Another one with a bit missing!

[Catfish.017]

At the boot sale this morning £3 for an 11' Floatcaster Deluxe split cane and hollow glass with about seven inches gone off the tip. I think I have a four foot glass top that will fit the bill? Rings rather rusty and handle pretty rough but another rescue mission to fire my imagination. The lettering is of the style that normally accompanies the Octopus logo but what remains of the logo is obviously the later "Two Fishes" one.

[Duckett]

That’s a nice find despite the damage. I look forward to seeing the restoration.

Phil

[Catfish.017]

In the other current Glass Rods thread I posted a reply about some fibreglass top sections being not quite straight from new. Now this Sealey rod has quite a pronounced curve in the middle section, something I've never seen before. I did consider maybe trying some heat on it but in all honesty I was afraid of causing irreparable damage so decided against it. As it happened with the rod in the fishing position the weight of the top section straightened the mid section nicely. With that and the scruffy handle and a non original butt to middle ferrule, I decided on a light makeover rather than a full refurb. The main work would be to replace the too short top section and happily, under a coat of black paint, the spare four foot glass top I had was a decent match to the original. Just a slight difference in the texture of the weave, however the taper was perfect and with four inches cut off the thick end the ferrule was a good fit. That was after I sorted out the damage I caused with heat and pliers trying to remove it from the old section, forgetting that hollow glass is not as robust as cane!. I eventually drilled it out. A replacement butt ring (legs broken) mid section rings cleaned up and tip section rings rewhipped and one added. It's amazing how that blue thread Sealeys used fades over time. That and a couple of coats of varnish and the colour is unrecognisable. I did the new whipping in blue then used some dyes and paints to mimick the faded look of the remaining originals. Will take some pics later after I've tried the rod out on some canal Bream this afternoon.

[Catfish.017]

Christened the rod with a twelve ounce Roach first cast! Three modest sized Breamfollowed at intervals. I must say I am reasonably impressed by the rod, it's a fair bit crisper than my eleven foot Black Arrow and I wasn't. Really expecting that to be the case. I think the stout split cane butt section helps in that respect. At eleven ounces with a decent length handle it feels
pretty good in the hand. In short I think it may get quite a bit of use over the Summer.

[Catfish.017]

A couple of pics of the finished rod.

The rewhipped butt ring with "antiqued" finish to the blue thread.

[EricW]

That didn't take long. nice work.

[Catfish.017]

That didn't take long. nice work.

Like a good book, once I start it I can't put it down.

[Liphook]

Tubular sections are pulled off a mandrel with some force, it can lead to a slight 'set' in finer tip sections, particularly if not 100% cured