Stiffened cloth rod bags

[creakycane]

I’ve noticed a few rodmakers use fairly stiff cloth for rod bags. Not harsh, but stiff enough to not fall back in the tubes.
After having a few rods with cloth so soft it slips under gravity and leaves tips exposed, i was wondering if the cloth is treated to make it stand by itself (starch?), or is it in the cloth?
You can tell I have a very interesting life by entertaining such momentous questions on a Friday AM!
Anyway, happy spring to all. TIA

[Caneghost]

Thomas & Thomas got it right when they began including a full length stiffener rod sewn into their rod bags.

The canvas bags stand up well. A lot of old original Granger bags started out short and are light fabric, so...

Happy spring to you!

[Bill Terry]

I have addressed this problem by sewing end flaps onto the flimsy bags.

[Northern Angler]

Don Schroeder sews a stiffener in his bags. It is a nice functional feature. Mike

[mer]

Garrison book talks about sewing in a short piece of bamboo if the sections are unequal length or a full length piece if making a rod with 1 tip.
Remember when men would wear dress shirts with starched collars? I imagine some spray starch and an iron could add a little bit of stiffness to a rod bag.

[DireWolf53]

Why more makers don't sew in a stiffener a la T&T is beyond me. It just makes so much sense.

[St Vrain Angler]

Spot-on, DireWolf.

[mer]

Why more makers don't sew in a stiffener a la T&T is beyond me. It just makes so much sense.

Cost? Profit Margins? Laziness?

[Short Tip]

The rod bag with dowel stiffener was a Leonard innovation, introduced in the pre-fire years, late 40's maybe. It is expressly designed for two piece rods, where a heavy bag tries to bend the extra tip when the rest of the rod is out and assembled. Three piece rods have less flexible tips and don't really need this feature, plus you'd probably need a larger diameter tube.

There's a sweet spot in that bag fabric. Too soft and thin, it slides down the rod and leaves the tips vulnerable. Too thick or stiff, it gets bulky and is hard on the finish.

That poplin fabric used by Leonard, Payne, Thomas and others seems like it hit the sweet spot pretty well.

[NewUtahCaneAngler]

The rod bag with dowel stiffener was a Leonard innovation, introduced in the pre-fire years, late 40's maybe.

Didn't the earliest Granger rods (perhaps only the lower grade) come with a stiffener? I'm not saying that they were first, but they certainly came out well before the 40's.

Cheers,
Joe

[Tim Anderson]

I've sewn my bags for years out of this twill: https://www.joann.com/sew-classic-botto ... as&start=7. Yes, it is more polyester than cotton, but the rods don't seem to mind. When rolled up without a rod, the stiffness is adequate to keep it from collapsing down a rod tube, but it folds easily when waiting for its rod to return from fishing.

Tim

[Short Tip]

The rod bag with dowel stiffener was a Leonard innovation, introduced in the pre-fire years, late 40's maybe.

Didn't the earliest Granger rods (perhaps only the lower grade) come with a stiffener? I'm not saying that they were first, but they certainly came out well before the 40's.

Cheers,
Joe

Very possibly, I guess I should have said "as far as I know..."
You say only the lower grade, did they have the stiffener in lieu of a tube?

[NewUtahCaneAngler]

Yes, I believe so. Just a bag, no tube. So Leonard could have "repurposed" Granger's idea...if indeed they were first.

[PYochim]

Don Schroeder sews a stiffener in his bags. It is a nice functional feature. Mike

Don uses a heavy stiff cloth for his bags. You probably would not need the stiffener.

[headwaters]

I believe what Granger used in the early days for the lower grades like the Colorado Special was a tip protector made from a long rectangular piece of wood with grooves on side to protect the tips in the drawstring bag. See Goodwin Granger: The Rod Man from Denver, Michael Sinclair, p. 195.

[BigDog57]

As a historical point gleaned, I think from Mike Sinclair's books, Granger started using surplus military uniform fabric for his bags, which is fairly stiff, simply because they could get it in large volume and cheap.
Similarly the metal rod cases of the post-war years for a number of makers came from war surplus conduit left over from production of bombers during WWII.

[6tUc05]

Treat yourself to a trip to a fabric shop and check out their inventory and you should get the answer to your fundamental question which is; do fabrics come in various stiffnesses? The answer is YES!

[eastprong]

You can buy the standard/classic T&T rod bag with stiffener from their website:

https://thomasandthomas.com/collections ... 6467927681

If you make your bags, you can use solid fiberglass rods from McMaster-Carr as the stiffener. 3/16"-1/4" work well.

https://www.mcmaster.com/fiberglass-rod ... lass-rods/

--Rich