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Fly Tying
Mark Knapp

What are you working on?

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I started restoring an old beat up bamboo rod a month ago. This will be the 2nd bamboo restoration I've done, the first being a South Bend 9' 3 piece last summer. My current project is a 7' 6" 2 piece that I found in an antique shop in Maine and paid $20 for. I'm guessing it was made sometime in the 1950's or 1960's and judging by the metal components on the rod I don't believe it was an expensive rod new. There are no identifying marks, maker or weight on the rod. The first set of photos shows it as it was when I got it. Besides missing guides, the female ferrule was cracked, the metal reel seat was cracked/ warped and the bamboo had some significant sets. Judging by the feel in the shop I thought it was a 3 weight but after taking some measurements with a caliper of the taper it looks to be along the lines of a 5 weight. I did mount a 3 weight reel on it and it seemed to cast really nice even with the missing parts and crooked spine.

 

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Here she is with the new reel seat, hardware, grip, winding check and ferrules in place. So far so good. Last night I added a second coat of spar varnish and will be ordering new guides and a tip top. All the new hardware is nickle/silver and the reel seat is maple burl wood. The guides will be wrapped with brown and black silk. It looks like I'll be into this restoration for about $130 plus my time. I will post photos when it's completed.

 

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Nice work there

Thanks Chug- I'm not a rod builder by any stretch but it's amazing what you can learn to do from youtube.

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It looks really good! I'm looking forward to the finished project.

 

Being much less nostalgic than most, I'd go with a totally NON-standard thread color. Something that contrasts with and highlights the rod color.

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Thanks all- Mike I'm not so much about the nostalgia although I like old fly fishing stuff in general. I just happen to like the slower, spongy action most bamboo rods have. For me dropping $3 grand on a brand new one is not an option because the ensuing divorce would be really expensive. So restoring a $20 old wall hanger is a relatively reasonable way to be able to fish bamboo. If I do make a serious mistake during the restoration or break it while fishing I'm not going to be out of a lot of money. Eventually I will build a new rod from a bamboo blank but for now I'm enjoying the challenge and gaining some experience with this one.

 

Have a great long weekend everyone!

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I wasn't bringing up the "nostalgia" aspect in relation to the rod. I'm interested in restoring an old bamboo rod, too.

I was talking about your choice of thread color. If I get around to doing one, I am going to bling the crap out of it with bright, contrasting thread. (Mostly blues)

I like the look of bamboo ... never fished one. And to highlight that look, contrast.

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Gotcha Mike- The original wraps were traditional black, no trim bands, just black. On the previous rod I did I has brown wraps with black trim bands. And it looked great until I coated the silk with color preserver. As the name implies the stuff is supposed to preserve the thread color prior to covering the wraps with spar varnish but In my case it turned the light brown really dark. This time around I'm going to skip the stuff and just use the varnish. The experts on youtube say that will result in an opaque effect to the thread. We'll see, I'm still learning so I'll do one guide and if I hate it I can redo it.

 

I hope you do find and decide to restore an old rod, when your done you end up with a one of a kind rod. I purchased my ferrules and guides from Brian at Ye Old English Fly Shop located in Key West and can recommend them. They specialize in all things bamboo related including knowledge.

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Leaving on a twelve day float trip for graying and moose in the morning. The best way to ruin a perfectly good fishing trip is to shoot a moose. Talk to you all when I get back.

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It looks really good! I'm looking forward to the finished project.

 

Being much less nostalgic than most, I'd go with a totally NON-standard thread color. Something that contrasts with and highlights the rod color.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you're thinking blue would contrast nicely.

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