I had decided that I wanted a cane net for carp fishing to compliment my cane MKIV’s.
Problem number 1 was that there were few available and any that came up for sale, were extremely eye wateringly expensive. Solution was to make one myself.
Problem number 2 was where and how to get the materials. OK as problems go this was probably the easiest to solve and I had made a conscious decision to recycle and scrounge wherever possible. I set myself a goal to try to come in cost wise under £50.
Problem number 3 was working environment and tools. I would like to say that I have a luxurious and spacious custom designed workshop. I don’t. Full stop. End of.
I was fortunate enough to have a cellar in my house that serves as general workshop. Tools for this task weren’t complex. I could rustle up a Black and Decker type drill, an old vertical stand for it, which was a car boot purchase and a vintage item in its own right, a hacksaw, various files, a plane, fret saw and a few drill bits. My only luxury item was a cheap B&Q jig saw on a Wolfcraft saw bench, which actually saw little action after the opening round.
Problem number 4 was identifying just what was the design going to be. Was it a replica? Was it function over substance? Above all how could I adapt a design of a net which I had no clear photo’s, with limited tools, into a working net which would do the job.
I had already decided that I wanted laminated arms and so a length of bamboo was purchased from a garden centre. I didn’t want a modern spreader block arrangement where the arms push into a hollow in a block but rather a block which would push down on the arms under pressure of a screw and hold everything in place so some aluminium plate was “acquired” (more of later). The screw bolt for the block was a problem I couldn’t solve so I pushed it to the back of my mind and collected all the other bits to get ready to start. Another problem was the receiving ferrule for the handle and was also put in the “too difficult” tray and left there until a later date. These two items, the screw bolt and ferrule were later to be my undoing but lead ultimately to my MK2 model being born
Problem number 5 was that eternal problem of time. Speaking of eternal, this problem was solved by religion. Well, not quite directly but in the way that Christmas (2012) came round and gave me time off from work to celebrate it. Years of previous male ineptitude whilst shopping with the Director of Finance, Housing and Discipline resulted in her grandly announcing that she was fed up of my constant foot dragging around the shops and my unerring ability to fall through pub doorways if left unsupervised for more than a few seconds, I therefore was to be banished to the house whilst herself, her mother, and my daughter would do all the pre festive shopping themselves and I would be given a list of jobs to do at home – result!
With the actual build I started by drawing out the outline of the net on a piece of flat board. I had decided on having 42” arms. This was to be a working net and functional. I had got used to using a modern 42” and as it wasn’t a replica I decided to keep this size.
On drawing out the triangle shape of the net I wished I had taken more of an interest when at school to the bald headed fat bloke who would drone on about the square on the hypotenuse being equal to two birds in the bush, or the angles of a triangle never gathering moss or some such incomprehensible drivel. Anyway eventually I had the angles drawn out in relation to arm length and transposed onto the material.
Speaking of material, the aluminium sheet was an old “no parking sign” from a wall on an adjacent building to my workplace. It had been involved in an altercation with a lorry and whilst noticing it was a similar thickness to my requirements it fell off – honest Guv! The upshot of this was when the contractors arrived to repair the lorry rash, they saw the cars now parked there and by the time they had departed they had repaired the wall and painted parking bay lines along its length! Anyone who has suffered by over zealous clampers – enjoy the next pic!
Once cut out the pieces were drilled for both fixing holes and weight saving holes. The middle sandwich of hardwood was drilled through and the two outer aluminium plates were drilled, countersunk and aluminium rod pushed through to rivet it in place. Both faces were then painstakingly draw filed, emery clothed and finally polished with wire wool to provide flush riveting and a smooth satin finish. The two larger tooled out weight saving holes were lined with 15mm copper pipe for a neat finish. Pics are quite poor but once finished it looked quite neat.
Next job was the arms.
Strips of bamboo were cut and then heated up with a blow lamp and straightened. Once this was done they were cut to size and planed to shape. Each arm consisted of three strips shaped and tapered both along the length and thickness for a double taper. Taking a leaf out of the rod builder’s book, the outer two lengths were only planed on the inside of the wood not the face side where the enamel gives it its strength.
The nodes were staggered so as to avoid weak points throughout its length. Once finished the 3 laminates were carefully glued and pressed between two pieces of wood using a vice and clamps along it lengths.
These were then left to cure as I returned to the Christmas festivities to earn some more brownie points with the family. Once set the arms were then smoothed off and finished along the edges and the nodes given a very light skim so they weren’t too proud but not enough to compromise strength.
I still had no idea how I was going to address the bolt and handle ferrule problem. I decided to try and buy a suitable bolt from various sources – vintage motorcycle or car sites, angling company sites etc to no avail. (I know, I know – I should have joined a forum for traditionalist anglers and got name of manufacturers from there! Sometimes I am incredibly thick!).
I was about to start on the yellow pages, when in an on-line conversation with a tackle manufacturer he said they could make one for me, although they would only do it in brass not aluminium. I agreed to this and told the chap concerned the required measurements. I was to regret this and would have been better off with a small engineering firm sourced via the local yellow pages.
The bolt eventually came through the post. It cost me £15 which was my highest outlay so far. On unwrapping it I was mildly under whelmed to say the least. My bespoke landing net bolt was in fact a bit of 3/8 20 tpi brass thread with a round bit badly brazed on the end. The half hearted attempt at knurling the head was of a standard that would have seen a school metalwork project to be returned to a student with instructions to try harder next time. To add insult to injury it was not long enough. The overall thread length had been reduced as it had been measured before the head was brazed on therefore being about 3/8 short of actual thread once the thickness of the head was taken into account. This would later cause problems. If anyone reading this ever has to deal with getting parts machined or fabricated, make sure you send them a drawing with dimensions on and never trust someone taking measurements over the phone.
Although I was happy to build the handle myself less the brass ferrule, a handle came up on ebay which I got for £15. It was a two part which was handy for in the boat and on closer inspection, of very good quality and I suspect it was actually a Pezon Michel unless anyone wishes to correct me. (Picture below is of a generic one not mine which didn’t come with a net head.)
As this was my second expensive purchase (relatively) I was a bit more pleased after the bolt fiasco. Unfortunately although a very good piece of craftsmanship, it’s vintage heritage in how it was built coupled with the shoddy and too short bolt would soon bring problems home to roost.
The mesh for this net was to have no real nod towards being vintage. The waters I fished stipulated that only the micromesh free-flow type meshes could be used. Rather than just use a mesh with sleeves which would hide the cane arms I decided to cut off the sleeves and use cord to attach it to the arms. The following pics show it in various stages of attachment. A more traditional mesh could be obtained at a later date if I wished, but as I couldn’t use them on my present fisheries it wasn’t a matter of any urgency to source.
The finished net was duly tried out and functioned well. It wasn’t perfect and a couple of points annoyed me, mainly it was fiddly to set up and a bit unbalanced. However it did its job as the next couple of pics bear out.
By now I had used the net for a couple of sessions when it became apparent that all was not well resulting in the head and block parting company from the handle whilst attempting to land a lively carp. Luckily another angler was on the lake and was summoned to help out and the fish landed and duly put back. (“summoned” makes out it was calm and collected…the reality was a panicked yell which nearly caused a heart attack!)
Luckily the arms and block were all still joined together and with a bit of wading and poking around in the water with the handle I was able to retrieve it. A quick look revealed what had happened. The ferrule on the handle was not as I’d assumed, of a solid one piece construction. It was in fact a brass tube which had had a metal plug which had been drilled and tapped to take the bolt and then soldered into the top of the tube. A brass disc had then been swaged into the top for a neat finish. A perfectly acceptable engineering solution when it was made years ago with its intended smaller net head. My larger net head had put more strain on it and the fact the dodgy bolt was only just engaged inside the unit, and didn’t go through into the handle at all, meant it was doomed to eventually throw its hand in under the law of physics that all of us on a spinning planet must pay observance to.
Time for repairs, though I think I had already made up my mind that I needed a mk2 version
This time I decided to go along with a better design, more aligned to a true Richard Walker design with articulated arms on a pivot piece and a separate block with similar locking properties to my MK1 design. At the same time I would iron out the faults with both the bolt and ferrule and also thin out the arms as they have proved to be way beyond my expectations strength wise.
Having the design fix in my mind, I started out on the arms. The current arms were sawn carefully down the length with a fret saw. Once again working from the inside, surplus material was taken away to produce two tapered sections. A thinner inner laminate was made and all 3 glued together in the same manner as before. The resultant arms were much thinner now but still incredibly strong. On placing both arms in the palm of my hand I was once again amazed by the genius of Richard Walker as it was apparent how light these cane arms were. The ends of the arms were rounded off at the thicker end where they would pivot in the bottom block. Once this was achieved the vertical faces were bound with a brass strip as per original Walker nets. A hole was drilled through the arm ends from top to bottom to facilitate the bolts that would hold them in place. As I had never seen a Walker net in the flesh I decided to drill this hole oversize and insert a brass bush with the correct internal diameter to accept the pivot bolts and thus prevent the holes elongating through metal against wood contact throughout its lifetime. The arms were then whipped in claret thread at the nodal points and the brass strips which had been glued in place were further secured and aesthetically finished with claret whipping. I was pleased with the newer, slimmer, lighter arms. I don’t have pictures of the arms detached but later pics show these in situ on the pivot bar and block.
Next in line was the pivot bar or block. This is the piece of the head which accepts the two arms and allows them to pivot in an articulated fashion. It can be a straight bar or can be modelled to reflect the style of the net. I had decided to make this in a certain style which hopefully would be pleasing to the eye. This was made by drilling around the outline on a block of aluminium, hack sawing through the holes and then a copious amount of hand filing. The use of aluminium coupled with brass has a certain look reminiscent of Victorian designs and the later art deco style as seen between the two World War years. Post World War 2 there was a period of austerity which encompassed the more functional utilitarian wartime look. I decided that a mixture of these styles would be attempted and an elongated, flat bottomed triangle design with sharp, defined edges was the way to go. Below is the result
Next thing which was attempted was the actual spreader block. The block was made of hardwood with aluminium sides and complementing brass screws hold it together. I decided on a sharp edged block. Earlier trials had shown a block which had the outer aluminium edges extended to the edge of the line of the arms looked a bit clunky, and if a dead size would wear the arms easily, but if given extra clearance it looked ill fitting. I reduced the block size slightly giving it an indented look and along with chamfered edges it sat nicely, worked seamlessly and I found pleasing to the eye and the starkness of the aluminium against the more vulgar brass gave the period look I was striving for.
Arms, pivot block and spreader block finished it was now back to my two problems of the bolt and ferrule. After the disappointment of the bolt saga I decided to see if I could get access to a lathe and turn my own. Access to a lathe turned out to be amazingly simple as it turned out and a local technical college being the place. I actually served an aborted 3 year engineering apprenticeship between 1973 and 1976 and it was nice to revisit dormant skills. (see note*) The bolt was duly turned, this time the correct size, in aluminium, knurled slotted head, in a standard 3/8 BSF 20 tpi thread.
(* I started my apprenticeship in engineering in the North West of England. At the time engineering as a career had about the same chance of longevity as a crows nest lookout on the Titanic. By the age of nineteen I was an expert on 3 day weeks, winters of discontent, electricity blackouts and ultimately redundancy. It resulted in me making my first adult decision and taking the Queens shilling and leaving both engineering and the place of my birth for good. My user name is a reference to this. Whilst engineering this net it exorcised a few past demons and made me realise that I enjoyed engineering things and it was the just a case of bad timing. I have since bought my own lathe on the strength of it for making small parts. Rather than buy a modern Asian made model I opted for a 1950’s solid British Myford. Just like traditional fishing tackle it’s well built, quirky and very expensive!)*
The ferrule for the handle was turned from a solid brass bar, drilled and tapped at 3/8 BSF to accept the head bolt and the handle shaft end had a the last 3/8” stepped down to a wafer thin band which was then serrated with snips to make a crowned style fitment as found on ferrules so as well as being glued in place it was also whipped tightly to the handle as well. Again I have no pics of this but it will become apparent on the final assembled pics.
As the same mesh was being used as described in the MK1 version the net was now finished. All that was required was assembly. I had tried each individual component with its mating piece only, and had not at this stage seen it in its full assembled state. I assembled all the various components and put the net together. As a working tool it sets up exceptionally well. It is light, has lovely balance and is a joy to use and should outlast my lifetime easily. The two piece handle is slightly longer than Richard Walkers stated length but this offsets the longer 42” arms perfectly. I personally like the aesthetics but as they say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so I’ll leave that with yourselves.
Total cost was:
Bamboo section £10
Brass Bolt (later discarded) £15
Handle £15
Aluminium bar £3
Brass bar £6
Varnish £8
All other bits were already available items at no cost outlay.
Total cost £57
Although this is now my net of choice for my carping I have decided to build a smaller version but this time a 100% accurate replica in every way. I have got this far to date and this will become a 2014/2015 project.
Can you se what it is yet?
Rgds
Neil
