CRESSY CANE

A Celebration of Australian Bamboo Rodmaking

2017 Photo Gallery

Click on photos to view larger images and captions

Peter McKean - 26/11/42 - 19/11/16

Ruth McKean with David Anderson at Peter McKean's Memorial

Welcome!

Casting is a common theme at Cressy Cane

Introductions in the classroom

Dark chocolate flaming and melted butter blonde rods.

"Rod Tasting" notes at the rod swap exercise

Peter McKean rods.

Peter Austin and Mark Rampant share a moment.

Fred von Reibnitz deep in thought

The exercise!

Dicussing the exercise!

And more casting

Flaming driving the moisure out of bamboo. What was that, Bob?

John Herriot shares his experiences on his rapid learning curve.

Graham Foxman talks about his approach to rodmaking.

An exquisite Graham Foxman rattan grip

Garry "Hairy" Castles gently conveys a lifetime of sharpening wisdom.

Another stupendous sunset over the casting pool

The lodge creek

Don Urquhart, budding rodmaker...

Every rodmaker needs one of these...

Program of Events

Welcome and introduction - David Hemmings

Morning Reading - Schwiebert - David Anderson

Rod Tapers - Nick Taransky
Nick will discuss types of tapers. Progressive. Complex. Parabolic and how changing tapers can be achieved by Hex rod or by intuition and experience.

Interpretation of Rod Graphs - Boris Gaspar
Stress curves. Dimension Graphs. What are these graphs and what do they mean? What is a stress graph anyway? Boris will explore this information.

Casting with Cane – Two Extremes - Peter Hayes
Peter will compare and contrast a full bending rod and a tip action cane rod. He will discuss tip path, loop shape and changes to the casting stroke.

Hex Rod - Boris Gaspar
Hexrod is a free computer resource with a large number of tapers available. Further, by utilizing stress curves, rod tapers can be altered – length increased or decreased. Rod weight increased or decreased. Two piece to 3 piece.

“The Exercise”
One of the most popular and valuable educational presentations has been comparing and contrasting different rod types. Eg; Fast. Slow. Parabolic. Etc.
Now simply called ‘The Exercise” This is the first of two sessions on comparing different styles of rods. Here we look at the very popular length of rods from 7’0” to 7’6”

Panel Discussion - David Anderson
Following on from today’s program concerning Rod Tapers.
David will lead this open question and answer session with an invited panel of experts - Boris Gaspar, Mark Rampant, Jim Morris. Et al.

Gin & Tonic at the Casting Pool

Node Work – Practical Session - Graham Foxman
Graham will demonstrate aspects of node work including compressing nodes, removing nodes and node staggering

Guides – Types, Preparation & Spacing - Jim Morris
Jim has built hundreds of rods. Cane, Fibreglass and graphite.
He will discuss the various types of guides, the preparation, the number, the fitting and placement of guides

Hex Rod - Boris Gaspar
Boris will explore Hex rod in more depth with examples of rods altered using the program

Casting with Cane – Fishing Casts and Accuracy - Peter Hayes
Peter will discuss and demonstrate casts that catch fish. Quick and accurate delivery with appropriate presentation.

“The Exercise”
This time we will compare and contrast a wide range of different rods. This is an opportunity to cast and make notes to discuss in the classroom

Rattan Grip Handles - Graham Foxman
A practical demonstration of beautiful Rattan grips and a discussion of different Grip materials. Eg; Cork. Wood. Cane.

Peter McKean Memorial - David Anderson

Lessons Learned - John Herriott
John is the human equivalent of the Baginski beveller. He made his first rod in 2014 and went on to make a further nineteen in his first year! John says that this topic should be “Mistakes made” rather than lessons learnt. Something that we can all relate to.

Plane Maintenance and Sharpening - “Hairy” Castles
Hairy has a collection of over a thousand wood planes. That’s right- 1000 ! He will demonstrate and discuss general maintenance and sharpening

Casting with Cane – Long Drift Leader (LDL) Fishing - Peter Hayes
This Japanese technique of casting and fishing has been developed with deep actioned Bamboo rods, originating from tapers like the Paul Young “Perfectionist”. This technique requires exquisite casting accuracy with collapsed leader delivery to allow unbelievable drag free presentation.

Rod Restoration - Nick Taransky
Nick will discuss faithful rod restoration. This session will also include rod care and repair.

Discussion for future workshops and feedback - David Hemmings

Gin & Tonic at Haysies Creek

2017 Cressy Cane - 6 - 8 October

In November 2016, we lost Peter McKean, our elder statesman of contemporary rodmaking here in Australia. 2017's Cressy Cane gave us the chance to celebrate his life and contribution to Australian rodmaking. David Anderson made a lovely memorial to Peter to hang on the wall at Cressy, so he will always be keeping an eye on what we are up to. He will be remembered and missed.

The technical focus of the 2017 program was rod tapers, and specifially how they could be analysed and modified using the online Hexrod program.

(The Program of Events for the year is listed here with the Gallery images below)