Marco elasticane 'Test'

[Greentura]

Well I leapt before I looked again Not strictly a rod on my to get list, and according to the last writings about this rod i paid a little over the top of it's £40-£60 estimated value, but it has an original bag and both stoppers so i decided it was worth an extra £10 which turned out to be only £8, I don't count the postage and at £10 it seems reasonable.

Next thing is, what are your thoughts on this rod, Sweetcorn Kid had one I think but apart from that has anyone else? I wanted another lightish float rod but don't know what it's capabilities may be, would tench and chub be it's limit or is it lighter and a roach and bream rod. Gentlemen, your thoughts on the 'Test' please :thumb:

lastly, there was a Marco 'Medway' i missed, had a phone call and forgot the listing was ending, doh, which went for less than £30, does anyone know about that one too and what other Marco elasticane rods are there, and are they just 'B' list rods or do they warrant a listing in their own right?

[Santiago]

I have one that I restored in the summer. The Test is a fairly heavy rod and will easily handle tench and barble.

[Greentura]

Thanks BigFish. I look forward to putting a bend in it, it looks in reasonable condition from the pics, anything to look out for when i come to restore it in the spring ?

[Santiago]

I would add a couple of extra rings to the tip section to help avoid breaking the tip when you pull line through when setting up. I broke the tip of my Test this way, and I think it was partly due to the tip section not having enought rings near the top. Also avoid pulling the line from the butt when said line is parallel to the rod!

Is it whipped in multiple ever decreasing black bands? Mine is, and it was a lot of work to restore, so after the breakage I was put off cane for quite a few months.

[Vole]

Another happy "Test" owner here, with the proviso that the short-legged butt ring seems to favour the line-off-the-top type of centre-pin loading. Quite a muscular rod.

[Nobby]

Tests were Modern Arms most popular rod, it would seem, and came in 10'6", 11 and 12 foot versions.

Quite heavilly built, they are very capable and well made....Marco were one of the first to tool up with machinery to mill the cane strips ( along with Allcocks). Always straight when you look down the sections consequently, they are still very good value to buy....some of the few rods that are, though one went for nearly £80 a couple of days ago.


The Medway, seems to be a similar rod and I could see no difference until that one that went for just £25 ...which had the words 'hollow-built' on it. If they are indeed hollow-built someone had a right old bargain....I was tempted, I really was.......

[Greentura]

Yes Nobby, I was tempted too and fully intended to bid but the phone rang and it was a call i couldn't put off, we had a recent sudden death in the family, my niece, and the funeral details needed sorting so that needless to say took priority over eBay.

As a fan of hollow built rods the medway caught my eye, and the accuracy of the machine milling process used by Marco will be interesting to see. The Test is on it's way now and i hope to be able to try it out in it's present state, which looks good, but then so did my Swimversa in the pictures but turned out to be a little too worse for ware to use, and the first hunter that had had the ferules bent over then straightened and were 'Z' shaped, now that I should have taken pictures of, you would have not believed how it was if you saw it now, without a doubt the worst 'in good condition' rod i have ever seen let alone bought

[AshbyCut]

The thread I started about my "Test" was moved to "Tackle for Sale" when a member added that he had one for sale ... so I'll add updates to this one now.

The new guide set arrived from Chapman's, and I've made a start using the Prowrap 'Tiger' in black and silver which is a good approximation of the original whippings.

[Haydn Clarke]

It would seem that most of Marco's range were quite robust affairs. I have an Arun, A 12 ft 3 pc that is also quite a beefcake when you put a curve into it. Oddly enough, I've just take some pictures this morning. I'll put them up later.


Ashby, a word to the wise: I restored one of my rods in a very similar thread to that one that you are using. I would definitley use banana oil, rather than french polish or dope to prime the whippings. I'd also try and use a varnish with the minimum tint to it as once you have several coats of varnish on that thread it does tend to take a slight yellowing to it against the white/silver background. It's mostly noticeable in bright sunlight but I do regret using that stuff because of this.

[Nobby]

Yes definitely used diluted Banana Oil or the white might well go transparent!


I'd always assumed that Marco used black and yellow 'jasper' for nearly all their rods and certainly for all but the late Tests, whci are sometimes all in black thread.


Then I bought an Aspindale Avondale in the same 'jasper and had to replace the top section.


Now, finding black and yellow jasper ain't easy, so I made a few discreet purchases before I got the scalpel out.

Low and behold, the old silks cut away turned out to be black and WHITE and the yellow colour was the result of the colour cast of the old varnish.


Ooops!



Here's the old thread cut open to see beneath the varnish. Thinking modern varnishes too pale to get that colour I went ahead with the Pro Wrap I'd bought:



The new tip section is in the foreground....it ended up not a bad match, but I have to say I had a nightmare with varnish bleed and thought the silks ruined.



As time has passed the varnish bleed has lessened as so often happens, but I was amazed that a modern 'jasper' would be every bit as awful to work with as the old stuff!



I only know the one source of Banana Oil and it need diluting with cellulose thinners until it is thin enough to completely 'flood' the entire wrap with just a dab from a well-loaded brush.


It might be that the Pro Wrap would be fine with a modern sealer, but my single experience of that was equally appalling.


At the very least I'd beseech you to do a test wrap and seal on a pencil...just in case.