Split Cane Fishing Rods

Having set the scene in the last post, its time to get started.  I know I haven’t covered things like tools and materials you need and I will put together a post with a complete list of essentials and ‘nice to have’s’ soon, but if, like me, you’re impatient to get started, here we go!

First some pictures of the rod we’re going to be working on.  As I said in the last post, only the butt and middle sections have survived the years and here they are.  As you can see, it’s an early Gold Label Wizard, so well worth some effort.

Early Wizards like this one had sheet cork over wood for the handle, not the cork rings that were more usual on other rods and although on this rod it doesn’t look to be in very good condition, its surprising how resilient these have proved to be.  Some careful cleaning and sanding will soon have it back to something close to its original condition.

As the pictures show, the varnish has flaked, bubbled and discoloured, but its done its job of preserving the cane beneath and should come off easily without damage.

I like to buy rods in this condition as they have little perceived value to the owner who has usually inherited it from a relative or picked it up in a house clearance. I usually manage to pick them up quite cheaply as most people dont give it a second glance as restoration looks like too much work.  I find ebay is a good place to find rods like this for a cheap price compared to their restored value, and I often buy whole rods and orphaned sections of ‘un-named’ rods for ‘parts’ again from ebay, for a few pounds.

Incidentally, as this blog is about split cane rods you may be wondering why the rod has a whole can butt.  Fair point, but many of the classic rods were a mixture of whole and split cane, some with thinner whole or split cane sections spliced into thicker whole can sections, and some, like the Wizard, with whole and split cane sections.

I suspect this was more to do with saving cost at the time of manufacture than anything else, but many cane rod enthusiasts will tell you a whole cane butt is better as it balances the rod. I’ve often heard it said that Berndard Venables himself thought a whole cane butt was necessary for good balance, but I’ve never been able to find a direct quote to confirm that he actually said it.

Anyway, on to the restoration.  What we’re going to do is remove the only remaining ring, all 0f the intermediate whippings and the varnish so we’re left with clean blanks.  We’ll also clean up the handle and polish up the brass fittings.

To remove the rings and whippings I prefer to use a sharp craft knife to carefully cut through the silk so it comes off in a single piece.  This is less messy that the method some people prefer of cutting a single strand of the silk so it can be unwound.

For rings this is quite easy as you can use the leg as a guide for the knife. For intermediate whippings you need a steady hand to avoid digging into the cane itself. Try to slice through the whipping at a shallow angle in a single movement. You should then find that you can use a thumbnail to remove the entire whipping by peeling it off.

Once the whippings are removed, the original bare cane is exposed beneath.  The next step is to remove the rest of the varnish so we are left with clean original cane.  I prefer to use the same shap knife to carefully scrape the varnish away. As long as you’re careful, patient and keep the knife at right-angles to the rod you should be able to do this without damaging the cane.

You could use fine sand or glass paper, some do, but I find that has a tendency to put scratches into the cane, damaging the natural enamel, which is what gives the cane its strength.

For the most part, scraping the varnish is fairly easy, but if you want to retain the authenticity of your rod, you must preserve the transfer at all costs!  If you remove the Wizard Oval transfer, the rod will still be a Wizard, and still fish like a Wizard, but to collectors and enthusiasts it wont be a Wizard! So when it comes to scraping the varnish where the transfer is, carefully scrape around it – if you try to take the varnish off the top of the transfer, you’ll remove the transfer too.  Once you’ve removed the varnish, the transfer can be cleaned up with some cotton wool and a mild cleaning agent.

So, we’ve finished cleaning the varnish from the butt section and are ready to clean the cork handle and polish the brass fittings.  I’ll get on to that in the next post, in the meantime, here are some ebay links where you can get cane rods for restoration and rod building supplies.

Split cane rods
Chrome Rod Rings
Whipping thread