My first cane fly rod, so far so good.

[Cane Newbie]

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

[Coral Maestro]

That tip carrier is coming along nicely. I think we all learn by experimentation and getting a good varnish finish is one of the big challenges when restoring bamboo rods. Lots of thin coats rather than laying it on thick is the way to go. There's plenty of information in the "cane rod building and restoring" section to help you on your way. Best of luck with the rest of your project!

[Cane Newbie]

Thank you Coral Maestro, sometimes the best way to learn is from making mistakes, and a combination of trying to correct one mistake (the finger print) by adding more varnish and dash of thinners, and maybe rushing things a bit, which is daft as the nearest river is a bit unfishable right now due to all the rain running out of Wales through the Dee.

From looking just now it dosen't look too bad. The first very thin coat over the blue has held and fixed the blue, and i was able to firmly twist&wipe the soft layers off.
I will try a gentle scotch padding to see if it's hard and then "another" coat but very thin coat, have to smooth over and another thin coat on the whipping as well and if that goes to plan then that's the ferrule and touch ups done.

[Coral Maestro]

This is the sort of stuff that rod restorers use for getting a good blue finish on their ferrules:

The quality of the final finish depends on how good your preparation is. The ferrules must be clean and grease free. A good scrub with wire wool should get them clean enough.

[Cane Newbie]

Ghetto lathe action and a tooth brush becomes two ferrule plugs.

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First attempt was a bit of trial and error as just free-handing it, used the brushes taper to the head for the small plug then worked back to the main handle for the large plug.
If i try again i shall cut both from the main handle so both tops would be equal. However at the moment i quite like how things have turned out and in theory a second attempt should be quicker as i know not to use the taper and have got my eye in, so to speak.

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Not too bad for first go. The smaller ferrule has a nice bright brass edge and glossy blue finish, the larger ferrule has not because that went wrong with too thick a varnish, looks saveable though.

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Going to a final finish with them see how they come out, might just stop there or maybe try again. Attempting an Acorn style was a bit out of reach, but chuffed to bits i got two done on first attempt

[Cane Newbie]

Stalled for the moment.

A bit of whipping to attend to, and the cane carrier knob is less blonde now after several dunkings in PG tips.

At a point of being able to try out the rod however the weather has other ideas.

Local river a few weeks ago, running high and fast, can usually walk around a couple of the arches.

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And today it's higher, and faster, and browner, the beachcaster with a 1/2lb wire grip lead weight would be more in order for the flow.

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On the way back home i stopped off, a cash only vendor so no credit/debit card impulse shopping, did find a nice short 2 piece rod in wooden square carry case..... might go back and look again at that one, but no reels that i took a fancy too.
Have to be somewhere tomorrow that has a good antiques place to rummage around so will look in and see what they have.

The more i think about it.... i think the shop i bought the rod in may have the reel too, it's possible it came into the shop with a reel so i need to have a good rummage through the locked cabinet and see if they have a right "period" reel or even a Milward reel in there. So less work more shopping at the moment.

Might go for a days catch and release at the nearest Fishery lake so i can try the rod out with #7wt lines as the river will be running high and fast and brown for some time.

[Cane Newbie]

Still stalled due to poor weather.

Despite it being a bit windy i decided to have another flick around in the garden and try all the lines i have to see if the Milward takes a fancy to anything. Give both tips a work out.

I have 2 modern rods listed as #7wt and i have bought a few #7wt lines and i got some #8wt with the reel&spools purchase, knowing the #8's are a bit much.... so were the #7wt's i decided to investigate as i seem to be heading towards a #6wt DT which should actually double up on the modern rod as well.

I have had a go at measuring out the first 30' of each line and weighing it.

Then finding the AFTM #weight chart to compare my rough weigh in with actual guidelines and done in grams (not grains)

#7wt WF/F Shakespeare own label 12grams. This one casts well on both modern rods and i shall try it again on the Cane as it came in lightest.
#7wt WF/F John Norris NI extreme distance 15grams. (feels draggy on the cane and modern rods through the guides)
#7wt WF/I John Norris Evo X intermediate 16grams. (slicker through the guides)

The 8's are unknown brands, of the 4 i got one was binned as heavily cracked and really really heavy. The floating peach(maybe a Cortland) casted well and i suspected it was lighter than #8wt. I think i also got an Intermediate and 2 differing sinkers.

#8wt WF/F Peach in colour suspected Cortland 14grams, seems to cast ok across all rods like the Shakespeare.
#8wt DT/S Green, 19grams, tried once too heavy but in good order so kept it.

#8wt DT/S I messed with this one by cutting it in half as a crude shooting head experiment, by weighing 30' from the thin taper end into the body i get 14grams, this did work well with the rod but felt heavy.
By swapping the ends round and measuring from the body 30' towards the taper i got 16grams and did notice the extra weight, this was my first experiment in casting a week or so ago and i have repeated it again with same results so i know 14grams is workable if a tad heavy.


So far 14grams is workable but going lighter should be better.

AFTM guide.
#5wt 140grains = 9.10 grams
#6wt 160grains = 10.40grams
#7wt 185grains = 12.00grams
#8wt 210grains = 13.60grams
#9wt 240grains = 15.55grams
10wt 280grains = 18.15grams

My crude weigh in numbers
12grams = #7wt bang on spec
14grams X2 = #8wt heavy end of spec
15grams = #9wt light end of spec
16grams X2 = #9wt heavy end of spec
19grams = #10/11

So some of my #7 are really #8 and some of my #8 are really #10 and the budget Shakespeare WF/F is bang on spec for a #7wt.

My brain is melting......

I was wondering about a #5wt but now having some actual numbers to compare then a DT #6wt should be bang on if casting around 30' which should do me fine on the river, i hope, if the #6wt comes in on spec or a touch lighter.

Going to play again with 12gram #7wt Shakespeare line tomorrow as that seems to be my best weight/mass on hand.
Trying to avoid buying lines that come in too heavy and then trying to go lighter again.

Rod has survived it appears #10wt lineage so i think the rod is solid in construction which is nice.

[Cane Newbie]

Slow progress, things stalled, now done some shopping and moving again.

After trying out all the lines and rod not snapping under what could be deemed #10wt lines i have treated it to a new bag. And been shopping for a #6wt line that actually comes in on the AFTM rating guide.

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Budget basic bag from Guides & Blanks. The shortest choice was out of stock and would have needed cutting to length and sewing up. On thinking it over, if i have to cut and shut anyway, and the cost is minimal i might as well get the longest choice bag, cut and shut it and also have the matching material and beginning of a matching Reel bag.

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The two tips live in the cane tube with a cork stopper (might actually look at taking an inch off there) and the butt and mid sections have a generous pocket to live in.

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Gone with a Snowbee classic WF6/F line as double tapers at the budget end of things are very very slim pickings and also finding a line that even loosely conforms to the AFTM guide lines is a gamble. While only having had a flick around in the garden the Snowbee line seems much better than my #7wt which are like 8/9wt and my #8wt which are more like 10/11wt. Still it's nice to now the rod can handle them.

Been busy redoing the Lines braided end loops as i had some salmon loops (bought in error, used anyway) and the cane rod's last 2 eyes and tip-eye are much smaller than the wide open 6mm hole modern ones.

[Cane Newbie]

Other bits and bobs from fishing mega store budget happy pricing.

Went to check out Ellerdine lakes fishery and they reckon trout "up to" 20lb so some heavier tippet and a sinking leader to try out over my usual lighter river set up.

Set of scales, some blue line spools, a leader wallet and a Priest.

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The cheap Lureflash Priest is getting a makeover. I did look around the local Vintage Antique emporiums which had various Priests but it was cheaper to buy a new one and possibly butcher it...

With some heat to the lanyard end cap it unscrewed, it had been glued in place. The shaft is either chrome or stainless steel and cold and slippery when wet, i suspect the maybe brass tip end is also screw&glued fit as well.

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Out to the garden stash of bamboo and lop off a suitable section.

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First attempt failed as the bamboo cracked/split 2 ways as i screwed up the end cap.

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Now a change of plan and only going to glue the Priest handle in place which is easier to work on, more on that later as work in progress.

Might add an extra pocket to the rod bag so the Priest can travel as part of the set up.