A friend gave me two old fly rods awhile ago. Today, I dug them out and got to work on them. One is a Horrocks and Ibbotson Featherlight and the other is a Kingfisher Fly Rod both 8 1/2' long. Both will be stripped and rebuilt as "user" fly rods.... The good news is all the bamboo seems to be in fairly good shape. I am starting with the H and I.
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| Pictured here is the H and I, but both grips have been heavily varnished by the original owner and were very dried out, soft and punky, they crumbled when I tried to clean them. |
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They both have loose and/or cracked ferrules as-well-as some bent or missing line guides. All the line guides will need to be replaced anyway with larger versions as these were for silk fly lines of the day and are too small for modern fly lines. I will reuse the reel seats and any ferrules that are not cracked. I am going to strip the rod completely; turn a new cork grip on the lathe, remove all of the line guides, remove the old varnish and then wrap new line guides and apply new varnish, etc... In the end I hope to have two fishable bamboo fly rods. Wish me luck.
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| Cork and reel seat sections removed... |
Looks like an enjoyable winter project. Look forward to following it.
ReplyDeleteIt should keep me busy in-between tying flies for the shop and cranking out some turkey calls...
DeleteMy goodness you have a big task ahead.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your endeavor.
Yes Alan, it could be a struggle, but then again I'm hoping to learn and improve my skills on these two rod builds-restores. Should be fun.
DeleteI hope you post the results, I'd love to see the finished product.
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