Of the Dictionary Author’s Definition of Angling

Dr. Samuel Johnson, defined angling, as a silly thing, practised by a fool at one end of a rod and line, with a worm at the other. Many stupid people still adhere to this very stupid definition. With the practice of angling they associate nothing beyond worms, punts, patience, cold and wet, a […]

Of the Manufacture of the Bamboo Rod

Just consider successively the details of manufacture. First there is the cane. It has to be selected, it has to be purchased, it has to be seasoned, and seasoning is an operation which takes very considerable time; and on the question of  selection the judgment of a thoroughly experienced workman and judge of this […]

What to do with Dunnage?

Some years ago a vessel from the East Indies discharged a cargo of sugar at this port. For dunnage to the cargo, which was in mats, large bamboos, some even six inches through, had been used. When the vessel had discharged, these were thrown out upon the dock. A friend secured two or three pieces, […]

Leonard Production Output and Price

It is probable that the total output of strictly first-class custom fly rods since Hiram L. Leonard made the first one is today not greatly in excess of 100,000 and that the current output is nearer 2,500 rods a year than 5,000. As to price, Leonard’s first rods sold for $35 in a time when […]

Leonard and “Tonkin” Cane

Leonard was, if possible, even more secretive about his third contribution to the modern fly rod-the use of Tonkin cane as a rod-making material. Tonkin (a misnomer), the bamboo used for fly rods today, is a thick walled and heavy-fibered cane found in China which, weight for weight, is unequaled for elasticity and resilience by […]

The Leonard Beveler

Chief of the several machines which he invented was the "beveler," which Leonard had in use certainly in 1877 and probably in 1876. It cut the triangular, tapered strips, six of which go into each section of a rod. It cut-and still cuts, for makers of Leonard, Thomas, and Payne rods, and maybe others, still […]

Leonard “Firsts”

He was the first man to make, in 1871 or 1872, a six-strip rod instead of the four-strip construction previously used. Anyone who can calculate things like longitudinal shear and bent-beam stresses can prove by immutable mathematical principles that the six-strip rod of hexagonal cross section is inherently the best. I can’t. But it is.
Leonard […]