The Morgan Bamboo Hand Mill represents a complete departure from traditional methods of hand-planing bamboo strips to make fly rods. The simplicity of the Hand Mill design allows a beginning rod-maker to plane a strip as perfectly as a master. The Hand Mill consists of two basic parts, an adjustable hand plane that holds the cutters and an adjustable bed that holds the bamboo strip. The plane and bamboo are self-aligning on the bed. Unlike some power mills when planing strips with the Hand Mill the grain of the bamboo is followed. The Hand Mill bed assembly, which is 72 3/4" long, allows one to plane two-piece rods up to 9 feet and various length three-piece rods.

With the Hand Mill, the cutting is done with two long-lasting, removable carbide inserts that have three cutting edges. The cutters are designed to cut only the bamboo, thus the cutting edges remain sharp for a considerable time and, from my experience, three to five rods can be completely planed from one set of cutters. When the three edges of the cutters become dull, they are quickly and inexpensively replaced eliminating the need to sharpen planes: a difficult to learn and time consuming task. The inserts are standard and can be purchased from different suppliers.

With the two carbide inserts mounted in the cutter head, the Hand Mill cuts both sides of the bamboo at once while maintaining the correct bevel angle, so you never have to stop during the cutting process to make sure the angles are correct. The taper, which is set by the user in the adjustable bed, raises the bamboo strip into the carbide cutters resulting in a perfectly tapered strip when cut. Once the taper is set, one can cut as many strips as needed that are consistently the same resulting in glued sections that are amazingly accurate and consistent. With these advantages, the Hand Mill finishes strips very quickly, saving considerable time compared to traditional hand-planing. The plane easily allows you to bevel a rough strip split from a culm--a job that is normally difficult with other methods of hand planing. The plane is supplied with a regular plane handle providing another big advantage of using the Hand Mill: one uses the large upper body muscle groups and legs to do the cutting, rather than the forearm and wrist, which is much easier.

With both hand-planing and Hand Milling the bamboo strips need to be straightened at the nodes prior to cutting for best results. Even with this straightening cutting a strip with a hand-plane sometimes results in a node chipping out resulting in a damaged strip. The Hand Mill effectively eliminates this problem. In fact, I have been very surprised that the Hand Mill cuts strips better and with virtually no loss compared to the power mill I used to use.

The heavy-duty plane is manufactured specifically for the Morgan Bamboo Hand Mill. During the fall of 2003 the machine shop that had been making my Hand Mill planes looked as if it were to go out of business, so I began to look for another supplier. My first choice was my cousins, Bob and Robert Hodge of Grants Pass, Oregon, who own Siskiyou Design, a sophisticated manufacturing company that makes medical equipment and laser research equipment. Presently, they also make our beautiful rod tube caps and collars. I have a long history of working with them, and I know I can count on their superior workmanship. I sent a plane to them to see if they would make them for me. They said they were interested in making them, but only if they worked with me to redesign them to employ modern manufacturing methods, to use materials that allowed for easier machining while maintaining closer tolerances, and to replace the Delrin side plates with aluminum to improve part stability. I was very agreeable to changing the plane because I knew we could develop a superior design.

For about six months, I worked with a design engineer, Dennis Detloff, who works for my cousin on a new plane design. He shipped me a prototype during the summer of 2004, and we have been using it to make our own bamboo rods ever since. I wanted to use the plane under typical conditions to make sure the new design was sound and worked as designed. I am happy to report that the new plane has performed extremely well. The working principle is exactly the same as in the previous design, and, though it doesn't cut strips any more accurately than before, it has some very desirable features that I will describe.

As with my most recent design, the adjusting head assembly, slide, and lead screw are fabricated from stainless steel for durability and rust resistance. The height adjustment is clearly marked with a calibrated dial indicating movement of .002". By careful adjustment, vertical accuracy of .001" can be achieved. Instead of hand-fitted slides, it has a traditional dovetail slide with a gib for positive tension adjustment, and it is easily adjusted whenever needed. The plane side rails are black anodized aluminum with replaceable inserts made from reinforced nylon impregnated with molybdenum disulfide that provides a very slippery, long-wearing surface for it to ride on as it travels down the bed. In addition, the aluminum insert holders can be adjusted with a jig supplied with the Hand Mill to take out any excessive side-to-side clearance caused by wear. In the unlikely event that the inserts wear too much, they can be easily and inexpensively replaced.

An innovative new design is used to eliminate endplay in the lead screw. If the endplay changes after substantial use, the user can easily readjust it. The backlash has also been eliminated from the slide making the depth adjustment feel very positive. Because the plane is a little heavier than the previous models, it feels very substantial and solid.

Joe Byrd, a Hand Mill user, invented an accessory for the original planes called an adjustable hard stop. With Joe's generous permission, I have incorporated a hard stop into my new Hand Mill plane design. This stop allows the user to set the cutter head travel to the finish depth dimension for exact repeatability on every final cut without checking the dial setting. Therefore, every strip is cut precisely the same resulting in glued sections that are amazingly uniform in flat-to-flat dimension. We, along with many other Hand Mill users, have found this to be a significant improvement. The new design is quick and easy to set with a thumb screw adjustment and a brass locking screw.

The newly redesigned plane is available to current Hand Mill owners separately. Please write to me directly regarding availability and cost.

One distinct advantage of the Hand Mill is the option to cut 8-, 6-, 5-, or 4-strip rod sections by merely changing the cutter head, a quick and easy task. The standard cutter head is for 6-strip rods. This versatility has greatly increased the interest in making both 5-, and 4-strip rods. Please see accessory page.

Normally, bamboo rod-makers plane or bevel strips for 6-strip rods with a 60-degree angle. Before inventing the Hand Mill my extensive bamboo cutting experience was always with a milling machine using cutters with the slightly larger included angle of 61.5 degrees. This experience proved to me that you greatly reduce the chance of having visible glue seams when strips cut with the 61.5 degree angle are glued into sections. When inspecting rods glued up with the larger included angle, I have found that they are structurally very strong and just as sound as 60-degree cut strips with no noticeable increase in internal glue space.

As a result of this experience I introduced to bamboo rodmakers cutter heads that have this slightly larger included angle and they have been very well accepted by Hand Mill users. My cutter heads for 8-strip rods are 46 degrees, 6-strip rods are 61.5 degrees, 5-strip rods are 73.5 degrees, and 4-strip rods are 92 degrees. For users who would like a cutter head closer to the traditional 60 degree angle I offer a 60.5 degree head. The photo of the glued-up section was cut with a 61.5 degree cutter head.

The Hand Mill bed assembly consists of the base that the plane rides on, the adjustable bed for setting a taper and guiding the plane, and a plastic anvil that the bamboo sits on during strip cutting. The base and adjustable bed are cold rolled steel and are chrome plated to protect them from rust. The adjustable bed for setting the taper has easily adjusted push/pull screws every 5", the standard for hand-planing. The taper is set using the adjustable bed, not the anvil; as a result, the bamboo sits on top of the anvil that doesn't wear as the strips are cut. A precision dial indicator with 0-1" travel and .001" accuracy is provided for accurate bed adjustment. Re-setting the taper is a simple and fast procedure.

The dial indicator for adjusting a taper was originally affixed with a special holder to the rear of the plane in lieu of the plane handle with the dial indicator sticking out the back. This put the dial indicator at the opposite end from the cutting head and separated by the length of the plane. This method of attaching the dial would sometimes result in slightly inaccurate readings. It was also cumbersome to use the dial indicator particularly when truing anvils. As a result of these observations I, along with my assistant Bill Blackburn, designed a combination dial indicator holder/shaving tool that not only holds the dial indicator but also provides a method of truing the top of anvils. The new unit mounts in lieu of the cutter head and puts the dial indicator just ahead of the point where the bamboo is cut resulting in very accurate measurements. Another feature of the new design is if you are truing an anvil it's easy to remove only the dial indicator and to readjust the truing cutter for precise anvil shaving.

The dial indicator holder/shaving tool holds a regular carbide insert perpendicular to the anvil so that when the anvil is trued the top is flat. Since the anvils are flat on top they will accommodate bamboo strips that have the natural outer curve of the bamboo or, if the user flattens the enamel side of the strips, they will also accommodate flat strips. In the event that an anvil eventually wears or gets damaged, it can be easily redressed with the new shaving tool.

The new dial indicator holder/shaving tool is made from aluminum and is clear anodized for good durability. The standard dial indicator supplied with the Hand Mill fits into the tool and is held in place with a stainless steel set screw with a nylon tip to prevent damage to the indicator barrel. Included with it is a carbide insert and screw along with two button head screws to attach it to the Hand Mill slide. The new shaving tool can be used for limited shaving of bamboo strips to flatten them on the pith side but won't hold up nearly as well as the tool steel flat cutter head for long term use.

This new dial indicator holder and flat shaving tool represents a significant improvement in the use and operation of the Hand Mill so they will be provided with all new Hand Mills.

Ingvar Nilsson, a Hand Mill user in Sweden, designed the original dial indicator holder that fit on the front of the Hand Mill and even though it was somewhat different from ours I appreciate and acknowledge his creativity.

The Hand Mill comes with two tip- and one butt-finishing anvils for tapering both types of strips. The two tip anvils are supplied so that very fine tips in addition to regular tips can be milled. It also comes with a tip- and a butt-roughing anvil for preliminary beveling of strips. The anvils, which can be quickly and easily changed, are machined from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) plastic. The anvils have brass inserts melted into the bottom that provide long lasting threads for the screws to attach them to the adjustable bed and brass inserts pressed in for the screws that hold down the bamboo. The bamboo strips are held onto the anvils with a screw for ease and security. A substantial number of rodmakers use a power beveller to rough out strips prior to planing them with the Hand Mill. By removing the head of the regular hold down screw and fastening the strip to the remaining pin, these strips can easily be held for Hand Mill planing. Another note for those bamboo rodmakers using a power beveller: I will provide any combination of five finishing anvils instead of the standard package of two tip-finishing, one butt-finishing, one tip-roughing, and one butt-roughing anvils.

When I was designing the Hand Mill, I noticed that sometimes small tip strips would vibrate from side to side as they were being cut. This vibration usually, but not always, seemed to relate to the speed that the plane moved down the strip. If this vibration occurred, it would often result in slight waves in the strip itself. As a result, I designed a plastic tip finger to keep the tips from vibrating back and forth during cutting.

However, several customers told me that under some circumstances the plastic tip finger didn't completely stop the vibration when cutting tips. Moreover, some mentioned that they would like an attachment that would help hold strips in alignment with the cutter head while milling. They thought it would be helpful with quad strips, in particular, because they are difficult to cut because of the low angle and stiffness of the sections.

As a result of this feedback, I designed a hold down shoe that, once the initial apex has been cut, securely holds the bamboo strips during the entire planing process and eliminates the vibration. In addition to stopping the vibration, it has turned out that the hold down shoe has substantially improved the cutting characteristics of the Hand Mill by providing a stabilizing alignment hold down in front of the carbide cutters.

The hold down shoe assembly consists of three parts: a body, a pivot arm, and a shoe. The whole assembly is fabricated from 303SE stainless steel that assures longevity and rust resistance. The thickness of the main block in front of the cutters is .240". It mounts easily with just one screw in the present hole in the center of the cutter heads. The area directly in front of the cutters is flat and doesn't have any gap between the cutter head and hold down shoe assembly to prevent the accumulation of chips.

The pivot arm that holds the shoes is spring loaded to hold the bamboo strips down and to provide enough force to keep the bamboo strips centered within the shoe. The front of the arms has two slots to hold shoes; the first arm slot is about 1.80" from the cutters, and the second slot is about 1.40" from the cutters. Some rod makers prefer using the shoes in the front slot, whereas others prefer the rear slot. The attaching holes in the pivot arm are slotted side-to-side about .030" so the shoes can be centered on the cutters.

There are three different hold down shoes of 61.5 degrees, 73.5 degrees, and 92 degrees for 6-, 5-, and 4-strip rods respectively. The shoes, which will hold even the smallest tip, are beveled in front so they slide easily on bamboo strips without digging in or catching. Because the shoe is ahead of the cutters, a final cleanup cut will always be made on the bamboo. Once the hold down shoe is mounted and centered on the bamboo strip, its use is automatic.

The hold down shoe assembly is a significant improvement over the original plastic tip finger. I am recommending that the shoe be used with all Hand Mills, and in the future I will supply all new Hand Mills with hold down shoes. If more than one cutter head is ordered, the appropriate hold down shoe will be supplied with each head.

I think that it would be instructive here to briefly explain the Hand Mill cutting procedure in its entirety so you can understand how easily and quickly the Hand Milling proceeds. Once the strips are split out of a pole, the nodes are prepared, and the strip is straightened you drill a hole in the center of the strip so you can mount it on the anvil. Prior to rough cutting most users have set a taper in the adjustable bed so that as they rough cut the strip it also being tapered. Since a strip is square in the beginning you are cutting only the edges and, in addition, it is generally not heat-treated so you can cut a depth of at least .010" per cut. As you cut the strip down and the surface area on each side increases the cutting depth per cut is gradually reduced. When you are rough cutting it is easy to take three, four, or more cuts per minute once you establish a rhythm to the cutting and have determined the depth of cut on each pass. The adjusting screw on the Hand Mill with its calibrated dial lets you quickly and accurately adjust the depth of each cut. Since you never have to check the angle the cutting is straightforward and goes quickly because you are cutting both sides at once.

Before continuing with the cutting procedure I want to interject another idea that greatly benefits rough cutting by hand. I recommend that users soak their strips in water for two or three days prior to rough cutting. This procedure allows you to take cuts up to .020" per pass in the beginning, allows heavier cuts throughout the roughing process, and greatly extends the life of the cutter inserts. This procedure was somewhat controversial in the beginning but now I believe that most Hand Mill users, including ourselves, use this method. In addition, when heat-straightening and pressing a node soaking them first greatly facilitates the process.

After the butt rough cutting is completed the anvil is changed and the tip rough cutting proceeds. Changing anvils takes fifteen minutes or less. During the tip and butt rough cutting the same taper can usually be used since the strips are still over-sized. One procedure that speeds up overall rod production is to rough cut several sets of rods at one time and finish taper them as needed.

Once the rough cutting is completed you change to a finish anvil, set the taper, and begin cutting. A good time estimate for changing anvils and setting a taper is thirty minutes. For most users the bamboo would now be heat-treated so the cutting must proceed slower since the bamboo is harder and cutting is more difficult. When cutting heat-treated strips with the Hand Mill a cut of .001"-.003" per pass is appropriate. Each user has their own standard for sizing strips after heat-treating but to give you an idea we like to have our strips .040"-.050" oversized. Naturally, the closer to a finished size you can get the quicker the cutting goes.

The addition of the hard stop on the plane makes finish cutting very easy and accurate. Once the correct strip size is determined and one strip cut to that size the hard stop is set. As you change strips the cutter head is moved up until it just clears the strip then adjusted down on successive cuts until it hits the hard stop. Thereafter, each strip milled has exactly the same taper as previous ones and exactly the same height. When these strips are glued together the resulting sections are all the same and the flat-to-flat dimensions are amazingly close.

The Hand Mill comes with a detailed instruction manual complete with photographs for clarity and ease of use. It also comes with the aluminum angle described below, a swelled butt kit, extra screws, five sets of carbide inserts, and the new dial indicator holder/shaving tool. Also provided are sample Excel spreadsheets both in hard copy and on a CD-ROM that will make it easier to set your adjustable bed for your rod tapers. There are also useful tips about various aspects of bamboo rodmaking. The Hand Mill comes complete with all parts necessary to plane 6-strip rods. Cutter heads for 8-, 5-, and 4-strip rods must be ordered as accessories.

The Hand Mill manual is available free of charge on a CD-ROM in PDF format if you would like to learn more about the Hand Mill and its operation. The manual, including Excel spreadsheets, is 94 pages long and is very comprehensive. It lists some bamboo rodmaking books, has some bamboo preparation instruction, several bamboo information web site URL's, specific details about the Hand Mill plane and its operation, detailed instructions for setting tapers, and bamboo milling instructions. This CD-ROM and the information on the web pages is what we now have available for Hand Mill information. We no longer offer a Hand Mill brochure. Of course, I am available either via the Internet or telephone to answer any questions that you might have concerning the Hand Mill or its operation. Contact me at the email address listed below and I will send you a copy of the CD-ROM.

Aluminum Angle

One of my customers, John Miller, designed an important improvement for mounting the Hand Mill base to a bench. John mounted his base on an aluminum angle that is fastened to his bench. The angle has holes drilled through the top of the angle to allow access to the anvil hold down screws and slots cut for the adjusting screws.

I discovered that by mounting the base on the aluminum angle, two important things are accomplished: First and most importantly, the setting and cutting accuracy is improved. The aluminum angle and base are bolted together in seven places to eliminate any flexing between the two and thus make a very rigid unit. As a result of this rigidity and the aluminum angle, the Hand Mill accuracy is no longer dependent upon how flat and true the workbench is. When your tapers are set using this method, they remain precisely where they were set. Second, you can set your tapers and remove the anvils without taking the base off the bench. This arrangement saves considerable time when setting tapers and changing anvils during strip cutting.

One question that is often asked by Hand Mill purchasers is the recommended height of the bed. For most users the standard bench height of about 36" is satisfactory. However, there are two other considerations: one is how tall the user is and, second, how much strip cutting will be done? If the user is tall and a lot of strips will be cut then having the base about belt height definitely is easier on the back. This can easily be accomplished by building a simple plywood box to mount the aluminum angle and base. Another question that is sometimes asked is how much space is needed at each end of the base so I recommend allowing approximately 18" clearance on both ends.

Mounting the Hand Mill base on an aluminum angle is such a significant improvement that in the future I am only going to sell Hand Mills with this accessory. The current price includes the aluminum angle.

Swelled Butt Kit

The swelled butt kit allows the user to cut strips with a swell for the traditional swelled butt rod designs. The kit consists of precision plastic shims that are 1/2" by 2" of .010", .020", .030", and .060" thickness and instructions. With this kit you can make a swelled butt from .020" to .120" in .020" increments over a distance of 2.5". This kit is standard with new Hand Mills.

Hollow Fluting Tool

Lew Stoner of the R. L. Winston Rod Company invented and patented the hollow fluted bamboo rod idea in the 1930s. Lew reasoned that removing a considerable amount of bamboo in the center of the rod would substantially reduce the rod's weight and increase its performance. This proved to be true both in casting and fly rods. The fluting cutters remove more bamboo in the middle than on the edges maintaining a long edge seam for glue strength.

Even though most of the bamboo rods being made today are smaller than earlier rods, I knew that by hollow fluting rods there would be a significant improvement in the rod's performance. Ever since I invented the Hand Mill, I have wanted to provide an attachment for hollow fluting strips, and I was confident that with the proper design this would be possible.

I knew the critical feature would be to keep the carbide insert used for hollowing exactly centered or it would slip off the apex of the bamboo resulting in a ruined strip. In order for the carbide hollowing insert to remain exactly centered the side-to-side tolerance between the insert and roller would have to be almost zero. Manufacturing the base, plunger block, plunger, rollers, and insert pocket to extremely close tolerances proved to be a challenge, but one that was achieved. The hollowing carbide inserts stay exactly centered on the bamboo strip during hollowing.

If you look at the end of a hollow fluted rod, the inside is hollow and looks somewhat like a flower with petals (see photo). The rod sections in the photograph are approximately .300" across and are fluted from left to right with the 1/32", 3/64", and 1/16" tip radius cutters. The amount of weight reduction depends upon the size of rod and the remaining wall thickness, but the reduction will generally range from 10% to 25%.

When rods are hollow fluted, it should be noted, there is a weight reduction, but there is also a loss of stiffness due to bamboo being removed. An increase of the rod section area by approximately 2-5% is necessary to compensate for this loss. Experimentation with your individual tapers will give you an answer to the fluting/stiffness ratio.

One of my major design considerations was to ensure that the fluting attachment not be subject to rusting in humid climates. The base and block of the Hollow Fluting Cutter are aluminum and are clear anodized for protection. The aluminum block has a bronze bushing pressed into it that guides the precision ground stainless steel rod and guide wheel. This design provides a good bearing surface for the plunger that won't corrode or rust. The rollers are made from stainless steel and have included angles of 64 degrees, 76 degrees and 94 degrees for 6-, 5-, and 4-strip rods respectively. This larger included angle makes sure that the rollers don't ride on the outsides edges of the bamboo when hollowing. A shoulder bolt holds the roller so exchanging different rollers is very easy.

The Hollow Fluting Cutter comes with 6 carbide inserts that have an 11-degree positive rake for good chip clearance: 2 each with tip radiuses of 1/32", 3/64", and 1/16". The carbide inserts are specially ground to close tolerances to be interchangeable in the same pocket. Generally, the 1/32" and 3/64" inserts would be used for hollowing tips or small butts whereas the 1/16" insert would be used for larger butts. The specifications for the carbide inserts are provided with the instructions.

Hollow fluting is done after the individual bamboo strips are finish cut. There are large varieties of hollowing configurations that are possible: different sizes of hollowing radiuses, different wall thickness, and different hollowing tapers. Experimentation with the different inserts will determine which insert is best for your particular application. From my experience, wall thicknesses of .070" for trout rods and .085" for steelhead and salmon rods are appropriate and good places to start. Thinner wall sections may be possible on tips as well as butts. In the beginning, however, I would suggest starting with level hollowing, leaving tapered hollowing for later experimentation.

Hollow rods must be solid under the ferrule stations for strength. When solid rod butts are glued in a binder, it normally doesn't matter whether you start gluing at the tip or butt of the rod. However, with hollow butts they must be started at the tip end that is solid in order for them to glue together easily and straight.

Included with the hollowing tool is a micrometer tip that goes on the bottom anvil of a micrometer to enable one to measure the thickness of the hollowed wall. The tip has a 1/32" radius that will fit inside the hollow of a strip.

The Hollow Fluting Cutter attaches with two 10-24 by 9/16" flat head fasteners in lieu of a cutter head.

In order for the Hollow Fluting Cutter Attachment to work properly, the shims from a swelled butt kit must be used, and for older Hand Mills that didn't include swelled butt kits they can be ordered along with the fluting cutter.

Included with the Hollow Fluting Cutter is a detailed set of instructions with photographs.

Aluminum Measuring Block

One of the challenges in cutting bamboo strips is measuring them accurately to provide glued sections that match the taper design. The Hand Mill provides a special situation for measuring bamboo strips because I have designed the cutter heads with a slightly increased cutting angle. With the Hand Mill, I have included a chart that converts the width of a strip to the height, but it works only with 6-strip rods. Moreover, the delicacy of measuring across the flats with a caliper or a micrometer makes it difficult to achieve consistent results.

To solve this problem, I have made a measuring gauge block that includes special angles for the three primary rod designs that I make cutter heads for: 6-strip, 5-strip, and 4-strip. It has been proven that this method of measuring strips is the most accurate available. By using the measuring block, one can quickly and easily determine the exact bamboo strip height anywhere along its length.

The measuring block sits on a caliper and is held in place by a brass fastener so as not to damage the caliper. It is machined from 6061T6 aluminum alloy, is black anodized, and has the identifying angles labeled with engraved numerals coated with white paint. It comes with a .100" drill for calibration and instructions that include photographs.

Hand Mill List Server

I have established a list server for Hand Mill owners so they will have a convenient and easy way to communicate via email. For those of you not familiar with list servers, they function by disseminating an email letter sent to a central server to everyone who belongs to the list. In addition, all letters are retained in an archive that can be searched by selecting specific topics.

The list has become an active forum for dissemination of Hand Mill ideas, problem solving, questions, rod-building tips, rod tapers, and other ideas relating to rodmaking.

It is a private list server that I administer for owners of Morgan Hand Mills. Anyone who owns a Hand Mill may join and contribute messages to the list server even if they aren't the original purchaser. Even though contributing to the list is open only to Hand Mill owners the list is open to anyone who would like to read the archived messages.

The list server site may be accessed by clicking on the following URL:
http://morganhandmill.talklist.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=morganhandmill

This URL will take you to the main page. You will then see three buttons to hit for access: "Click here to enter morganhandmill", "Join morganhandmill", or "Visit morganhandmill without joining". Unless you are a Hand Mill owner who has registered, you are limited to the "Visit morganhandmill without joining" button.

When you hit the "Visit morganhandmill without joining" button, you will be taken to another page. There you will find a "Read Message" button. If you hit the "Read Message" button, you will be taken to the message archive page. There you will find messages listed under specific topics that can be searched. I encourage you to go to the list server and read messages sent by Hand Mill owners.

Some users of the Hand Mill have consented to be references. If you are interested in corresponding with them to learn more about their experiences concerning its use, please contact me by email, and I will give you their names and email addresses.

Please feel free to correspond with me about any questions that you have concerning the operation and use of the Hand Mill, and I will try to answer them. The easiest way for me to communicate is by email; however, you may also call or write. My addresses are listed at the bottom of this web page.

I am very excited about the Morgan Bamboo Hand Mill. Soon after I bought the Winston Rod Company in 1973, bamboo rods began to lose their popularity in favor of graphite rods. It is very satisfying to me to see the resurgence of interest in making and fishing bamboo rods. The Morgan Hand Mill has revolutionized the way bamboo rods are planed by amateurs and professionals alike. It has also greatly increased the interest in making both 5-strip and 4-strip rods because of ease of cutting these strip configurations by just changing the cutter head. I hope that the ease of planing strips offered by the Hand Mill will remove some of the difficulty long associated with bamboo rodmaking that has held many people back from such an enjoyable pursuit.

Tom Morgan