Divine rods

Came across this history about the Divine Rods. Brought back memories. My Grandad used to talk to us about a Divine Rod his father had.


home.pacbell.net/burlltd/history

According to Michael Sinclair in "Fishing Rods By Divine" (Centennial, 1993), Fred Divine began making fishing rods for friends as early as 1875 in his home town of Utica New York. By 1879 he was listed as a "Fish Rod Manufacturer" in the Utica City Directory. Fred remained a one man rod company until 1888 when he was joined by Frank Wolcott. During these early years most of Fred's rods were made of wood rather than bamboo. Lancewood, Greenheart, and Bethabara were the most common woods used. Fred produced both fly and casting rods and is credited with popularizing the short casting rod which he introduced in 1885.
Between 1888 and 1890 Fred's staff grew to five in number (including his brother-in-law George McDufee, Francis, Louis, and George Becraft, and George Penfield), and Fred incorporated his rod business as "Fred D. Divine and Co.". During the 1890's business boomed. Divine and Co. introduced numerous grades of rods, camping gear and a folding boat.

It was during this time that split bamboo rods of calcutta cane were introduced. Divine built 6 strip and 8 strip rods and patented the unique spiral rod during this time period. The spiral rod was of standard split construction except the strips were twisted during the glue up. This made for a slightly stiffer, quicker rod without increasing the rod's mass. The spiral rod was evidently too difficult to manufacture and was soon discontinued. Later in the decade Fred swapped rights for the spiral patent with Chubb for use of it's Silkien process developed by Kenyon. The Silkien process involved wrapping a rod from butt to tip in a fine white silk. When the rod was varnished the silk would become invisible. The silk was supposed to make the rod stronger, and it may have, but it also made the rod heavier and tended to dampen it's action.

On March 17th 1900, Fred D. Divine was killed in a freak accident. While inspecting fire damage to his rod building shop his clothing was caught in a large steam driven pulley and he was pulled around the shaft half a dozen times. With Fred gone, his wife Ada assumed the raines of the newly reincorporated "Fred D. Divine Co.". During the next 17 years Ada deemphasized the high quality Divine branded rods and started producing inexpensive unmarked rods for resale. These 'trade' rods as they were called did more to harm Divine's reputation than any other factor, and to this day Divine is remembered as a low quality mass producer. In reality, the Divine branded rods were the same high quality hand made product they had always been. It was around this time that the rods started having serial numbers applied (see Identifying a Divine). During Ada's reign, the only new model was introduced was the Divine Special, which made it's debut in 1902. This high grade rod had a faster action than most rods produced by Divine at the time, and was probably targeted at the dry fly fisherman.

Shortly after the war, Ada sold her interest in the company to her brother George McDuffee. 1917 was a big year for Divine and signalled the beginning of it's rebirth as a company. In 1917 Divine unveiled it's first new model in 15 years - the "Fairy" - a 7.5' 2.5 oz. fly rod. This delicate rod designed by Francis Becraft is probably Divine's finest achievement in rod craft. An almost modern design, the Fairy casts a 3 or 4 wt. line with great precision and that undefinable "sweetness".

In the same year, decals were added to the rods for the first time (see Identifying a Divine). Also about this time the "Rainbow" model made its debut, followed by the Gloriwest in 1923. By the mid 1920's Divine was back on it's feet. During this decade they introduced several more new models, and near the end of the decade they modernized their rods, as was the fashion, by eliminating the intermediate wraps and updating the decals.

The great depression appears to have been the death knell for the Divine rod company. Though it survived on paper, it is not known how many rods, if any, were manufactured after the mid 1930's. When George McDuffee died in 1950, the Divine name went with him.