ENG - Copertina - pag 01

page 44Bamboo JournalTHE “SECOND” FIRSTby Enrico FrancioniThe day after I was handed my rodmakercertiicate (at Podere Violino in Gricignano,Sansepolcro AR - Italy, on 30 November2011), [photo_01: My rodmaker certiicate] Ifelt invested in the role and charged with acertain responsibility that went beyond alight commitment (for that matter taken withawareness and conscience), to prove … but –note well – to prove to myself irst of all, thatI too was really able to organise all thematerial and to start thinking about buildingmy irst real bamboo rod: obviously “second”irst.One of the things I thought I would be able tokeep in mind, as if in an only image or in a solesequence of actions, was the entire work planthat punctuates almost “religiously” what goesinto the building of a bamboo rod: I assure youthat – at least in my case initially – there isnothing more dificult to control all at once,everything looks so complex and the wholecourse is so articulated …!The sacriice for the construction of the Number0 rod, the Heddon, would soon be rewarded bythe beautiful sensations given by the fascinationof casting with the new material, bamboo, thatreplaced graphite and by some noteworthycatches that also gratiied the ly isherman aswell as the novice rodmaker!To be truthful, I still had to complete the varnishingon my Heddon ("Folsum" 7' #4 2 pc), builtat the IBRA 2011 course.Once I had bought the Cecchi products(Spinnaker and thinners) I redid the varnishingand the sanding (grain 600) of the wrappings, Isigned it with a nib and black China ink andinally the meticulous brush varnishing –perhaps the most simple method (in the spontaneoussense) but at the same time the mostdificult to obtain an excellent result … (I amcomparing it to the immersion varnishing thatensures better results right from the irst trials).Italian Bamboo Rodmakers Association