Re: My first cane fly rod, so far so good.
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2024 4:45 pm
Another day and some more progress.
Rounded up old toothbrushes and these bamboo ones have the beginnings of becoming ferrule plugs, some nice tapering going on.
I don't own or have access to a lathe so this morning a ghetto lathe was born with an old black&decker drill with 1/2" chuck (about 12.5mm fully open) and the brushes are around 10mm and i get a few goes at making ferrule plugs with each brush.
Also gone through the cork stash and found a Ball top cork that is a perfect fit with no work for the cane, also cut down a red wine cork, smeared it in glue and tapped that into the bottom end of the cane. Managed to get cane growth rings at the right place for the top and bottom plugs so more material here, like a ring reinforcement.
A bit of trimming down at the top end after the base plug was set and i have a little wriggle room on length. Both tip sections easily slide in and also out again
A bit of rasping and trimming down below and fine sanding and that end looks like this.
The tip carrier is done, just needs final sanding and varnish but is useable as is.
Addressed the re-whipping and varnished that. Also had a poke at the bottom ferrule and the varnish is not curing, still soft and tacky so tried to wipe/smear it off, see if it dries out then see what state it's in and most likely take back to clean brass and try again but be more careful with not so thick layers of varnish, once that's dry i can have a bash at making a ferrule plug for it.
Getting there
Rounded up old toothbrushes and these bamboo ones have the beginnings of becoming ferrule plugs, some nice tapering going on.
I don't own or have access to a lathe so this morning a ghetto lathe was born with an old black&decker drill with 1/2" chuck (about 12.5mm fully open) and the brushes are around 10mm and i get a few goes at making ferrule plugs with each brush.
Also gone through the cork stash and found a Ball top cork that is a perfect fit with no work for the cane, also cut down a red wine cork, smeared it in glue and tapped that into the bottom end of the cane. Managed to get cane growth rings at the right place for the top and bottom plugs so more material here, like a ring reinforcement.
A bit of trimming down at the top end after the base plug was set and i have a little wriggle room on length. Both tip sections easily slide in and also out again
A bit of rasping and trimming down below and fine sanding and that end looks like this.
The tip carrier is done, just needs final sanding and varnish but is useable as is.
Addressed the re-whipping and varnished that. Also had a poke at the bottom ferrule and the varnish is not curing, still soft and tacky so tried to wipe/smear it off, see if it dries out then see what state it's in and most likely take back to clean brass and try again but be more careful with not so thick layers of varnish, once that's dry i can have a bash at making a ferrule plug for it.
Getting there