life expectancy of cane...

[yashuone]

i have a question and since there seems to be a wealth of knowledge concerning cane rods here i figured i'd throw it on out there for you guys. I have been told that the grace and feel of a cane rod is unmatched (never fished one) but that it has one downfall for the active angler... that downfall being that there is a limited number of casts in a cane rod. the way it was explained to me was that over time and use repetitive casting will make the cell walls of the bamboo break down and will lead to slower and slower action 'til you're left with a noodle of a rod. this theory seems to make sense but i'm figuring this is false with the number of people here that refinish old cane rods. if it is true and you don't know the life that the rod had before it came to your hands, isn't the effort in refinishing a gamble? so what's the truth?

[AgMD]

First let me encourage you to come to the Feb. meeting/bamboo casting night. Last year we had some real sweet sticks and everyone got to cast anything they wanted.
Your question-- Bergman wrote a description of the "Break down" process that cane is supposed to go through and I have read much the same thing elsewhere. About a year back there was an extensive thread on this, on Clarks Bamboo Board. I believe the general opinion was-- 'taint so.
There are LOTS of rods out there from the 20's and 30's that are being fished today with little if any indication of loss of action. Modern reproductions of old tapers seem to match the older originals in action, suggesting that the old rods are still much like they were when new.
Please understand that this assumes that the rod has not been abused. Poor storage can ruin an old rod as easily as a screen door can. It just doesn't look as obvious.
Calcutta cane ( soft action) was used until sometime after the first world war and as recently as the 20's rods of "wet fly action" were still made. These ARE very soft , wet noodle action. I'll bring one next month.
AgMD

[FishinCane]

I'm by no means an expert on the subject but I can offer this.... I've built a few cane rods over the years and will be the first to admit that I abuse the heck out of them. Rod #1 was built 6 years ago and has been fished hard all those years. It's landed 100+ trout, been submerged in water and not dried off, and stored in the back of my sweltering hot truck each summer strung up and un-cased. It looks like hell and has a set in the tip but still has the same feel as day 1.

Extended care like this will lead to the finish wearing off and then all bets are off...

I think an issue with some of the older rods are the glues and finishes available at the time they were built.

[yashuone]

awesome! thanks for the info. i'd love to go to the meeting but that's somewhere in the range of a four hour drive for me. i'll keep track of when you folks meet up and try to coordinate with one of my visits to western mass, my family lives in greenfield.

[JoeOverlock]

Strbender might car pool with you if you change your mind, Yash.