Unusual early rod/pole.

[Delaminated]

About two weeks ago I took a punt on the well known auction site as the rod listed caught my eye.
The pictures are as the rod as it was received



It was described as a “16’10” handmade rod in need of some restoration“, and you can see that the restoration is long overdue.
I thought that it might be an early London style cane roach pole that had been modified into a rod by a previous owner.

From the listing I cold see that there was a brass cap on the bottom section as some poles have and the whipping pattern was similar to the London pole style.

When I could see the rod in close up I could see it had @ 9 rings of slow bridge style and reel fittings on the bottom section. I couldn’t see a name on the rod, but the bag has a label that looks to read Sowerbutts, 151 Commercial St Fishing Tackle Specialists.

The tip has lost @ a foot and there are a good few splits lengthwise on most sections, the middle part suffering most.

The rod will need cleaning and a complete strip down, liberal amounts of re-glueing, but the ferrules seem fairly sound.
The middle section may need replacing, but Aerolite may save the day. Busy winter ahead.

I think now that this rod is as original, very poor condition, as a long rod not a pole, but members may have more knowledge of these items.

RegardsTom

[Fredline]

It looks a cracker, sorry wrong choice of words. A lovely item well done.

[Moley]

If the pole rod is a Sowerbutts what a find and well worth the trouble of repair.

Usually the brass butt cap has the makers name engraved in it and address if, originally a Sowerbutts. However that is not to say the cap has not been replaced at some stage.

Fatty has a restored Sowerbutts pole rod and spent time and money on it and overall considered worth it:







Good luck with the restoration and if you need some hints and tips just drop me a line and see what can be done.

As ever,........


Moley

[Delaminated]

Hi Moley,


Fired up with hope I ventured out into the garden in 80f + temperatures to check on the pole/rods butt cap,
armed with only a tin of Brasso, a cloth. my trusty Dremmel and a mug of tea.



A century of grime proved very resilient, but after a good half - hours work the hoped for name appeared through the crud.


Your offer of advice on the refurb. is much appreciated and some pointers towards the repair of the lengthways splits would be very welcome.
I can see at least half a dozen cracks between six and twenty inches on the whole of the rod, but after the strip down other horrors may well come to light.

Regards Tom.

[Moley]

What a find...a Sowerbutts it is then

Splits in the bamboo of a pole look worse than they really are. The splits need to be filled with tough glue like Araldite and really worked in to the crack whilst not gluing yourself to the Tonkin cane as the embarrassing looks from the Memsahib or any one else for that matter can be hard to live down.

If you can try not to strip the pole to harshly by keeping as many original whippings and features as possible....sometimes a good but gentle clean can work wonders.

Ferrules are works of art and usually made for the individual pole. If you do need to remove them take great care as these are probably the most irreplaceable part of pole unless you have the skill to make your own. Also of note which many miss in their haste to rebuild, is the small alignment indentations in the ferrules, male and female which need to be aligned to get the original best bend ie straightest alignment of the entire pole!

The top section is not a total disaster as a fly rod top can be spliced and glued into the original section....whale bone is hard to come by nowadays and in all probability was what the tip was made of when new.

Take your time over the revarnish and let the varnish dry properly in a dust free environment.

Good fortune and hopefully you will produce a user....fun but heavy to use. They make great laying on rods though using bank sticks as they can be unwieldy.

Can't think of much else

As ever,....

Moley

[Delaminated]

Hi Moley,
Thank you for advice on the refurb.

The refurb of the pole/rod is proceeding at a snails pace, but have made some progress.
The tip (5th) joint has been given a transplant from an old fly rod as advised.
I have had to remove all the whippings on the 4th and third sections as so I could open up the many longitudinal splits and worked in Araldite, then gently! tightened up a row of up to four jubilee clips to close the cracks as best I could.
I made a new liner for the female ferrule on the third section from thin brass tubing, there wasn’t one present when I obtained the pole/rod, but the union of sections at this point was a tad loose so an improvement.

I gave the top three sections a couple of coats of raw linseed oil to tone down the pale appearance of the sections and feed the dry wood to hopefully hinder further splits.
The sections await whipping and rings and varnishing.

Now to the two lowest sections.They do not appear to have suffered much in the way of splits as the upper sections, so that is a big plus point.
You advised that I should try and retain as much of the original finish of the pole/rod as possible, so should I just give the two lower sections a good clean and then a coat or two
of varnish, or go for the full makeover to match the sections?

I will have to replace some of those whippings as the rings on the lower sections are beyond further use.
Regards Tom

[Moley]

Tom, personally the dark cane looks good and age appropriate so if the pole were mine the bottom two sections would be given a very gentle clean then varnish to hold on to the original look.

The top sections are coming along nicely with the splice looking well done. If you wish to take the paleness out of the wood, tea staining or a pukka wood stain could be applied to match the bottom sections. Up to you but teak wood stain is good and will cover the Araldite repairs to make the rod look really ancient.

Take your time with this, no rush; if the job is done slowly it will probably be longer lasting and more pleasing on the eye. I find a slow build up of varnish makes the finish that much better.

When finished if you combine the refurbed rod with a Victorian brass winch it will look truly splendid when used for roach

Good luck and take your time. So far looking good.

As ever,....

Moley

[NiceRoach]

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