https://traditionalfisherman.com/viewto ... 9&start=10
The rod was in quite a sorry state really,sometime in the past somebody had given it a rather gloopy coat , or several, coats of varnish, the rings were in a sorry state , the handle had I think been chewed by some rodent and repaired many years ago by having a piece of leather glued over the damage,which was more extensive than was first apparent.The leather was rock hard but flaking, and cracking and must have been glued on using some sort of animal glue .There was no visible Logo on the blank but it had the words “JB.Walker Newcastle upon Tyne “engraved on one of the brass reel bands.
The brasswork was tarnished and who knows what was underneath the heavy and very dark varnish. The owner wanted the rod to have the Brasswork looking as though it had been used,and vintage, and not blackened , he also wanted the original very tarnished agate lined rings to be re used and the handle repaired with as minimal new material as possible, and also he wanted the whippings to be the same colour.
As I stripped the rod down I thought it had some delamination, but close inspection showed that the delam was in fact just glue lines, quite a lot of them, and the cane was actually in quite good shape, although I think looking at the blank after it had been stripped back any of the contemporary rod makers of the time it had been made ,may have not been happy with the glue lines, nevertheless the rod would have been very useable .
The handle repair was a bit of a problem as the cork dia was a bit strange , I had to buy in whole corks and make a jig to drill the internal hole then split them to fit in the gaps left by the dammed mousie munchings and flaked leather ,they were glued in place and bound there using cable ties until the glue had set. The rest was pretty straight forward really .
So, after a few weeks work , it is now hardening off , here it is .
Before .
After
I actually think that the rod may end up on a wall, but it is almost identical to Mk IV Carp,in length , although such things as tapers etc dont interest me much, the blank is good for many more years .I would be very happy using it .
I think it was probably a Salmon rod in its original form as JB Walker of Newcastle upon Tyne were as far as I know manufacturers of Game rods and nothing to do with the other J.B Walker , although I may be wrong .
Thanks for looking
David
