Coffee Can Rod

[Swami805]

So it's laminated wood? The metal rod is a nice wrinkle

[Bill B]

Wow what a history behind this rod.  Thank you Joe for bringing all this to light. One thing I did notice was the seat was heavy!  No marking on the seat to indicate who made it.  Would this rod have been wrapped in silk?  Now I'm kinda stoked to restore this old rod and hang a trout on it......Bill

[oldmanjoe]

            I believe nylon thread    left over bow strings  .      Lakeland for the reel seat maybe.

[oc1]

It would be pretty interesting to know exactly when wrapping thread transitioned from silk to nylon.  Nylon was brand new and experimental in 1937.  Surely too soon.  Nylon was more broadly introduced to the public at the New York World's Fair in 1939.  By 1940 women's silk stockings were being replaced by nylon stockings.  Then, as our relationship with Japan deteriorated, Japanese silk was boycotted.  Silk gut leader material changed from Japanese silk suppliers to Spanish silk suppliers at that time, but they didn't switch to nylon.  As we prepared for war, all nylon production was diverted for war use.

Maybe the answer is that wrapping thread during that period was neither nylon nor silk.  They just used old stock or made-do with cotton or whatever.

After the war, it took a full year for nylon production to be opened up to domestic use.  The government and Dupont finally relaxed restrictions in September 1946 in response to the Nylon (stocking) Riots.  So, nylon rod wrapping thread should have started showing up (again???) by early 1947.

The way to sort this out would be to examine rods of known vintage and check to see it they have silk or nylon wrapping.  Checking to see if the thread is silk or nylon is easy.  Having a sampling of rods with known vintage is more difficult.

-steve

[oldmanjoe]

Wow, good call Joe.  It is square, not hexagonal.  Just like the rods you made.
-steve

I make a D shape rod , i wanted to post a picture earlier but i just put a coat of boiled linseed oil on ,and could not handle it .
    first pic is a solid hickory stick "closet dowel rod "  and bamboo 11 strip in the back round .
   second pic is the 11 strip { 9 horizontal and 2 vertical }
   third pic is the 10 strip in the middle that i am working on .

[Gfish]

Nice! More...

[oc1]

Refresh my memory Joe.  You were turning the wheel as the piece of bamboo fed into the planer and tapering every strip???
-steve

[oldmanjoe]

   Yes i did rough taper strips with a bench top planer , then cleaned up with a belt sander .
  before glue up.    The thread https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=22082.0

[thorhammer]

Bill, reel seat may be a Struble.