Playfair Grant Vibration greenheart rod

[Barbelseeker]

any chance of a peak at your finished product please

[Liphook]

Remember your Carron line will be considerably heavier than the #7 on the AFTMA scale. I look forward to hearing how it goes

[Sevilla315]

any chance of a peak at your finished product please

The rod looks much the same as the original photos, Paul hasn't started work on it yet, I'll send it to him next week.
But the finish is much more matt with a slight sheen to it, it has taken on a lot darker colour due to the teak oil and the faces of the splices are darker too.
The finished product will be pretty much the same, black CP'd wraps finished in spar varnish, I will try to keep the original stripper guide, but the glass agate ring may need to be replaced by Paul. The brass checks on the handle will need to be reblued; the biggest change will be the handle which I'm having replaced with a wooden handle, most probably walnut, which I'll have Paul turn and fit - this is how the original Vibrations by Grant himself had them.
The final finish will be a tru-oil which ill allow me to maintain the wood's moisture going forward.
I will post any progress photos that Paul gives me

[Sevilla315]

Remember your Carron line will be considerably heavier than the #7 on the AFTMA scale. I look forward to hearing how it goes

Thanks, yes I will be very gentle with it, and start short. I'm hoping that the week of oiling (twice daily) will have reduced the possibility of breakage by making it more supple.
I have been thinking of this, and have been having lots of discussions with some North Americans and Gordon Macleod on that forum (Spey Pages). There seems to be a lot of greenheart interest at present. Some of the posters are actually going to make some new greenhearts, and currently use their Vibrations in anger for fishing, not collecting.
The original lines used by Grant were continuous taper lines, like a Wulff TT but along the whole length; they were not shot like current lines but picked up and recast. Therefore the number of grains that they picked up must have been huge, over 1000 grains for the big 16 and 17' rods.
Stuart Tod (of the now closed Cadno who made silk lines) had an interest in these old Grant Vibrations and made up a 140' continuous taper silk line equivalent to a 12wt to 4wt over the length, and he showed a YouTube of him casting this line out the tip without shooting. It was a 15' Grant Vibration rod and much stronger than my 12' model, however the grains on this line, especially the full weight outside the tip must have been pretty big.
Also many of the current users of Vibrations seem to be using 7DTs to 9DTs, and I believe in the Grant way without shooting, so the number of grains I believe even for a whole 7DT (single handed AFTM rating) must exceed that of a modern 7/8 D/H rating of 580 grains for the 54' head.
Regards

7WT AFTM = 177-193grn for 30', target 185. If we take a full 7DT over 90' then this will be at least 555, since the middle section will be a level section, and does not include the taper on the end section.

[Sevilla315]

Well I didn't have time to get down to the local ponds as I have to do some childminding but I did string it up and have a cast in the back garden.
I put on my Kingpin Spey (a modern Hardy Perfect inspired reel) and it felt amazingly well balanced and light! I'm used to using bamboo speys with heavy winches so that wasn't too much of a surprise. What wasa surprise was that it felt very nimble and not sloppy at all. It flexed into the middle when swinging it, but it wasn't wobbly, it recovered quickly and didn't bounce about.
I only have a 60' garden and there are lots of trees midway but I tried a variety of roll casts, mixing up the bias on the top and bottom hands. As per the video by Ian Gordon I think he's right in that a limited amount of movement on the top hand and a little pull on the bottom gets the best results, with the tip kept high, but I'll confirm when I get on the ponds tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to.
I had most of the head out, and it didn't feel overloaded at all. The line seemed to stick on the guides so there was no real shooting, which is good for this test anyway. I'd say Paul will need to change the agate/glass rings on the tip and stripper guides, the snakes look ok but I'll leave that to him.
I think I will enjoy fishing with this rod very much!
One thing of interest is that when the splices are put together they are in an oval shape, rather than a round tube like my bamboo speys.

[Liphook]

I'm rather ashamed to tell you that many years ago I chopped up a well cared for silk salmon line to make what I thought would be useful trout lines. It was a total failure and something that I now cringe about. Peche a Soie may well be able to make you one? I suspect it would be worth contacting them, but as to the cost of silk at that length and weight? A small fortune I'd expect!

[Sevilla315]

I'm rather ashamed to tell you that many years ago I chopped up a well cared for silk salmon line to make what I thought would be useful trout lines. It was a total failure and something that I now cringe about. Peche a Soie may well be able to make you one? I suspect it would be worth contacting them, but as to the cost of silk at that length and weight? A small fortune I'd expect!

Oh no!! I can't seem to find any salmon silks for refurbishing, it sounds like it would have been perfect for this rod.
I have looked at the Peche a Soie site and yes, it's likely to be quite expensive. I see they have a shooting head line for over 160 euros. Phoenix's salmon DT line is over 220 euros.
What may be perfect is a silk TT line for 90' and no running line but no one has ever made one of these, and most likely will be super expensive as it would be a one off.

[Liphook]

It may well be worth your while placing a wanted in the many classified sections across the traditional/collectors/salmon forums? Here on the TFF is where I'd start! I bet there's a few long salmon silks out there languishing on collectors reels...

[Sevilla315]

I may drop Ian Moxon a message. He's a silk line maker in Yorkshire and sells them on ebay. Though they're no Yano (as to his own admission), it may be the most economical solution to an experimental line which hasn't been created yet (barring the 140' line made by Tod)

[Sevilla315]

It may well be worth your while placing a wanted in the many classified sections across the traditional/collectors/salmon forums? Here on the TFF is where I'd start! I bet there's a few long salmon silks out there languishing on collectors reels...

Thanks! I'll drop one on here now