http://www.forrestrace.com/graphite-rod/
Material for fly rods, graphite or bamboo?
I fished both, but lately I have been using bamboo more. I love how it feels to cast. I just want to know what everyone thinks.
Definitely bamboo. It is the ultimate freshwater rod building material. It is light weight and sensitive like graphite. It got excellent fish fighting power and great casting ability like fiberglass. It also got superb hook setting ability. People tried so many different materials and techniques to put all those qualities into a fishing rod. So far, none of them succeed. Whoever could come out with a first synthetic fishing rod that could duplicate bamboo rod’s qualities without bamboo rod’s high price will make history (and millions of dollars VERY easily). It is unfortunate there aren’t that many quality bamboos suitable for rod building and all quality bamboo rods are usually quite expensive. Extra pampering and routine maintenance are also required for bamboo rods. Other than these, I don’t have anything bad to say about bamboo rods.
Graphite Rods and MnO2 from used Carbon-Zinc Dry Cells