Poor Man’s Quad #1 Finished!

I finally got around to finishing my first PMQ (poor man’s quad). We’ve done a few earlier posts on the building process, so I just wanted to share a few quick lessons learnt from the process.

1. Use quality bamboo (Tonkin cane). If you’re going to invest the time and effort, you might as well use decent materials. I started with a lovely culm from master rodmaker Nick Taransky.

2. Make sure you know how to use the plane properly. It took me a while to be able to set it and sharpen it quickly and confidently. Sharpen often.

3. Measure often. Even though I was trying to be as careful as possible during the whole process, I managed to destroy a few nice bits of cane. The most imortant thing to remember is that you can always take more cane off but you can never put it back on!

4. Clean up excess glue while it’s still wet. I had a few moments where my rod was completely stuck to my workbench, necessitating some careful chiselling!

5. Take your time when threading the guides…it might seem tedious, but it’s one of the most aesthetically important parts of the process. My first attempt was rushed and the results are pretty horrendous! I guess you could say I have produced a ‘rustic’ rod.

Anyway, that’s pretty much it…It’s definitely a fun thing to do and I can’t wait to finish my second and third.

So, how does it perform? Beautifully! I can easily cast 50-60 foot, which is all I need for most of the fishing I do. Can’t wait to get out there and christen it on some of the Monaro’s big browns 🙂

Below are a few photos of the finished product