Making of Walker Net Arms

[Paul Cook]

A little bit of a break since the last instalment on making the Walker net arms . It is now at the stage for gluing up the strips . With these I am only gluing up one set of arms at one time . The following photo shows the importance of having the internal pith side of the bamboo completely flat and smooth .It is these faces that will be glued together leaving the much harder enamel faces as the external walls .

Prior to gluing the two strips together it is a good idea to check that the two faces being glued together are free of any small fragments of wood that could be a problem when glued up , they can cause imperfections within the lamination of the two strips and show glue lines when the strips are finally sanded down to size . You want to maintain the two joints do not show a glue line as it looks untidy .

Once everything has been checked , the two strips are now ready to be cemented together . I use cascamite which I use for rod building and it is important that the mix is correct . You can do it by weight which I prefer or you can mix it by a 2-1 ratio .
The tools required for this is a simple timber built former , from a cross section it would look like an upside down "T" . The base of this was a simple strip of offcut pine board and a strip of hardwood screwed in and secured . This is what you will be gluing your cane arms up against . It is also important to say that you will need plenty of "G" clamps of which I have collected many over the years . Carboots are great for finding good quality ones especially those made here .

Above photo shows the former and the strips ready for gluing and below applying the glue to the cane strips.

I apply the glue by brush to both faces and leave for a few minutes and allow it to soak inwards .Once this is done the two strips are ready to be laminated together .Hopefully from the photo you can see the hardwood strip in the centre of the pine base and it is this hardwood strip that the arms are being clamped up against . It is also an idea to use an offcut strip of timber to use as a shield when using the clamps as they will be under pressure and the last thing you want is the clamps to leave indentation marks in the cane . Another point to remember is that the grain of the bamboo runs naturally lateral and if clamped against the bamboo without the timber cushion the bamboo can split along the grain leaving all that hardwork in ruins !
Once all the clamps are in place and tightened down you will see the glue squeezing out along the edges , this is a good sign proving ample glue has been applied .

At this stage it is now a waiting game for the glue to dry and be ready for the next instalment .

[Beresford]

Another great instalment – thank you. I'm looking forward to the next step to see how you deal with the excess glue.

[Paul Cook]

Once the glue has cured the strip can now be removed from the former and ready for its next stage .From the photo below you will now see the two strips glued up .

Going back to the wooden template , this is where it will come in handy . Lay it along the strip centrally , you want to use the thickest part of the bamboo strips , the outer edges will be removed . These edges are curved naturally from the section of bamboo that they were cut from , so removing this area will take away the thin bamboo excess leaving the thickest portion.You will need to draw around the former which will give you a rough guide to the shapes of the arm.

There are a number of ways to remove the excess outer edges , a table saw if you have one , it can also be planed down or in this case run down on the sanding machine .

As you can see from the above photo the sanding belt in operation , smoothing down the edges of the bamboo strip up to the line .It is best to finish a little way from the pencil line and finish the final tolerance by hand planing , however this is a personal matter .
Below shows the strip sanded down almost to the line .

This is repeated to both edges . Once this stage is complete you can see the wooden template next to the strip of bamboo which is almost at its final stage of completion .
Once the arm is at this stage you will see by the photo the extreme ends of the bamboo strips laminated together .With these arms , they are being made to a forum members specifications so they are to be made to his measurements but they will be left with a little bit of play at this stage as they need to be fitted to the metalwork and will be adjusted to suit . Once this has been achieved they will be sent back to me to finish them off .
The next instalment will deal with tapering the edges . The outer flat sides have been tapered using the measurements given and the former has been made to this requirement .

[Mark]

A great thread this.

[Barbulus]

Thank you for posting this instructional piece. I find it fascinating as well as educational and it will be the basis of my net "acquisition". Goodness knows how the rest of it will work but the "arms" will be done !

[Paul Cook]

Forgot to add this photo showing the extreme ends of the bamboo strips once flattened down to the correct thickness .

[Beresford]

This is wonderful work to admire.

It does also make me think of Walker, back-in-the-day and the time and shear mental and creative effort he went to in pursuit of carp.

[ErrabundusPiscator]

Top stuff Mr Cook!
As always.

[Hamburger]

This post is great. Thank you for sharing, Sir. I might give it a try. Always wanted a Walker landing net.
Regards
Jakobus

[Kingfisher]

Following this thread with great interest, thanks for sharing it and going to the trouble Paul.