Taking the set out of a cane blank

Sean Meeghan · Apr 23, 2010

I've been doing some restoration work of late and I've been working on a couple of blanks that have a bit of a droop. Conventional wisdom has it that gentle heat is the way to go and I've been reasonably succesful at getting a straight section by doing this. The problem is that this doesn't seem to last and if I bend the rod in the direction of the old set the set returns. If I bend it in the opposite direction the blank stays straight.

Obviously one way out of this is to reverse the rings on the blank, but is there another way? Once a blank has a set is it permanent or am I missing something?

the indifferent crucian · Apr 23, 2010

I think this means the outer power fibres have separated from one another and there is no way back.

This really is one when you should speak to the experts. No need to mention who to call Sean, you know who they are. Take your cheque book.

geoffmaynard · Apr 24, 2010

What about steaming? The moisture could help a rebonding of the fibres?

Cakey · Apr 24, 2010

I was taught to carry on fishing but when playing a fish turn the rod upside down until rod straightens which can take some time .
once its straight play fish with rod upside down now and then to keep it straight

Morespiders · Apr 25, 2010

Try bending it till you hear it breaking, that should straighten it out.
For a while.
Failing that Sean, bin the bloody thing

prettypictures · Apr 26, 2010

it all depends entirely whether the joint just has a set which is repairable by application of steam or as I have seen done holding over a hot air paint stripper .......... with care!! However if the joint has a set where the fibres have deteriorated to an extent when they are permanently damaged then your only recourse is the bin.

I have a collection of split cane rods nearly all s/h; when I examine one for purchase I very gently and slowly bend the top joint to near 90 degrees and then release it; if the joint springs back to it's original condition then the set is repairable or turn the rings around the other way; if the joint stays set at near 90 degrees and slowly resumes it's previous shape then the joint is shot.

These days with a ready supply of Tonkin cane you can get a replacement tip to order.

Care of split cane involves wiping it with a linseed coated cloth before fishing so that it waterproofs your rod in case of miniscule cracks in the varnish; it it has been involved in playing your P.B. fish and has a resultant set then straighten it as soon as you get home; dry the rod and don't store it in the garage or shed; I store my cane rods in the house either hanging up in their bags or flat on top of a cupboard.; glass and carbon are weather inert and can be shoved in the garage or shed.

Erm, my first post ... hi!

pp

Peter Jacobs · Apr 26, 2010

prettypictures said:
glass and carbon are weather inert and can be shoved in the garage or shed.

. . . . . . .. or the bin of course . . . . . .

[only joking . . . . . . ]

---------- Post added at 11:27 ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 ----------

prettypictures said:
Erm, my first post ... hi!

Welcome to FM

prettypictures · Apr 26, 2010

he he I can imagine whizz bang brand new carbons in the bin; that'll go down well.

ermm ...only joking too

ty for the welcome

pp

Sean Meeghan · Apr 26, 2010

Thanks Prettypictures and welcome to the site. I normally use steam or a hairdryer, but I have one blank that the set gradually returns to if bent. The strange thing is that if I pull it against the set then it stays straight. I'm going to re-ring it on the opposite side so hopefully Ill not have a problem, but it did make me wonder if I was doing something wrong.

Morespiders · Apr 26, 2010

Welcome Pretty, good bit of info mate.

prettypictures · Apr 26, 2010

'tis a pleasure to share info; you have an odd situation there Sean; lets hope the re-ring sorts it.

Funny how Split Cane captures the imagination; it isn't that there is anything wrong with modern tackle far from it but it gives me a buzz fishing and catching fish with a Split Cane rod of some nearly 50 years old; and Split Cane is much prettier than carbon

It is a great conversation starter when passerby anglers do a double take when they see my gear.

Good vintage tackle is a way better investment than ISAs safer than stocks and shares and increases in value guicker than gold and you can enjoy using it

Sorry I wandered off the thread a bit.

Peter ( my real name)

the indifferent crucian · Apr 28, 2010

I think from what Sean has said about his rod 're-setting', as it were, it means the fibres have separated on one side of the rod. If heating does not re-tune the cane it is damaged.

It sounds as though the other side is OK though, which isn't so suprising when you think about it. I'd certainly turn the cane over myself.

It all depends on whether or not you want perfection or a 'user' .... I'm a pensioner...I'd go for the latter

I have a few cane rods that don't exactly spring back to shape when bent. They are still beautiful to me, I still fish with them and I'm not planning to replace any tip sections just yet, but then I am a bit of a hoarder. I don't actually know how many rods I have but at least 15 of them are cane. And I love them all. The plan was to buy them, restore them as a hobby and sell them on......

Only I can't bring myself to sell them

rawson_perrin · May 8, 2010

Taking a long piece of wood and driving nails in a straight line along it at a couple of inch intervals can work.

Place the rod section on the nails and hang weights off the rod at each interval. It can take a couple of weeks but if you turn it 90 degrees every day or so it can have decent results.

Although as others have said, maybe if heating does very little, it is 'too far gone'.

I'm with Crucian though, just get out and carry on using it!

Cheers
Adam

Sean Meeghan · May 9, 2010

Thanks Adam. I'll give that method a go.

the indifferent crucian · May 9, 2010

I'm straightening the tip section of a rod out as we speak. I stick the counter ( male ferrule) in a long reach socket and stick the socket in the vice at around 25 degrees from horizontal.

I turn the rod section so the 'set' is upright and then weigh the rod down with a little bag of nightlite candles, adding or subtracting them to put a bend in the rod equal to that which it set...ie, if it has a 1 inch set, I set the section up so as to have a 1 inch pull downwards, a total of 2 inches.

If the set is in just one part of the section and not the whole length of it I stick a box under the section to allow it to bend only from the point the set starts.

It seems to take a couple of days, but I once got a greenheart tip straight this way after steaming it...and it had had a 18 inch bend in it

Honest.... 18 inches. Useless though...catch a fish and it stays bent for an hour or so

This has worked loads of times, but I suspect that in theory it shouldn't!

If a rod has a set some fibres may have compressed slightly, but I suspect it is mostly that some have stretched on the 'long' side of the bend. Bending the rod back again, might compress those stretched fibres a touch, but it seems to me that it is more likely to stretch those opposite and give me a floppy section.

Nevertheless it has worked and can be done without stripping a section to bare cane. If it fails out comes the old steam iron, running dryish.

the indifferent crucian · May 11, 2010

Update...half the set is gone. I shall have to be patient, I'm tempted to add to the weight, but I think time is really what's needed not more bending. It is a sideways set and more likely to be from bad storage over a long time, than miss-use.

I hope.

Graham Whatmore · May 11, 2010

All this setting and bending seems a lot of palaver for what is, after all, merely a tool to propel a lure and land a fish and not a problem with far superior carbon material. :w

Ducks head under coat and exits stage left

the indifferent crucian · May 11, 2010

You are quite right Graham. They are just tools. We shouldn't treat then like they were works of art.

It's just that, to me, some of them are. I'm a lost cause. Go on without me........

Sean Meeghan · May 11, 2010

They are tools, but some rods are tools in the same way a Stradivarius violin is a tool. I'm not saying all cane rods are perfect, but some cane rods definitely have a certain something. They do the same job as half a dozen other rods can, but whilst doing it they give you that little something extra.

I've got carbon rods that I enjoy using nearly as much as one or two of my cane rods, but not quite.

the indifferent crucian · May 15, 2010

Bah! After carefully removing a set from my latest rod, an Aspindales Suredale ( a sort of Avocet copy) I spent the evening with it in my lap with an Aeriel reel on it.

Sure enough the set has returned as I kept the reel and rod laying on their sides. At least the rod is christened now with some nice tench, roach and rudd.

It looks as though I'm not the first to use this rod with a centrepin. Ah well, I guess it's an honourable bend in a 60 year old rod. It's only 3/4 of an inch anyway.

Taking the set out of a cane blank

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