Bamboo winders

[Kirpan]

Hark, do I hear quills being trimmed and sticks being whittled ?

[Vole]

More like a shed being tidied/archaeologised in some haste...

[Vole]

Brain in autopilot, I added a couple of "replicas" with equivalent plain quills for comparison to my springtime flurry of displacement activity float-making (shed still looks like a tip) and then realised I'd forgotten to ask: "How big are the spliced wood/quill floats?"

For some reason (stupidity?) I can't post the cropped picture; the floats in question are the four to the left of the ruler. Have I misunderestimated?

[Kirpan]

The longest is 5" and the shortest is 4", the one in the middle is 4 1/2", they seem to be half and half wood and quill with the quill overlapping by about 1/4", your float on the far left looks the closest in proportion, also the ring on the bottom on the largest is just under 1/4 dia though the other two are about 1/8" dia

[Vole]

Thank you, Kirpan, I'll try the left-hand pair first, then.

[Match Aerial]

Those floats are interesting. I no idea when porcupine quills were first use, could these predate the use of the porcupine quill?
Thinking these would have cast and fished in a similar way with a heavy base not dissimilar to a porky or was the maker trying to emulate a porcupine quill.

Great stuff
MA

[Santiago]

I suspect plugged quills go back to Isaac's days and beyond. Much earlier than porcupine that had to be imported.

[Match Aerial]

Yes I think your right .
Those quill look Victorian ?

[Vole]

I think the big thing about plugged quill (or reed) is that you can make the float much shorter than the natural taper of the quill would allow.
Having typed that, I wonder why they objected to a blunt base? Aesthetics? Certainly not because the base wouldn't fit the silicone rubber...
Don't forget that if Kirpan's originals are indeed eighteenth century, the would not have been cast, merely lowered or swung; not cartwheeling might have reduced tangles when a bite was missed?
I think most porcupine used was African - don't Indian porcs tend to have very long, thin spines? - and the Colonial era in Africa was a lot later than in India. Once African porcupine quills were imported, they were probably pounced upon as making these floats obsolete... oh, bother, I'll have to try a porky, too, won't I?
Hemp is soaking, weather looks pants. It'll probably have to wait a few days!

[Match Aerial]

Over the last few years I have used a porky in place of s stick float,they work very well.
I don't use them all the time just when I fancy a change from the norm.
Cast well and surprisingly sensitive.
In fact looking out for some smaller ones..