Restoring a cane rod - Dawsons of Sheffield

I've got a few split cane rods including a Chapmans 500 ten foot Avon around 1lb test curve that I love to use chubbing and mullet fishing as it gives plenty of softness without losing any strength.

The rod needed re-varnishing and while I was in the UK for a week I took it to Dawsons of Sheffield for restoration. On the phone he had quoted two to three weeks so it would entail shipping back to France by courier. In the event they pulled out all the stops and got is ready by the time I was leaving. I collected it 6 days after leaving it with them as I headed south to the Channel. That saved me £16 postage.

The total package was for stripping and re-varnishing leaving the original whippings intact, a new top cork ring and a new screw in tip ring. The cost was a measly £20. Far less than I had expected.

So, I would like to give a big thumbs up to Dawsons of Sheffield and recommend them to anyone needing work on their rods.

While I was there I also picked up a handy little 6' fibreglass quiver rod that will be perfect for chubbing on small rivers and a bargain at twenty quid.

nicepix said:

The total package was for stripping and re-varnishing leaving the original whippings intact, a new top cork ring and a new screw in tip ring. The cost was a measly £20. Far less than I had expected.

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That is not only brilliant service but also a superb price.

Thanks for the 'heads up' and I'll make a note of them for the future.

I live pretty near to Dawsons and it's a great shop: Mr Dawson is a gent, too. I snapped the very end off a spliced tip rod a couple of weeks back and they popped on a new tip there and then for a fiver. I bought an old cane rod off ebay a while ago, and it needs some work doing - I sense that there is a journey down to Hillsborough in my near future...

Peter Jacobs said:

That is not only brilliant service but also a superb price.

Thanks for the 'heads up' and I'll make a note of them for the future.

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Forgot to mention that they cleaned and polished the brass ferrules too f.o.c.

They also do float making stuff if anyone wants to have a go at making their own.

Dawsons-- along with Billy Clarks , are one/two of the more long established tackle shops in Sheffield.
Both Dave Dawson and Billy Clarke carried on the shops that had been founded by their fathers/grandfathers.
If its likely to be a hard to find item of tackle both are as good a shop to start your search.:w
Some five or so years ago now I restored a very old cane rod that had been found in a cellar of a derilict house-- I wanted one high bells runner and on asking DD just opened a small drawer and said "one of these".
It must have lain there for decades.
The rod incidentally was far to brittle to use--even tho I was tempted so I gave it to the landlord of a local pub who has vintage items of tackle on his pub walls, it hangs between an eel spear and a very anciant pike gag n gaff.

It was the same with my cane rod. I wanted the tip ring changing for a screw thread one, and Dave's son produced just the right one to match the rest of the rod.

Got some big zoomers too. Going to show these Frogglies how to float fish the far bank of a 30 metre wide river. Pole fishing my arris