Te Ika a Maui : Bamboo fishing rod

santos

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
360
Location
France
Hello everyone,

Let me show you my last project; a split bamboo fly-fishing rod enhanced with engravings of course…








As you will notice, I’ve been inspired by Andrew Biggs’s work. Since I saw his first Maori bracelet, I had it in my mind to also try out an engraving with a Maori theme. Evidently, copying Andrew’s design was not an option. So I read all I could find on Maori culture. Fortunately Internet provides us with lots of pictures of Maori tattoos.
I also found this book translated in French; The Maoris by David Lewis




I spent hours drawing Maori spirals and believe me, this is not as easy as it seems. Try drawing one and you’ll see what I mean.





After settling on a pattern, I sent it to Andrew who was kind enough to make a few corrections so my work would look more Maori. You can read and draw for months, but you’ll never have the true soul of someone who was born in New Zealand…Thank you Monsieur Andrew for your kind help.




I like very much the mythological legends and the story of Maui’s fish “Te Ika a Mauiâ€.
I had read this story for the first time in our forum
So to me, this seemed to be the perfect theme for a hand made fishing rod.
http://www.igraver.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5184&highlight=maui






The trout you’ll see on the butt cap was highly inspired by this one:
http://www.igraver.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4521&highlight=lies








The engravings were done on the rings of the reel seat, on the ferules,


On the sides of the fishing reel,



And even on the handle of the bamboo fishnet.


I’ve put Maori spirals on every item, including the leather of the rod case and the reel case.




For that I had to engrave brass and steel punches with several different sizes of spirals




Brazilian agate stripping guides with titanium snake guides were tied on the rod.
I also use a natural silk fly line.


Maui’s fish has been coloured by a process of anodization, using the technique I showed in the tips section.
The colours of the engravings are not traditional Maori colours. Usually, these are red, white and black. Since red is difficult to obtain when anodizing Titanium, I decided to use only blue tones I remembered seeing on the Maori Jewellery made with Paua.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paua





For those interested by engraved rods, below are a few links that show some very beautiful creations:
Check Nick Taransky’s Gallery with Australian engravings
http://www.taranskybamboo.com.au/


Wagner rods have beautiful ones here:
http://www.wagnerrods.com/limited.html


Bill Oyster has made a spectacular rod for President Jimmy Carter:
http://www.oysterbamboo.com/


We all know Ray Cover’s work, his rods are gorgeous:
http://www.rcoverengraving.com/flyrod.htm


I like very much those made by my friend David Riccardo. Thank you Dave for your advice on holding and engraving the ferules:
http://www.riccardoengraving.com/gallery.php?id=Fly Rods


Voilà, j’espère que cela vous a plu…:)

Thank you for reading. Merci beaucoup!

Best regards

Jean
 

BES

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
286
Location
Russia
Hi Jean!

Hi Jean!

It's a Miracle!
Excellent Work!

Eric S. Brezhitsky
 

Ray Cover

~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
1,012
Location
Missouri
Fantastic set Jean!!!!!!

Did you build the whole set from the ground up? That really makes a nice package. The only thing you still need to do is make yourself a matching trout knife to go with it.;)

I am very glad to see guys carrying engraving into the rod market. The rod market lags way behind the gun and knife market as far as collectors appreciating and being willing to pay for such things. It does my heart good to see others making a rod all it can be.:beerchug:

Ray
 

Andrew Biggs

Moderator
Joined
Nov 10, 2006
Messages
5,034
Location
Christchurch, New Zealand
Hi Jean

Fantastic!!! Any fish would be proud to be caught with that tackle..........now you have something that can catch those large sheep eating trout with!!! :)

You've done a wonderful job of capturing the Maori designs and the stamps made for embossing the leatherwork are a very nice touch.

And I love the paua shell colouring.

Cheers
Andrew
 

santos

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
360
Location
France
Thank You

Thank You Marck, Kevin, Eric, Kevin P.and Dave for your comments.:)

You perhaps noticed my english has improved in the previous post. It's simply because a friend of mine, Denis, made some corrections .Denis is Canadian and he uses perfectly both languages.
Here I'm coming back with my poor English, sorry for you.:big grin:


Thanks Ray, the knife wich matches with the rod is in progress, it will have a split bamboo handle
You're right there is certainly a market for fishing rod engravers : When I was making searchs on Internet I was stunned to find only a few engravings on fishing rods…

The basket case has been made by a friend of mine Philippe. It was a trade , I've made him a forged damascus knife.
Another friend, Pascale , is an artist of the sewing machine . She made the cotton rod bag and I'll make her some engravings.
The link below, shows some steps of the work on the basket rod case around a walnut pipe .I think basket case does fit well with bamboo rods , doesn't it ? http://www.gravure-couteaux.info/etui_vannerie.html


Thank You Andrew, I was waiting my mentor’s comments… You know the trouts in my streams are very little, so I need something magic to expect catching the Fish of the year ...but it will never be as big as your sheep eating trout ;)
 

Sam

Chief Administrator & Benevolent Dictator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
10,491
Location
Covington, Louisiana
Great work, Jean! And beautiful photos! It's great seeing the process from drawings to engraving. Thanks for posting. :beerchug:
 

Leonardo

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2008
Messages
640
Location
Cordoba - Argentina
¡Hola Jean!
Nuevamente nos has sorprendido a todos con un trabajo maravilloso.
Todos los detalles son excelentes y de un gusto exquisito. Creo que tendrías muchos clientes para un equipo de pesca de esta calidad.
¡Felicitaciones!...¡¡Ahora, a pescar muchas truchas!! :)
Cordiales saludos,
Leonardo.
 

rolandbaptiste

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2007
Messages
180
Location
Modave ( Belgium )
Hello Jean,
Magnifique travail de recherche et très beau résultat.
Très belle canne... la classe jusqu'au bout ;-)
Beau travail et bonjour chez toi.
 

santos

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
360
Location
France
Thank you Sam. It's a pleasure to participate to the Cafe....:)

Gracias por comentar Leonardo. Por el momento solo tengo un cliente , es para mi nieto, pero tengo que esperar unos años antes de llevarlo a pescar truchas .

Merci beaucoup Roland, c'est un projet qui m'a plu et qui m'a changé des couteaux ;-) J'ai donné ton adresse à des pêcheurs belges qui ont vu la canne sur un forum de pêche.

Hi Marcus, thank you . Come on , take your old fly fishing rod. British trouts aren't certainly as big as the wahoos you show , but they are also funny to fish.
I just remeber a fishing scene on a gun you showed years ago ;)
 

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