Making a Bamboo Rod Planing Form (Wood DIY Project)

Hi, This 5 minute video demonstrates how to make a planing form used by Bamboo Rod Makers. The planing form here is made of wood rather than steel. I use a Brazilian hardwood that is nearly as tough as steel but can be machined with common wood working tools. more-

This production assumes you are familiar with bamboo rod construction and have some skills and understanding of woodworking, and that you can tolerate spelling errors.

Feel free to post questions… I kept the video short by not focusing on every detail.

Here are some written notes:

Making Planing Forms
• Select hardwood lumber @ 70” (for 64” finish). Four quarter, rather than ¾” is preferred for this. I picked from my lumber rack but suitable lumber could be selected from any hardwood lumber supplier. A hardwood species with very fine grain is better than an evergreen species like pine or a porous ringed wood like white oak. Although many species will work for this, the wood needs to be fully cured, stable and reasonably straight, containing no problematic defects.

Steps:
Plane the board faces
The faces that will meet should be dead flat
The outer faces are less critical
Rip 2 boards to 2 1/8” wide
• Determine the predominant grain direction, mark for reference
• The 2 halves should be arranged with optimal grain direction and secured while drilling.
o Tape the rail halves tightly together every 12”
o Create a drill press fence and use a movable 17/64” index pin to drill the fastener pattern every 5”.
 Drill all holes on center of the face @ 17/64” for tap diameter
 Drill completely through the form halves for pull bolts and pins
 Drill ½ way through plus an extra 5/16” deep for push bolts and ball bearings
 Drill ½ way through @ 5/16” for the non-threaded pull bolt section.
 Drill (enlarge) @ 5/16” completely through for the pins
o Glue bearings @ bottom of pin holes using fletching melt stick
o Wax and insert pins and fasteners
 Snug the pull bolts using a ¼” Allen
• Use a hand plane and or cabinet scraper to create perfectly flat top and bottom surfaces.
• Determine the tip and butt sides of the form.
• Cut the tapered groove for tip side of the form followed by the butt side of the form.

CUTTING THE TAPER
Start with cutting the tip side of the form first (in case of screw up it can become the butt).
Open the entire form about 1/16”. Place the Dial Gauge in the groove above the alignment pin at the tiptop end of the tip form, then “zero” the gauge. Now move to the next adjacent pin and adjust (by widening) so that the depth gauge measures .005”. Continue to adjust the form so that and each pin is .005” deeper than the previous one.
The form settings should look like this:
.060 .055 .050 .045 .040 .035 .030 .025 .020 .015 .010 .005 .000
*Double check. Once this is done make no re-adjustments for the tip side of the form.
Next cut a continuous groove on the tip side of the form that measures .090” the entire length of the form. This will result in a .001” taper with a .090” fat end pin and a .030” tip-top pin.

Next turn the form over to cut the butt side groove. *Double check that this side shows the same groove cutting setting (make minor adjustments if needed). Now, cut a continuous groove that measures .150” the entire length of the form. This will result in a .001” taper with a .150” at the butt end pin and .090” at the narrow pin end.

The file plane will require frequent cleaning depending on the wood species… A very fine wire brush or other means should be used often. Use a light touch when cutting the final two or three thousands of an inch.

I decided to apply a hand rubbed penetrating oil finish to the wood surfaces. I figured it couldn’t hurt with maintaining wood stability during seasonal changes of humidity… I also plan to keep this wood form in a safe made from a capped piece of PVC pipe.

This a pretty easy day project for a hobby wood worker. Although proper tools are required, there is no part of the project that requires exceptional skill. I suspect some folks might find making the Lathe Bit Plane more of a technical challenge. Making the Planing Form is more of a setup and procedure job.

I was careful and only used the File Plane for the last few thousands of an inch. The final results are very nice. I am looking forward to making some fine custom bamboo rods using this new tool.

If you want to make these forms and your own bamboo rod I highly recommend these required tools:

Hand plane - https://amzn.to/3UbngxI
Sharpener - https://amzn.to/48C1aZE

Dial indicator - https://amzn.to/3HyPlaB
60 degree tip - https://amzn.to/3HpYsuv
Indicator base - https://amzn.to/3vQNhYV

Happy trails,
Dave
Florence, Oregon

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