves from the bamboo rather then cut them off. Another was that it was burned in places to drive out the insects. Actually, practically all Calcutta bamboos have no leaves or branches on them for quite some distance from the butt; at least for a greater distance than should ever be used for good rod making. The leaves that do appear on bamboos or easily cut or broken off. When the bamboos are cut, they are green and soft and cutting them is no problem at all. The brown or burned spots found on some Calcutta Canes are, in reality, put on laboriously by hand as decoration. This was originally done on the order of exporters who thought the bamboo so decorated was more attractive for furniture making and for use as curtain poles. None of this is based on hearsay but has been verified by Albert Severin, an employee of Herter's who has lived in India.

Another very popular Calcutta bamboo myth is the one regarding "male" and "female" bamboos. "Male" Calcutta canes have been known to the trade as bamboos that are solid or nearly solid. That is bamboos that are not hollow at all or which have just a very small cavity in the center. They are hard and tough and have large nodes. These so called "male" Calcutta bamboos (Dendrocalamus Strictus) have never been used to any extent for split-bamboo rods, but just as they come they make very good salt water rods of various sorts.

"Female" Calcutta bamboo is the name given to all distinctly hollow Calcutta bamboo. As before mentioned, there are a great many different species of these bamboos, although the trade groups them all as Calcutta cane or bamboo.

TONKIN CANE

"Tonkin Cane" is a trade name given by importers to bamboos coming from China. "Tsinglee Cane" is another trade name used for such bamboos. In some cases, these names have been used for imported Japanese bamboos and bamboos coming in from various Pacific islands. The name "Tonkin cane" was in use long before such bamboos were used for split bamboo fishing rods. The name "Tonkin Cane" covers well over twenty-five species of bamboo and actually means nothing as a means of identification. The idea that Tonkin Cane came from the Tonkin province of French Indo-China is purely a fable. This particular area produces no bam^ boos of any quality suitable for anything and never has. The finest bamboo for split-bamboo rod making is the bamboo Arundinaria Amabilis McClure.

It is a cultivated bamboo, not one found in a wild state. Herter's have standing orders for all of this bamboo that is grown.

This bamboo was discovered by F. A. McClure, an American. Mr. McClure has spent a large part of his life in China studying bamboos. He is the unquestioned world's authority on Chinese bamboos and one of the world's top authorities on bamboos of all kinds. I want to take this opportunity to thank Mr. McClure for the great help he has always been to me and for the ready cooperation he has always given me.

Arundinaria Amabilis McClure bamboo grows on occasion, as high as forty feet and as thick as 2 1/2 inches in diameter. This is very much the exception, however, not the rule. One of its characteristics is the erect straight stem with no crooks or bends or very, very slight ones. The stems are gently tapered, not sharply tapered as many bamboos are. The nodes are not large and are flat. The wood is of high density. The foliage is an olive green in color. The stems are green before cutting and have a grayish-green hue at the nodes. It takes ten years to produce stems of maximum size. This bamboo should be cut after the stem is four years old for use in the best quality split-bamboo rods. The size of the bamboo is not important, but the age is very important. This bamboo is usually grown on hillsides, although it produces just as well on bottom land if the land is not too moist. The story that bamboo must be grown on hillsides facing the sea so the winds can bend the stems is purely a myth. No bamboo for rod making is grown on hillsides near the seas. The bending and waving of bamboo in the wind
does not affect its density or quality in any way. This statement is backed by botanical tests.

Arundinaria Amabilis McClure bamboo is not found any more in the wild state, as all of the wild bamboo is either dead or has been transplanted and is under cultivation.

This bamboo is found in Kwangsi Province in an oval area not more than 25 miles long. In only about half of this area is bamboo cultivated extensively. Today, enough of this bamboo is produced so that only a small percentage of the split-bamboo fishing rods in the world can be made from it. During periods of from three to six years, when the bamboo flowers and nearly dies off, none of this bamboo is available at all. Consequently reserve stocks must be built up. The finest split bamboo rods in the world are made from this bamboo. If Arundinaria Amabilis McClure bamboo is properly seasoned and dried, there is practically no waste. Nearly all of it will make the finest possible quality rods. In other bamboos, waste might easily run as high as 80% or even higher.

The large majority of rod makers the world over, however, still know little, if anything, regarding bamboos and keep on buying "Tonkin Cane" which they believe is a distinct type of bamboo. Nearly every time they get a shipment of bamboo, it is a different species, yet they have not discovered this. Their buyers are not rod builders in most cases. The following bamboos are usually sold as Tonkin Cane. They are all very inferior bamboos for rod making when compared with the Arundinaria Amabilis McClure:

• Man Lei Chuk
• Lei Kaang Chuk
• Foo Chuk
• Paak Chuk
• Pat Chuk

The real technical knowledge of Arundinaria Amabilis McClure is confined to F. A. McClure. Although they should have technical information regarding this bamboo, none of the following institutions to date have it: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; British Museum; Arnold Arboretum; University of Zurich; Conservatoire et Jardins Botaniques, Geneva; Museum Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Botanishcher Gartens und Museums, Berlin Dahlem.

Arundinaria Amabilis McClure bamboo is harvested at any time of the year. There is no particular harvesting season. The stems are cut off just below the ground with a heavy knife. The stems are not difficult to cut when they are alive and green. The foliage on the bamboo acts as a sort of parachute, and the stems fall gently to the ground. The bamboo is not damaged or strained in any way in its fall as some people would like to have you believe. This is not my opinion but that of university professors of forestry, who have spent lifetimes studying bamboo. The branches and leaves on the upper part of the stem are cut off after the bamboo is felled. Arundinaria Amabilis McClure has no leaves or branches on the lower part of the stem. On large stems, the tops are cut off and used by the farmers for fencing, etc., as there is no sale for them. The stems are now bundled, carried to the nearest river and floated to a beach of fine white sand. Here the stems are scoured with wet sand. The stems then are tied in bundles and left to dry. They bleach to a pale biege or dark cream color in the sun. At night and in the case of rain, the stems are put under shelters. It takes about a week to quick dry and bleach the stems. The stems then are taken by boat or barge down the Sui River to the town of Fatshan. Here the bamboo is inspected.

Most of Arundinaria Amabilis McClure bamboo grows perfectly straight. Some stems have a slight bend that is visible only to a trained observer. Other bamboos have a bad tendency to grow quite crooked. The bamboo is inspected and straightened when necessary. Bamboo is straightened by the following processes: A charcoal fire is built in an earthenware pot. Two bricks are laid across the pot, covering all the opening except a slit approximately 2 inches wide. A bundle of bamboo is placed 3 or 4 feet above the pot so that it gradually warms up. The worker then takes a warmed up stem from the bundle and checks it for bends. If he finds a bend, he holds the area in the slit between the bricks for a second or  two and then straightens the bamboo by one of two methods.

If the bamboo is Arundinaria Bamboo Amabilis McClure, he uses a hand straightening tool, as the bend is slight. If he is straightening some other species of bamboo that has a bad bend or is heavy and bent, he straightens it with the rope-type of bamboo straightener.

The bamboo is never heated enough so that it is even slightly scorched. The heating does not damage the bamboo in any way, contrary to common opinions or, rather, "guesses."

The pectin compounds which cement plant cells together are soluble in hot water. These pectin compounds, when the straightening of the bamboo is done in China, contain about 25% water. The heating of the bamboo warms the water enough to allow the tissues to adjust very slightly so that the bamboo can be straightened.   When the tissues cool, the pectin layers quickly harden again and hold the tissues as rigidly as before but in their new position.

Rope-type of Bamboo Straightener.

At this stage (that is, after the bamboo is straightened and when it contains 25% to 30% moisture) it is shipped to rod makers with the exception of Herter's. Herter's were the first and are still the only company seasoning bamboo in China and the only company importing Arundinaria Amabilis McClure bamboo. George Leonard Herter worked out this process.

DRYING SLIT

The Herter process is as follows: Every stem of the bamboo is carefully split with a knife down one side to allow it to shrink as it dries without strain. The stems are then further sun-dried until they reach a moisture content of not more than 13%. The sun drying also helps greatly to kill any beetles or beetle eggs that might be in the stems.

Herter's Method of Splitting one Side of the Bamboo Stem to allow for Perfect Drying Without Strain.

When the bamboo is down to 13% moisture content or less it is shipped to the United States or other warehouse points. Once bamboo has been dried down to 13%, it picks up moisture content very slowly, as the cells of the bamboo have become dried and are hard. The bamboo after being received by Herter's is then scientifically kiln dried down to approximately 4% moisture content. Storing and drying bamboo anywhere in the United States under natural air drying conditions with the exception of parts of Arizona and Death Valley will never reduce the moisture content of the bamboo to less than 8% and very rarely as low as 8%. A hundred years of storing and drying will not reduce it lower than this. The humidity in most states will not permit moisture contents of less than this from natural drying. If your climate has a relative humidity of 50% you can air dry bamboo to % moisture content. With 60% relative humidity, it can be dried to 11% moisture content and at 70% relative humidity to 13½%. Bamboo with 13% moisture content will shrink or swell a little in any part of the United States. Although such bamboo is used for 95% of the production rods manufactured in North America. A really good rod simply cannot be made from it. The best bamboo rods must be made from bamboo with not more than 7% moisture content and preferable around 4%. By careful, slow, scientific kiln drying, the moisture content of bamboo can be safely reduced to as low as 4% without damaging the bamboo in anyway. However, ordinary wood kilns cannot be used at all, as they will ruin bamboo. A wood kiln that has scientific humidity and heat controls must be used.

Thousands of tests on bamboo rod sections proved this all important and until now an unknown fact. The moisture content of a bamboo rod section is the most important factor in giving the rod "back bone" or suitable stiffness. Arrangement of nodes, fit at the glue line of strips, number of strips used in the rod are all of minor importance compared to the importance of the moisture content of the bamboo.

Removing the moisture content of bamboo after it has been made up into a rod section should never be done.

Some amateur rod builders advocate building a small drying oven and drying out the completed rod sections in it. Never do this. Drying out a rod section shrinks it causing stresses and strains on both the rod and the glue or cement used to cement the section together. Such sections are apt to break or warp at anytime during use.

Other amateurs place rod sections in sand and put them in their attic to dry out. This does nothing for the sections.

Remember this important fact. In order to make a good bamboo rod the bamboo must be dried down to 7% moisture content or less before the rod sections are made.