Pressing nodes

[Hovis]

I am in the process of building my very own cane landing net handle but my question is now I have heated and straighten the cane do I need to press the node before I bake it to give it strength?

If so how and why is this done?

Help please!

[CrayCane]

Are you using a whole cane section to make the handle? If so, there is no need to press the nodes, in fact I would think it impossible without crushing the cane. Pressing the nodes is usually done on the individual cane strips of built cane so that outer surface of each strip is completely flat.

Pete

[Hovis]

No it's whole cane.

Does this mean I can just bake the cane to add strenght the add whippings of my choice?

[CrayCane]

Yes, you could just take off the sharp ridges on the nodes with a file without going too far into the cane.

Pete

[Nobby]

The idea of pressing nodes when making the strips that will be assembled into built cane is to not breach the fibres that run up the cane. These fibres take a route around the swelling of a leaf node that would see them cut if you just planed the strip flat, with out first 'pressing' the nodes to get those fibres into a straight line through the node area.

That said, you do see the nodes of whole cane butt rods just filed flat in a way that surely riskd cuttingm those fibres.


Whole cane landing net handles ( built cane seems to be a modern .... and heavy .... invention ) seem usually to have been flamed on a small jet resulting in a leopard-skin pattern, or not at all.

I have an idea that a different ype of whole cane was used to that which rods were made from. The few that I have are as hard as iron! They have very little bend in them and are also quite heavy by comparison to 'rod making' whole cane, though still far lighter than built cane. This might be wrong, it's just an impression gained form the few that I have owned.

[Hovis]

I looked long and hard for my cane but eventually settled on a little suppliers called B&Q

It’s quite flexible but I am hoping a heat “bake” is going to stiffen it up a bit.

[Nobby]

I had always thought that heating cane did this, we certainly read much that says it does...



A pal of mine who makes his own rods has made two Mark IV Avons to the exact tapers Richard Walker gave.

One he made in blond cane, just heating the insides of the split sections, befor planing and 'building' the split cane.


The second he flamed the cane all over thoroughly. The result is dark, dark cane remeniscent of an Oliver's rod or something by Southwell ( the former was after all the latter's apprentice ).

You can't tell the two rods apart in action!


Maybe, just maybe, the dark one is a touch stiffer, but put on a blindfold, have a pal pass you one and have a waggle.......you'll be lucky to tell which is which.


I suspect landing net handles were made from a different species of bamboo, but who knows?...maybe that's just what B&Q have in stock.

[CrayCane]

If this site is correct Nobby, http://www.bs-bamboo.co.uk/bamboo_about.html the cane frequently sold for gardens maybe is 'Tonkin' cane.

Baking cane has been shown to reduce the likelihood of the bamboo to take a set, 'though there are arguments as to how much heat and for how long before there is damage to the bamboo.

Pete

[Paul Cook]

You will need to knock the nodes out from the inside of a bamboo pole as the heat build up tends to get trapped internally between the nodes and will cause cracks to appear in these areas . It is a laborious job doing this but with the aid of a good strong steel pole slim enough to fit internally within the bamboo and then hammered down to knock away the node segments . You may get lucky when heaing it up and no cracks will appear but no guarantee .

[Nobby]

That's interesting Paul, because the number of whole cane butt rods that have a split near the node ( not yours of course .... don't send the boys round ) is substantial.