Finally finished my first cane rod – only taken me 12 months! Thanks to everyone who offered help on the old board.

I'm going to take the shine of the varnish with rottenstone but it looks so nice with its shiny new varnish that I took a couple of photos before I matte it down.





The rod is based on a Dickerson 8013 8ft 5wt blank made by Chapmans, a Struble seat and grip and Rec recoil snakes.

I’ve had a day’s fishing with it and caught a Grayling on a dry CDC & Elk first cast followed by a Brown third cast onwards to a very good sweltering hot day on the river.

It’s my first experience with cane so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I suspect it’s quite fast for a cane rod, casts very well with a silk line and gets a lovely bend with a fish on.

I still have a Richard Walker No1 7ft 4wt to build up. I’ve fitted the seat, grip and ferrules. Just need to ring and varnish it. The rod is much softer than the 8013. I suspect it will bend double with a fish on.

Next time I think I’ll have Chapmans fit the ferrules – made my heart stop hammering the brass shrink tube on - John made it look so easy when he showed me how to do one!

I’m still finding it quite difficult to get the varnish to soak into the thread properly – difficult to find the balance between not enough varnish and getting shimmers in the wraps and too much and it taking an age to harden off.

Once I’ve built the RW No1 I’ll be looking at a 8’6” 6wt – maybe a classic medium dry fly Garrison type action this time.

Ian

A very nice rod Ian, Well done and enjoy catching fish with it,tight lines,brian

Lovely looking rod

You are a brave man right enough !

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http://urbanflyfisher.com/

Rod looks as good as anything I have seen. Sure it will cast as good as it looks. Well done
Tight Lines

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"The Future's Bright The Future's Wet Fly"

Great looking rod Ian and very tasteful and professional wraps. Can I ask what thread and colours you used ?(I'm guessing Pearsalls as its so fine) And what varnish aswell ?

You're right about the action, Dickerson rods tend to be on the faster side (for bamboo), my favourite rod is a 7ft Dickerson.

I wish you many years enjoyment with it !

Cheers

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Pat
www.riversiderodcraft.co.uk

Thanks for the encouragement.

The wraps are Pearsalls gossamer - Light Olive tipped with Olive. Seemed to suit the colour of the cane.

Varnish was Epifanes for the first coat on the wraps. But it took forever to cure so I switched to International Schooner (recommended by finecanerods) for the rest of the coats and for the rod itself.

I did some practice wraps on the section to be covered by the handle to test the colour changes you get when the varnish goes on - colour changes completely.

I also tried YLI Silks. They seemed to soak up the varnish better and didn't give me so many problems with shimmers but couldn't get the colour.
I'm wondering if thinned epoxy might be a better bet for the first wrap coat as it will cure faster.

Next time I think I'll experiment with a darker cane and darker silk.

Also might try bluing the hardware next time.

Btw Hudbarrel - The rod lives in a aluminum tube supplied by you. See if I can get a picture of the whole ensemble.

Whilst I'm at it. Thanks to Robin for recommending the 8013 and Chapmans, PeteH for his advice on the wraps etc, finecanerods for advice on varnishing and to everyone else who gave advice and support (not sure how many of them have made it over to this new board).

Ian

Great looking finish Ian. Did you thin the Epifanes when you tried it. The more you thin the varnish, the faster it dries. Just means you need more coats.

I built a Dickerson 7613 (adapted to a 3 piece) over the winter but I was a little disappointed with the result, but this could have been the extra ferrule. I'll try making it as a two piece, as the original.

Pete

(PeteH on the old board )

the finish on the rod is very nice, im sure you put alot of work into it mate

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Cromie

Stunning! Really beautiful rod.

PeteH/CrayValleyCane

Thanks for all the advice on the old board.

I did did some test wraps with thinned Epifanes which dried faster but gave me shimmers in the wraps. There must be a balance between enough varnish to avoid shimmers as it dries and too much which takes longer to dry. I suspect that I needed to load the wraps more with the thinned varnish and that it was evaporating away and exposing the thread too much.

Switching to International Schooner for the Richard Walker No1 I'm just finishing the. Schooner starts out thinner than Epifanes and after a couple of practices I've found that it works fine unthinned if I heat it up in a bowl of hot water first. The first coat is drying to reveal the ridges in thread but not enough to get shimmers.

Ian