|
PEOPLE PROFILE: JD Wagner Rods
 | Jeff (JD) Wagner, right,
with wife & partner Casimira Orlowski. |
As many businesses do, JD Wagner Rods began as a hobby when JD (Jeff) Wagner crafted nets, fly boxes and hardwood rod tubes for his local fly shop.
While delivering wares one day he noticed a DIY book on making bamboo cane rods.
"I had been intrigued with cane rods since I was a teenager learning how to fly fish in the early 70's. Even though at that time bamboo rods were already largely replaced by fiberglass rods, there was just something special about bamboo rods that drew me to them."
This JD Wagner Ebony Presentation Rod, selected from the JD Wagner Website, just goes to show what the draw of a DIY book can do to a person.
It took about a year from the time JD Wagner picked up the book to the day he finished his first cane rod.
"That was 1995. In those years you were pretty much on your own if you had a desire to craft a bamboo rod. Luckily, my father and two brothers were machinists who helped me overcome many of the tooling hurdles."
Selling his first rod encouraged JD to make another, which sold, and another after that. As it turned out customers lined up and JD's wife, Casimira Orlowski encouraged him to make rods full-time, providing support until she joined the company a couple of years later.
Precision hand crafting a cane fly rod is exacting and includes many steps, many having to do with the custom specifications for the rod. Everything about it is beautiful, time-consuming, and instructive for any handcrafter. That Hock Tools has a part in the process below is a point of pride for us, a view into the special world beyond our own, yet similar in care about product, and duty to customer.
 1  2
 3
1.) The Wagners select silica rich Tonkin Cane bamboo from China because of a dense layer of fiber that gives the material a tensile strength greater than steel. 2.) Casimira uses a froe to split strips to begin a rod. 3.) Strips are split from the Tonkin Cane stock about 1/4 " wide, then are formed into tapering equalateral triangles, six of which are glued into a hexagonal rod section, or alternately, four strips are used to make a square section.
 4  5
4. The strips are tapered in a Planing Form, a precision jig for tapering. Tapering is accomplished using a block plane fitted with a Hock Tools' Cryo treated A2 Block Plane Blade, (a # BLA132, #BLA162, #BWA138 or #BWA162). 5. The taper of the rod is set into the form's groove using a dial indicator. In this pic, the dimension for the tip is set at .032 inches!
Jeff explains that, "The rod's action and the line weight it is designed to cast are determined by the taper of the rod. The taper is therefore the heart of the rod, and forming the tapered strips is the heart of bamboo rodmaking."
And, yes, the strips can be tapered by machine. However, in the case of most hobbyists and professionals such as Jeff and Casimira Wagner, the tapering process is accomplished by hand. The strips are held in a precision steel jig called a Planing Form and tapered using only a block plane fitted with a suitable blade. In the JD Wagner Rods case, a Hock blade.
 6  7
6.) A bamboo strip is placed in the form for tapering. 7.) All excess bamboo above the surface of the form is carefully planed away with a block plane fitted with a Hock blade.
To JD Wagner, "The blade is all-important! The material we use is very difficult to plane, and over time it will actually wear a groove in the sole of a block plane."
Plus, 'nodes' naturally occur at intervals along the bamboo cane. These are the bumps you see on the surface of a piece of bamboo, and consist of interlocking fibers that are a challenge to cut -- think of cutting figured woods or burl.
So, for the process to continue best, Jeff further explains that, "In addition to being able to form the strips precisely to the rod's taper, it is extremely important that the edges of the strips are cleanly planed."
Hock Tools has been supplying JD Wagner Rods with Block Plane Blades for a long time, so long neither Ron nor Jeff remember when they began doing business together. As far as Jeff recalls, "Ron is so well-known and highly regarded amongst rod makers that it induced me to give his blades a try, and we've been extremely satisfied from the get go."
Detail of completed rod, Salmon 1.
Since JD Wagner Rods is currently celebrating 16 years in business, we are happy to report this relationship has been going on for quite some time.
"There are simply no substitutes for Hock blades when it comes to planing rods! The blades will sharpen to an incredibly keen edge that will allow a craftsperson to take shavings less than .001 in thickness, and produce strips that are cleanly cut, even in the difficult node areas. In addition, because the material is so tough and because each strip is planed down to the steel's surface, the blade must hold that edge. The Hock cryo blades are up to the task, and this is why they are preferred by rodmakers for this demanding craft!"
 JD Wagner Rods Classic Flyrod Series
You can imagine that it means a lot when JD Wagner Rods, one of the world's best rod makers chooses Hock Tools.
Today, JDWagner Rods crafts four distinct lines of bamboo flyrods, from economical starter rods to one-of-a-kind custom rods. Bamboo rodmaking classes and providing bamboo rodmaking tools and components are part of business, as well.
Please go to Ron's Blog to see more pictures and explanations of the bamboo cane rodmaking. We were not able to get it all in, but it is fascinating and the pictures tell a more elaborate story of an little-known and elaborate craft
With Thanks to Jeff Wagner & Casimira Orlowski,
-- Linda Rosengarten
| 
