Bob Southwell Rodmaker

[Fredline]

That was fascinating. Now I can see why his rods sell for loads. His hands must be as rough and tough as old boots, but what hands.

[TemeLAD]

What an astounding little film - thank you for your sharing it

[Bobthefloat]

Brilliant !!! to see the man at work and hear his voice is an absolute treat thank you for sharing

[CrayCane]

That was fascinating. Now I can see why his rods sell for loads. His hands must be as rough and tough as old boots, but what hands.

Yes, given how sharp bamboo can be, it makes me flinch to see him sliding that cane through his hands.

I'm know very little about Southwell rods but there are a couple of aspects of his rods that I've often seen mentioned.
Pressed nodes is one. Here his treatment of the nodes will be familiar to many makers and I don't think there is anything of a surprise as regards technique, except perhaps those tough old hands in handling the hot bamboo.

The other character of his rods I've heard of, is how resilient they. Unfortunately I don't think there is any reference to baking or heating the bamboo in this film. Perhaps he just had a good stock of well seasoned bamboo but I would imagine there was heat treatment involved somewhere. Does anyone have any insight into methods?

Pete

[Nigel Rainton]

Between 5:30 and 7:30 where he is heat treating the nodes, using a file on the nodes and chiselling, the square cane has clearly been heated. The file and chisel reveal lighter coloured cane. The film starts rather abruptly and the earlier parts of the process haven't been recorded. Shame.

Great film, it answers a lot of my questions but also raises a few.

[Grumpy]

A fascinating film.A true artisan making very skilled and difficult work look easy.

[Penninelad]

What a wonderful record of a Master Craftsman in action.

[Lea Dweller]

Thank you for sharing, the film is very interesting!

[CrayCane]

..... Perhaps he just had a good stock of well seasoned bamboo but I would imagine there was heat treatment involved somewhere. Does anyone have any insight into methods?

Pete

To answer my own question, I just noticed in Kevin Cliffords 'A history of carpfishing revisited' the comment: ".....Bob Southwell heat treated his cane in a local bakery's oven when it was not being used for bread making"

Pete

[OldAngler]

Now, for the first time, I understand how nodes are 'pressed'