Any suggestions?

[EricW]

The un-attributed pole that I am currently and very slowly restoring continues to throw up interesting anomalies. Having spent an age negotiating bleed problems when whipping the butt section, I finally got around to stripping the thread from the second section up, and found these marks.





There are two pairs aligned about six inches apart and the single hole visible above the right hand pair has a corresponding one directly opposite it on the other side of the pole. They are clearly 1/8 drill holes that have been filled with something which appears black, and the black has stained the bamboo around it (pitch?). I thought at first they might be cut off screws or nails but they are not magnetic. I can't find anything like it anywhere else on the pole on any section.
Thoughts anyone?

[Old Man River]

Maybe some sort of reel has been fitted at some stage , and that was where the reel bands were trapped ?


David

[Cane]

I have the same on one of mine. They also contain the remains of metal and are evidently from rings.

[Catfish.017]

Possibly a pair of metal fittings (they have a name that I can't bring to mind!) to wrap line around in conjunction with a tip ring?

[EricW]

Thank you all for the helpful and interesting feedback.
I know what you mean catfish, but usually those are on the top one or two sections aren't they? These are on the section above the butt and i reckon that reel fittings would be a good shout. That would then make a 5 section pole or a 4 section rod. However there are absolutely no signs that this pole ever had rod rings on it so it could perhaps be an aborted attempt to fabricate a pole/rod. Perhaps the four in line screw/nail holes would hold a plate that the reel sat against and the two transverse ones pinned the lower reel ring in place leaving the top one free to slide down trapping the reel in place? Any more suggestions or photos would be gratefully received.

[Homer Simpson]

I know nothing about cane but it’s common practice to avoid steel screws in oak as the tannin in the oak reacts with iron.
As cane is a grass, I assume it does not contain tannin though.

[Cane]

This photo is of the second pole of my pole rod. The remains of what I believe to have been rings, can be seen at the right of the photo, with an offset pair ( either foot of a ring) can be seen at the left side. There are three pairs of these parallel brass feet set at about 3” inches from the ferrule ( not shown), then 1’6 ( the offset) and finally another 6 “ from the last. I can only think that they were fixed through a prong under each foot. I cannot see what other purpose they might serve, then as rings?
I haven’t found any other such items on the other poles, but I can’t be sure they started life as a set. An interesting conundrum!

[EricW]

Thank you cane. It is interesting isn't it. Poles seem to have led such an interesting life don't they? Fundamentally they are sticks with the line tied to the end, nothing could be simpler, but there doesn't seem to be anything simple about them. Since cleaning this section down further and removing the whippings, I have found all the original pencil marks where the maker set out the whipping pattern.



Who was it? Someone of note or a provincial craftsman. If only cane poles could talk.
There are also some linear marks where the edges of a plate type fitting stretching between the drill holes may have been rubbing leaving staining rather as Homer suggests. Maybe it was something like the more modern plate reel seats that you can still buy. I guess we'll never know unless one turns up with the fitting still attached.

[Harry H]

Perhaps they were cleats for altering the length of line although they are normally on the section before the top or they were on the one I restored.