B James S/U MK IV

I have a B James S/U MK IV split cane rod made by my father in the 60's.
It is straight and has black ferrules and green eye bindings from new. It is painted with his name and model on the butt.
Should I restore it or sell it to someone who will treasure it.
(dont tell me to grow veg up it - I know it's not the best technology but I also know that it is collectable!)

Andrew it is a very collectable item and worth a bob or two.

If you?re having it restored, have it done professionally by someone who knows what they're doing. If you don't you'll lose a lot of value from it.

Treat it like having an antique piece of furniture restored. If done correctly it?ll hold its value, badly and it?s knackered.

A mate of mine has 3 originals that he bought as a kid, and as kids do, he abused them and two finished up with a set in them. He had them restored by an old guy in Denton Manchester 25 years ago to their original condition, these were that good you wouldn?t have ever known they?d been restored.

I suspect the old guy?s dead now, sadly, along with the excellent skills he possessed.

If you can find someone of his calibre then have it restored and get it cased and on the wall in your fishing room.
I have a 3 piece split cane rod (not a named brand of the day) + Nottingham Wood reel I restored on my wall it looks the business!

I?ve chub fished with it once or twice as well!

If it's home built (J.B. W alker blank?) it's unlikely to realise as much as a B. James model, so my instinct would be to do it up yourself and use it! Even if it's only once or twice a year, have yourself a retro day and fish the way Dad taught you. It still works!
If you want a picture of its cash value, set up a "favourite search" in ebay for "cane carp rod" and watch a few different models go by, but take care, ebay's addictive!

Theres one going for ?4.99 now on eBay


<a target='_new' href="http://cgi.ebay.com/RICHARD-WALKER-MKIV-S-U-VINTAGE-CARP-CANE-ROD_W0QQitemZ7198054257QQcategoryZ11144QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem">HERE</a

I hope it's better than the photos and descriptions! Even so, that one's a B.James build, so should top the ton, I'd have thought?

It's got 8 days to go still Ed, it'll hit the roof before that one stops.

The only thing going against the seller is teh time he's ending the sale. Mornings through the week is a no-no. Better at evenings weekend!

Peter Jacobs has a few old cane rods (and a new Barder) that he has had restored and they look like they fell straight out of the shop window. Whoever does them for him even restores the graphics and all the corks.

I know I take the michael out of him, but they really do look terrific. Just remember me in your will, Peter.

I was told that the prices are at an all time low at the moment --

I have a B James & Son Richard Walker Mark IV
I had it valued but forget what the valuation was, I know it wasn't near what I thought it was going to be ......

I have had it from new ......It was my first carp rod

"I was told that the prices are at an all time low at the moment --"

OOOooooooossssshhhhhh (sharp intake of breath), quite right Ed. I'll give you a fiver for the Mk IV.

Save your money on the postage, pass it to Graham and he can bring it down with him next visit. ;o)

Oh, and he'll give you the fiver!













and if you believe that, you really don't know him after all this time!

Graham's not tight or mean with people he likes ........(read what you like into that)

Andrew,

Take a look at Tim Watson's website.
You cannot do much better than Tim for refurbishment. The only problem is that he is always busy so it can take upwards of 9 months, but the job he does, as Jeff says, is bloody marvelous.

There is always a market for good, straight, clean split cane rods so it really is worth the effort and the money to have a professional job done, even more so if you have the hitroy of the rod as well.

Peter,

Thanks. I did come across his site while trying to find out a bit about the model. Think I shall get it done by a pro and keep it because of the sentimental value.

I must admit that I am still confused by the model history of these old cane rods.

Did a company called j.b.walker make the blanks that were sold as kits by B.james? How come the avon MKIV and S/U MKIV...never seen any thing about MKI/II/III or V? Why are the whippings on some burgundy and some green, and some ferrules silver and some black ..are some earlier than others?

Have trawled the internet but most of the sites seem to assume that if you managed to find them then you are capable of going on mastermind with "the history of 20th century british fishing tackle" as your specialist subject!

There are also different shaped cork handles and different butt caps/rubber knobs as well aren't there ??


They were also sold as ready made rods by B James and Son.......

Mine,which I've had from new,is a B James and Son Mark IV signed Richard Walker the bag which came with it has a Bruce and Walker label on it--so was there a link between the two??

Marks one to three were designed, made and rejected. MklV, with its concealed, whole cane butt and 1.5lb test-curve, was just the bizz and Richard Walker made a few up for himself and his friends; their concensus was that it was spot on for carp, but they'd like a lighter version for tench, barbel and such, and a beefier one for pike, salmon,and heavy-duty carping. Walker subtracted 10% from all diameters for the light versio, and added 10% for the stepped-up. Both worked, straight off the drawing-board. I THINK the lighter version was called the "Avon" as a marketing ploy when B.James put it into production, because the test-curve was about the same as their "Wallis Wizard" clone, the "Avon Perfection", although the MkIV Avon was shorter.
The story of the involvement of J.B. Walker's (no relation to **** Walker, and in Hythe, Kent if I recall aright)and B. James of Ealing is complicated and I've forgotten it! But J.B. Walker sold kits to make up yourself, and B.James sold ready-made rods. (Which is why I assumed that your Dad's was built on a J.B. Walker blank. I could EASILY be wrong!)
The highest-value rods are those made by **** Walker's own hands; then B.James rods signed by Walker in indian ink; then B. James with the signature on a varnish transfer, of which there were several slightly different versions (handle end shapes, whipping colours, etc.). Apparently , those on blanks built by Bob Southwell are rated the best of the production models, but I've no idea how you tell!

The history of the Mk VI carp rod is quite interesting.

The Mk I was a simple Wallis Wizard 11 footer with 12 inches cut off the tip. The Mk II was a 10 footer with a straight taper. The Mk III was a rather heavy double built split cane 10 footer that Walker thought was just too expensive to make. However He did catch qite a few carp with it.

The Mk VI was single built and had a compound taper. The butt was stiff and the tip tapered off to enable very light baits to be cast. Most of Walkers friends liked the Mk VI version very much and thought it was the best of the lot.

Walker did not make many of the original Mk VIs - about 12 I think. Bob Southwell made quite a few for **** at the time.

The first commercially available Mk IVs were of course made by B James of Ealing.

The first batch of these rods were sent to Walker for approval. He put his name on them personally with indian ink. If you can get hold of the ones signed by Walker or made on Southwell blanks you have something of real value.

Of course the Mk VI and Mk VI Avons became very popular and eventually B James had a transfer made of Walker's signature.

JB Walker of course supplied split cane blanks and a complete kit for making the Mk VI and Mk VI Avon. I made two rods with these kits.

About the middle 50s the quality of split cane began to deteriorate. And about this time B James actually increased the diameters of the Mk VI carp rod to give a test curve near 2lbs, not 1 1/2 lbs as was the case with the original Mk VI.

For many years I used the Mk VI Avon for most of my legering and caught all sorts of fish with it. But they eventually suffered from a pronounced "set". Many of us in the mid 60s converted to fibreglass and to tell the truth, lots of these old Mk VIs ended up in the skip!

Oh, hell, you mean that one that **** Walker built could be on a Southwell blank, same as a B. James? Confusing doesn't begin to describe it!

One interesting aspect of the B James rods was that they had very close intermediate whippings which must have added a great deal of labour and cost to the rod. Walker argued that these whippings were not necessary as urea formaldehyde glues used then negated such tyings.

About 1962, I wrote to B James to find out if they would make me a Mk VI without all those whippings. I never got an answer.

But the tackle trade was adamant. They were in agreement that to sell split cane rods you had to have lots of whippings.

Inetersting in the light that Walker's original rods had no intermediate whippings at all.

By the way, The Mk II was probably the rod made by Maurice Ingham on JB Walker blanks which features in the great book - Drop Me a Line.

It's likely Alan.

The best account of the history of these rods is in Kevin Clifford's book - "A History of Carp Fishing"

One thing I will say is that Southwell blanks were probably the finest bits of split cane ever made.

There were all sorts of political problems with China in the mid 1950s that interfered with the importation of Tonking canes to the UK. Good cane became exceedingly scarce.

By the way, another bit of interest.

In 1963, Walker showed me a way of telling good split cane.

Tap the rod on your forehead. If you heard a certain "ring" to the tap, it was good cane. If it was a dull thud, it was rubbish.