Flamed cane

[EricW]

With one pole restoration coming to an end, I have just begun laying out the next. It is another unnamed one but it does have one feature that I don't recall reading about in Poles Apart, that may or may not offer a clue. Its cane has been flamed and given that it isn't a particularly difficult process I'm surprised it isn't mentioned. It just made me wonder if there was a maker whose thing it was or if anybody had come across it before. Any info or suggestions would be most welcome.

[Catfish.017]

Eric do you mean 'flame decorated' I.e. With a pattern? Homers finished a lot of their rods in this way but it's certainly not exclusive to them. Can you post a photo, someone may recognise the pattern?

[EricW]

Yes, flame decorated. The pole was already stripped by the vendor and it looks like some of the flaming may have been degraded during previous restorations sometime during its life. Hopefully plenty of whippings will draw the eye away from this in the rebuild.



The ferrules look unusually long to me as well. The one in this photo is over 100mm long whereas my Evans and Sowerbutts measure 60-80mm.



The cane is not particularly straight but it is light and well finished inside, by that I mean it appears to have been cleaned out nicely. the butt cap has four bands engraved around the top but no inscription. Of course if it is a later model it may have had an adhesive label, long gone.



Thanks for looking.

[Delaminated]

Hi Eric,
This pole looks like one of a couple of poles that I decided to move on for restoration in the last year.
I took a punt on a job lot of pole parts and rods on the bay a couple of years ago, and found to my delight that I had four cane poles, nearly all complete.
The poles were in varying condition, and most had tip and ferrule issues.

The flamed pole was in a sorry state, coated in a thick red/brown varnish and whipped in button thread- the tip had lost a foot.

I started a refurb, stripping down the horrid varnish and rebuilding the tip section.
The ferrules needed reseating and some needed new inner liners.
(hope they are sound, Eric)!

I came to realise that all these poles would take forever to complete, so I decided to reduce my projects.
I kept the best two (in my opinion) that needed the least work, and moved the other two on.

Looking at Eric’s other restorations, I can see it is now in a safe pair of hands and await a view of the finished article with some interest.
I suspect he captured the other pole as well!

Regards Tom

[EricW]

Hello Tom. Hope you are well. It was indeed I that inherited these two. I have a growing respect for un-named poles. They may not always have been made from the finest cane and the workmanship can vary, but they all seem to work perfectly well and they carry the history of their manufacture forward. The ferrules are fine you'll be pleased to hear. I've managed to find enough shadows to come up with my whipping pattern for this one and have made a start. Not sure how long it's going to take though. I seem to be held back at the moment by a toxic mix of heatwaves (my workshop is in the loft and gets very uncomfortable), unhealthy relatives, other peoples rod repairs and the desperate need to actually go fishing! But, I'll get there in the end. Take care.