Early Era Rods (Pre 1900) |
| Various |
Divine made many different rods in the early years. In fact, the
impression I have is that almost every rod was a unique creation. Mostly Bass and
Trout rods from Greenheart, Lancewood and Bethabara. They have wood or nickel silver
reelseats and grips of wood, cane, and cork. I'm not familiar with any Divine
catalogs from this era, but there are price lists around that shed
some light. Early on the split Calcutta cane rods were of 6 strip construction, but
sometime in the 1890's 8 strips appeared. |
| Spiral |
Probably Divine's most famous creation. Fred patented the Spiral rod
in 1892. It's a simple concept really, at glue up time for a split bamboo rod, the
rod is twisted very slightly and the glue is allowed to set. This is not a radical
twisting, but only 1 and 1/2 complete turns over the length of the rod. Building
this tension into the rod makes it more resistant to flexing, thus stiffer or faster
without increasing it's mass. A Spiral rod is 10%-20% stiffer than it's
untwisted counterparts. Divine's spirals are marked with the patent number on each
section just above the ferrules, and have an open spiral signature wrap on the butt. |
Middle Era Rods (1900-1919) |
| Divine Special |
The Divine Special, introduced in 1902, was Divine's first attempt at a
dry fly style rod. Easily recognized by it's full wells grip, metal winding check,
and distinctive signature wraps (Group of 10 narrow wraps followed by a group of 5,
followed by a group of 3). |
| Fairy |
This rod, Divine's finest accomplishment in rod design, was introduced in
1917. Both 7.5' and 8' models have been found of this lightweight (2.5 oz. for the
7.5') dry fly beauty. Besides their size, Fairies also have a cork reelseat that
makes them easy to recognize. They usually had untipped red wraps with red
intermediate wraps. The Fairy's fine action makes it a delight to cast. This
combined with it's low production volume makes is a great prize for collectors. |
| Heavy Trout |
Basically a big version of the the Standard rod. Yesterdays
steelhead or light salmon rod. |
| Special Dry Fly |
This rod, as the name suggests, was built specifically as a dry fly rod.
It's faster action suits it ideally to the task. The large wood knob below
the reelseat makes this one of the most easily distinguished models. All red wraps
and intermediates, oxidized hardware, and a cigar grip which ends with a nickel-silver
winding check make this a distinctive rod. One of the rarer Divines. |
| Standard Trout |
This is the most commonly seen Divine. These attractive rods come in
a variety of lengths, weights, and wrap colors. They usually have a cigar shaped
grip without a winding check. Instead the silk is wrapped up onto the grip.
This rod was available in cane and lancewood and appears with an amazing variety of
guides, reelseats, and cases. |
Late Era Rods (1920 on) |
| Celdimac |
This high-end model appeared late in Divine's history. Recognizable
by it's dark brown cane, half wells grip Blued reelseat and ferrules. Black
and White jasper wraps tipped gold, with a few gold intermediates between the tip top and
the top guide. I've also seen two older Celdimacs that follow the Rainbow's most
common wrap pattern. 'Celdimac' is usually written on the shaft just below the decal
on this model. |
| Divine Special |
The Divine Special in it's later forms (late 1920's) retained the
full wells grip and nickel silver winding check, but the wraps were standardize to a red
tipped gold or red tipped black. On the very late specials the intermediates were
dispensed with. |
| Echo |
Late era middle grade rod. I've never had the chance to seen one. |
| Fairy |
The fairy lived on unchanged in the late era. |
| Gloriwest (and Goldenwest) |
Divine's highest grade rod in the earlier part of the Late era, and one of
most classic looking fly rods ever produced. Besides it's name inked below the
decal, the Gloriwest can be identified by several features. This dark cane rod is
beautifully wrapped green with lots of yellow intermediates...probably more than any other
rod ever made! The black celluloid winding check guards a reverse half wells grip.
The rod is also fitted with a black celluloid twist lock down locking reelseat.
This is a heavy duty, rugged rod and was Divine's flagship model. |
| Pathfinder |
Thought to be the lowest grade rod in Divine's last years, the Pathfinder
featured a medium action, bright nickel-silver sliding band reelseat and cigar grip.
The light colored cane was wrapped green tipped red with red intermediates above
the highest tip guide and the tip-top. |
| Peacemaker |
Late era middle grade rod. I've never had the chance to seen one. |
| Rainbow |
Behind the standard trout model, you'll find the Rainbow most plentiful.
It actually arrived on the scene around 1917, but was most plentiful in the 1920's.
It's standard dress is a carmel colored cane wrapped in black and white jasper
tipped red with black and white jasper intermediates. However, as it's name suggests
in came in a huge variety of colors, so it's a good thing that 'Rainbow' is usually
scripted below the decal. The reelseats seem to vary in style, but all are blackened
as are the ferrules. I've seen petit 8' 4 wts. and heavy 10' 7 wts. of this model.
Collect them all! |
| Ravon |
While I haven't personally seen this mode, a collector who has one says it
matches the description of the rainbow, except the rod is painted black! |
| Standard |
The Standard appears to have made it at least to the mid 1920's.
It's configurations are at least as numerous as those of the Rainbow. Their
description is unchanged. |
| Tournament |
A rare treat for collectors is the Divine Tournament rod. These
special purpose rods were built to be as powerful as possible within a given weight and
length for casting competitions. Therefore they are very minimalist in style.
The two examples I've seen omit intermediates, and use a special lightweight reelseat (See
the reelseats in Identifying a Divine). They are usually
blond bamboo with all red wraps and are marked 'The Divine Rod Tournament" in ink on
the shaft. |
| Travelling Man's Friend |
A suitcase or valise rod of 9 17" joints, a reversible handle, and a
reducing ferrule that could be combined to produce 6 different rods for both fly and bait
casting. Red wraps bordered in black with red intermediates. Usually bamboo, I know of one
example made from lancewood. This is a very rare rod these days. |
Options |
| Custom Rods |
Throughout it's history, Divine would always build any rod a customer
wanted. An extreme example seen by Len Codella was a matched set of 3 one piece silk
wrapped rods. Fly rods as short as 5'9" have also been found.
Interesting! |
| Silkien Process |
Patented in 1897 by Mr. Kenyon this expensive and time consuming process
of wrapping a rod from grip to tip in silk could be done to any Divine model. A silk
wrapped Gloriwest, Divine's most expensive rod, cost $60 in 1923! |
| Invisible Rods |
Invisible rods were painted dark green and given blackened hardware, thus
rendering them invisible to the fish. (Well, maybe). Any rod could be made
'invisible'. |
| 8-strip construction |
8-strip construction was always available to those fishermen who preferred
a rounder rod shaft. |
| Spliced Joint Construction |
This older style of rod joint eliminates a ferrule and improves rod
action, but of course requires the angler to bind the rod sections together with cord or
fine wire...not too convenient. Divine offered it as an option on all rods. |
