# DIY: Wooden Fly Boxes



## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

It started as a question of, "How'd you do that?" and turned into a book. Here is a free copy of that book, "DIY: Wood Fly Boxes" (a method using a hand-held router and enclosed templates) that I have written and published on Pinterest. Please let me know if you see any errors, omissions, or other improvements that can be made to it. Enjoy....

pinterest.com/garydsalisbury/woodworking-diy-wood-fly-boxes

Gary Salisbury
Sunny Southern Kalifornia


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I don't have time to read it all today but I did have a look at the boxes and they are nice. I especially like the river maps on the tops.


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

Tried cut-and-paste for the link but it didn't work. I'll try going to Pintrest directly and go from there. I'm interested in the method for making the fly boxes.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

John; try this:
WOODWORKING: DIY: Wood Fly Boxes on Pinterest


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Gary Salisbury said:


> It started as a question of, "How'd you do that?" and turned into a book. Here is a free copy of that book, "DIY: Wood Fly Boxes" (a method using a hand-held router and enclosed templates) that I have written and published on Pinterest. Please let me know if you see any errors, omissions, or other improvements that can be made to it. Enjoy....
> 
> pinterest.com/garydsalisbury/woodworking-diy-wood-fly-boxes
> 
> ...


Thanks Gary...
This fits my favorite past time...

Is this printable so I can take a copy to the shop???


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## rwl7532 (Sep 8, 2011)

Gary Salisbury said:


> Please let me know if you see any errors, omissions, or other improvements that can be made to it. Enjoy....


Soon you will want to add Triton to the list of manufacturers.
:sold:


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## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

Stick486 said:


> Thanks Gary...
> This fits my favorite past time...
> 
> Is this printable so I can take a copy to the shop???


PINTEREST will only allow picture files to be uploaded but you can save them to your local PC and then print them. 

I published the book with Visio then saved in as a PDF. However, in order to upload it to Pinterest, I had to go back to Visio and save each page as a JPG file and it lost a bit of resolution when doing that. If you would like a PDF copy, just email me at [email protected] and I'll send you one.

Gary in Sunny San Diego
Objectives: To Build, To Teach, and To Do No Harm


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## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

rwl7532 said:


> Soon you will want to add Triton to the list of manufacturers.
> :sold:


Yes, probably so. Actually, I use a Makita 1101 for routing out the interior of the fly boxes. My Triton 3¼hp will go into a table for doing the edges.


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## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

Knothead47 said:


> Tried cut-and-paste for the link but it didn't work. I'll try going to Pintrest directly and go from there. I'm interested in the method for making the fly boxes.


Since I am new here, they won't let me post a URL until I get 10 postings under my belt. Sorry. Can someone else post the URL for Knothead?

Gary in Sunny San Diego


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## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

Stick486 said:


> Thanks Gary...
> This fits my favorite past time...
> 
> Is this printable so I can take a copy to the shop???


And a favorite of mine too. Have you ever built a bamboo fly rod? I took a class and loved every minute of it. And yes, we did use a router for the reel seats but most of the real work was with a hand plane.

Gary in Sunny San Diego


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## idigjars (Sep 1, 2008)

Thank you for sharing with us


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Gary Salisbury said:


> And a favorite of mine too. Have you ever built a bamboo fly rod? I took a class and loved every minute of it. And yes, we did use a router for the reel seats but most of the real work was with a hand plane.
> 
> Gary in Sunny San Diego


when I was a kid...


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## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

Stick486 said:


> when I was a kid...


HA HA..... No, I think there is a little bit of a difference between and custom handmade bamboo fly rod and the bamboo fishing pole we all used as kids.:no:

The fly rods are made with only Tonkin bamboo that only grow in a small area of China. However, some are now branching out into using Mandake and Hadiku cane. A stick of prime Tonkin bamboo runs about $100 for a 10' stick. It has to be heat treated them split into 8 pieces then those are split again into even smaller pieces. 

I could write a chronicle here but perhaps a link with pictures would be better at describing the process. (Apparently I can't post links here yet) If you are still interested, just google "building a bamboo fly rod." It is an amazing process!


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

The cane is split into six strips, not eight. Never heard of a eight strip rod. I build custom fishing rods and figured it would cost about $4k for the stuff to build bamboo rods. FWIW, other materials were used for rods- alder being one of them. Tonkin bamboo is still the best. Odd but people have tried to raise Tonkin bamboo in other places but the quality of the bamboo isn't as good.
Trivia: Bamboo is actually a grass.

Tried the link to Pinterest but it required registration, etc. Will try youtube. Got too many websites now. Need to get rid of some of them.

Edit: There is a rod that is called a quad because the bamboo culm is only split into four pieces. It's easy to line up the guides on a bamboo rod- just follow the same flat all the way to the end.


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## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

It has been a while since I first posted the availability of my book, *DIY: Wooden Flyboxes*, here and I now can upload the PDF version for your enjoyment. PDF files can be enlarged without losing resolution for printing. My email address is in the book if you have any questions or comments.

Gary Salisbury


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Thank you Gary....


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## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

Knothead47 said:


> The cane is split into six strips, not eight. Never heard of a eight strip rod.


Sorry I didn't make that clearer. I did not say each rod segment has 8 pieces, but the initial splitting is done into 8 segments. A rod has 6 - 60 degree pieces (except for quad rods) forming a segment. 

The 10' stalk is flame hardened then cut horizontally in half so you are working with 5' pieces. They are then split vertically into 8 strips after and then each of those strips is cut again. You can get up to 32 - 48 - 5' strips out of a of good size stalk of Tonkin Bamboo. Those strips are then run through a shaper to get the bevels started. Then you start planing them into 60 degree tapered triangles.

You can usually get two fly rods out of a good stalk of Tonkin Bamboo, if you are lucky and have no flaws or other problems however, I like to make two tips for each rod so my yield is less.

Hope that clarifies it......

Side note: This process of making a bamboo fly rod is very challenging but rewarding. You need a lot of special tools so first timers should take a class where the tools are provided. I highly recommend it if you have classes in your area.

https://www.google.com/webhp?source...=2&ie=UTF-8#q=bamboo fly rod building classes


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

You might mention that getting into building bamboo rods is expensive. I looked into it and the initial layout of $$$ was about $4K. I'll stick to graphite and fiberglass rods.


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## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

Yes, John is correct. The tools are a little expensive but if you have classes around you, then you use their specialty tools. The only tools I bought (and it was my option to buy them) were:

- A bamboo splitting froe (Homemade for less than $10)
- A Milwaukee Heat Gun ($45)
- A portable smooth jaw vice for straightening the nodes ($45)
- Set of files 
- A Lie-Nielsen No. 102 Brass Block Plane ($115) + Extra blade ($30)
- A Lie-Nielsen No. 60-1/2 Adjustable Mouth Block Plane + Extra Blade ($40)
- A Lie-Nielsen Small Scraping Planes with Fly Rod Makers Groove ($175) + extra blade ($20)
- A Japanese waterstone sharpening system (Norton IM 83 Waterstone Case + stones) ($200) 
- A wooden planing form (we made these in the class along with a roughing form but materials were $65)
- A depth gauge with 60 degree point for setting the planing form ($45)
- A surgeon's replaceable blade scalpel + blades ($25)

Most of these can be reused in my other woodworking activities. There are probably more but I don't recall them right now.

The tools I use from the class are:
- Power roughing planer
- Garrison-style rod binding machine
- Convection oven for rods
- Ferrell wrapping tool
- Wood Lathe for turning the grip
- Router table with special bit for reel seats
- Vertical dip tank for the finish

Did I miss anything?

Here is Thomas Penrose's Bamboo Fly Rod Pages listing some of the tools. Making a Bamboo Fly Rod

And if you haven't fish with a bamboo rod, you haven't fished as the old masters who developed this art form did.


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## Gary Salisbury (Apr 11, 2014)

It has been a while since I updated my free book here, *DIY-Wooden Fly Boxes* so here is the latest version.

It is also posted on Instructables at:
How to Build a Wooden Fly Box With a Router: 42 Steps

And on Pinterest at: 
https://www.pinterest.com/garydsalisbury/woodworking-fly-boxes/

Or you can just email me and I'll send you a free copy of the latest version. It constantly gets updated and improved. 

I am not soliciting donations but if you choose to do so, it would go to my Wounded Warriors project where I teach Wounded Warriors woodworking. Building fly boxes is one of the project classes I teach them along with a class on cutting boards. I do that out of my own pocket so donations go for project supplies.

Let me know what you think and thank you.


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