Devilish Detail

The dried and specially chosen Tonkin cane with a mean diametre of 6 cm and a length of 3,8 m is reduced in proportion to the rod’s length, cut into about 1 cm wide strips and the attachments of the blades are processed.
Tonkin can be deformed under hot temperatures. To plane a spliced strip, all the power fibres should have the same direction. I direct the splices with the heat gun. You will need 12 splices for a two-piece rod. When that is done, you can start pre-planing. After the pre-planing all the splices are parallel and the nodes within the splices are arranged in a way, that prevents from having two or more of them at one point.

The tapering of the conic triangles, as well as the line class and action are determined by the Taper.
The metal plane gauge can be adjusted at every five inches, so to manufacture the wanted Taper. The adjustment is done with a dial gauge by a Taper plan. A rodmaker knows before each step what kind of rod he wants to build.

The adjusted splices are planed on the gauge to conic triangles of 60°. Here, the length of the triangles’ edges in the tip part of the rod can be less than 1 mm. Fine planes that can produce a chip thickness of a few hundredths millimetres are necessary to provide the wanted precision.

The triangular strips are glued together with two-component adhesive. To achieve a perfect joint-free bonding, the splices are wrapped with thread after being coated with glue. Of course the thread has to be removed after the curing of the adhesive. Therefore the thread and remaining adhesive are carefully sanded down.

The finish of the rod consists of several layers of paint, that are applied by dip-coating. The fittings of the reel seat and the sleeves are made of nickel silver. To create a perfect pair of sleeves, I really need to have a “Lucky Day”. The sleeves have to function and last a rod’s lifetime.

Handle and reel seat are my favourite objects. 30 cork discs are glued together and machined on the lathe until the handle pleases the hand.
The reel seat is the rodmakers business card. Here you can either work in a lot of love or just functionality. The chosen wood and the fitting of the reel seat give the rodmaker an opportunity to become creative.

Guides and guide wraps are an expression of diversity.
Whether it is real British or Gudebrod silk, unobtrusive yet stylish or brilliantly coloured – here I am still looking for the “real me”.
The passion for rodmaking is also expressed in the case.