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Volume 1, Number 1

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Rod Facts

What's Special About Tonkin Cane?

What's Special Tonkin Cane?

Arundinaria amabilis

Ponetically: Ah-run-din-area ãlm-ãh-billis

Ever thought about what's so special about Tonkin Cane? Arundinaria amabilis is the Latin term for this very special species of bamboo. Learning and remembering how to say it in the bamboo fly rod trade insures that two people are talking specifically about the same culm of Tonkin Cane. This is important because bamboo rod makers do use other species of bamboo for making fly rods.

What makes Arundinaria amabilis so very special is where it grows on this planet earth. In the nut shell, Arundinaria amabilis originally grew on only 48,000 acres in the entire world, up the Sui River, in the Providence of Tonkin, all the river and mountain slopes, with set valleys in the right direction which are visited year around by moist, prevailing winds which rock and sway Arundinaria amabilis from the first day the bamboo shoots start to grow.

Like a weight lifter that constantly works their muscles to build muscle tone, so do the winds and temperatures caress Arundinaria amabilis at it grows to heights between thirty-five and even over forty feet in height. The winds can blow with great strength for days and even weeks, which over the millennium have generically made the interior of Arundinaria amabilis very dense. The fibers seem to gain the strength of enamel and it is said that Arundinaria amabilis is the strongest bamboo of all because Arundinaria amabilis contains the most dense and strongest fibers of all.

Arundinaria amabilis grows straight, as do most other species of bamboo in China because bamboo grows in thick groves. As with all plants that need the sun, bamboo reaches straight up for the sun. Plants that are shaded on all sides have only one remaining option to find the sun and that is straight up, thus the result is unbelievable tall and straight culms through out the mountainous area where it grows. Today, cultivation has increased the acreage to nearly 100,000 acres.

GEHRKE BAMBOO FLY ROD COMPANY imports all its' Arundinaria amabilis from China under the watchful eye of a fellow American who supervises the selection and cutting of our bamboo which is purchased from him. It is vital one gets what he pays for from China and my American friend sees to it that it is so. Getting the best bamboo possible is a serious, serious business.

The GEHRKE BAMBOO FLY ROD Company owns some SIX TONS of Arundinaria amabilis. It's stored in specially built rafters where it has been curing for years. It is prime, it is dry, and it's the densest, straightest, largest quality shipment of perfect Arundinaria amabilis known to exist in the United States.

What's Used For Butts What's Used For Tips

The walls of Arundinaria amabilis is thickest at the base and thinnest at the top. The next feature is that the length of each leaf section (or chunk) is shortest at the base and farthest apart at the top. The fibers at the base are thicker and stronger which we use for our butt sections. The top half of an Arundinaria amabilis culm is much longer in between leaf segments and this is used for tips. Tips need to be very strong and the fine, dense, Arundinaria amabilis fibers here also eliminate node count in all our bamboo fly rod tip sections.

Straighten & Flatten Nodes Quickly

Those nasty nodes can take hours to straighten. Here we will give you insight into a revolutionary way of dealing with them, which saves long hours of work.
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