Right In The Power Fibre...
It takes a while for a system to evolve.
My method of roughing out the cane and preparing it for bevelling took a while.
Initially I would check the entire length of the culm for small defects, and then every split strip for things like insect and water damage, and if there were flaws would it be in a place that was out side of the aera where the final blank would fall.
Over time it simplified, now I just process everything, warts and all.
The Culm is halved and then split in two , that’s when the nodes are staggered.
Next the sections are split, the nodes dressed and the outer enamel given a light dressing.
Now is when the actual selection takes place.
One of the main reasons for selecting the final strips at this stage is that only now can you actually see all the sides of the individual strips.
The final photo shows what can lurk beneath, basically insect damage that has been grown over, invisible from the outside, but from the side clearly visible, and a very weak spot should it be part of a fishing rod.
