The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Inspired by Walker type nets produced by members of this forum, I thought I would have a go at making one myself..

I decided to try and machine the hinge block first as I knew this would be the hardest part, having only limited machining skills and a lathe of dubious antiquity.
My lathe was deemed 'worn out' and sold for scrap, just after the war. I purchased it, completely dismantled, in a wooden crate, in the early 1970's and paid
the princely sum of a fiver for it. It took me a whole winter of evenings, cleaning off decades of rust, painting it and trying to work out how it went back together.. happy days.

The hinge block is almost finished now, but full credit must go to Watermole, because without his excellent step by step tutorial, I couldn't have done it...
So, thank you Watermole Sir

Before I can drill the block for the hinge pins, The arms need to be made along with the associated metalwork. I intend to use Greenheart for the arms, because it's what is to hand.
3/4" has been allowed for the depth of the arms at the hinge block and I thought 1/2" would be thick enough? and perhaps taper the arms to about 1/2 deep at the cord end and about 3/8" thick?
I like the look of Dicks net in the photograph, on here somewhere, of the arms under tension from the cord, in a graceful curve.
The arms will be 30" long, as I read somewhere that Dicks first net was this size and will be plenty big enough for anything I am likely to catch.

Your thoughts regarding arm dimensions, or any other aspect of the net, would be appreciated, thanks.

Looking Quality Already !

I think you will find that Northen Nomad is the TFF Member who has the knowledge on all such matters concerning all versions of these nets - dimensions - tooling - technique etc. I know he has made several exact versions; all superb !

Looking good so far good to see you have a Zeus book, what a handy thing they are

Does anyone know if the angle for the sides of the spreader block is 30 degrees please?
Or put another way is the finished net an equilateral triangle?

Any help is appreciated as I am stuck on this one, it's just that the nets I have seen,
appear to have arms that are longer than the distance between arm tips (length of cord)

Not sure on arm length either, was going for 30"... any thoughts please.

Crucian,

If you'd like to drop me a PM with your email I'll dig out and send you the engineering drawings of the key components I created with the measurements taken from Walker's original drawings.

Crucian wrote:Does anyone know if the angle for the sides of the spreader block is 30 degrees please?
Or put another way is the finished net an equilateral triangle?

Any help is appreciated as I am stuck on this one, it's just that the nets I have seen,
appear to have arms that are longer than the distance between arm tips (length of cord)

Not sure on arm length either, was going for 30"... any thoughts please.

I am fairly certain that the original intention was-as you suggest-that the net should form an equilateral triangle and to that end, I made my trifling efforts all with 60degree corners..it also makes the maths easier!
I think that some nets may appear to be not so because of slackness in the spreader block fitting, causing the arms to pull inwards.

The arm length was originally 30" but was increased to 36" shortly afterwards, when Dick realized that what was swimming around in 'Redmire' might not squeeze in...!
I find that 30" arms are quite capacious enough for the great majority of fish most of us are ever likely to catch.

As far as I can ascertain from "Drop me a Line" and Chris Ball's original sketches, the arms are in the region of 3/4" x 1/2" at the strapped ends to 1/2" x 3/8" at the net cord ends, tapered continuously over either 30" or 36" as you choose, though these are fairly flexible measurements by the look of things.
As you are making your arms from greenheart, it helps to put a little radius on the edges, to minimise the possibility of a splinter fracture, not that one would occur in normal use. Out of interest, the first net I made, dead-lifted a 30lbs. weight under test, without fracturing! Greenheart is a wonderful material, but do check it for flaws first.

Thank you for your kind words by the way, you are making an excellent job so far and I am sure that Dick would be quite proud that people like you are honouring his memory..Well done!

Sorry for being a bit slow in responding lately; If I can be of any use to you in your project, do not hesitate to ask..

With regards,

wm+

Watermole, thank you once again, that is exactly the information I needed.

Thanks also for all the kind words gentlemen, it's appreciated.

Beresford, pm sent, thanks.

Hi Crucian,

I notice I had a mention on this thread, but have been away on holiday so not seen it until now. Thank you Barbulus for the kind words.

As per the advice you have recieved you now have some of the dimensions you were looking for, plus if you have taken up Beresford's kind offer you will also have some nice CAD drawings to work from.

The nets I make/have made/am making, are a bit different in that they are as near true replica's as I can get them. To this end I have done a lot of research into all the various incarnations of these nets from Walker's original, to other professional manufacturers and also amatuer builds by well known anglers of the past. To this end the arms are made of laminated cane and as such are thinner than the solid wooden ones discussed so far, although the same depth. This is part weight saving and part due to the inherent strength of the laminated arms against any stress across the grain. This lighter design, coupled with a longer 36" ("Redmire") arm makes them look quite slender and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

As per the spreader block, Richard Walker was very relaxed about the angle of the spreader block and only gave a vague reference over quite a few degrees of variance, and actually stated this angle is about xx degrees! It is the only mesurement on his drawings which is not exact. This is due to the fact that a greater angle will give a wider net, as will a lesser angle give a longer net. He went to some pains to sketch this on the document. The bowed arm look will depend on the block angle to cord length ratio, which is infinitely variable. Walker's rationale is you build it how you like it. With attempting to replicate an exact look I soon found out that a near straight arm was more authentic on a B. James variant, whereas an early Walker variant looked more accurate with a slight bowed look ( although there are lots of pics around with him and his net showing a straight arm! )

In essence it is up to you. However one of the advantages of using bamboo strips for the arms as per the original, is that these can be given a slight curve in the construction phase before glueing the laminates together, thereby giving the bowed appearance but not relying on the extra tension on the drawcord. The tighter the drawcord, the harder to assemble and the more stress put on the bolt threads during the tightening up process until it is fully home.

Lots of info and help from members on this, but if you want my two pennies worth, don't hesitate to ask.

PS: Two of these are original and around 60 - 65 years old. The other is about 18 months old
No prizes for the correct answer as it is on another thread on here



Rgds

Neil

Hi Northern Nomad,

Thanks for the advice and further information, it's much appreciated. Your nets look superb.

What a good forum this is.. I have asked for advice and help on several occasions now and the response has been terrific. Thank you all.

Have made further progress and the metal work is now almost finished, decided to make 36" arms in the end as I can always shorten them if needed,
but can't make them longer...I will admit though, the size of it was a bit of a shock when first assembled.

Will post some more photo's in a couple of days.

Best regards to all,
Crucian.