My first cane fly rod, so far so good.
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2024 6:07 pm
Hello out there, new here, new to cane rods.
Have put a post up with lots of photos in the Milward sub forum about trying to date and gain information on the Milwards Flycraft 9' i bought.
Have done some cleaning. The reel seat has come up nicely but no hiding serial numbers or other markings found.
The red rubber bung rotates but not undo, i assume it's a push fit. Been cleaning the guide eyes and they all match, some are a little worse for wear but i think on the cusp of useable will need replacing at some point.
Rod has been revarnished, and either varnish or shellac has been used on some of the whippings which are a nice green with black edges, done some fine scraping and dry brushing and aim to clear varnish over several whippings and repair/redo a couple.
The ferrule sockets on the butt and mid section are brass. What appeared to be rust pitting is layers of various varnish/shellac that have been chipped away over time, had a good clean up of 3/4 of the ferrule length, which being brass should dull over time.
Got excited and decided to have a flick about in the garden and a little try out with just line and no reel fitted.
I have a cut in half old double taper sinking line handy.
I tried first with the taper end and was able to hold up several meters of line with ease and was able to whip off the flowers on the magnolia tree.
I then reversed the line so sort of like a crude shooting head or WF with the bulk of the line weight being up. This didn't work so well but after several attempts i was able to bag a few more magnolia flowers and had to slow down my action and let the line load the rod and all catch up with itself.
Line is #8wt and rod didn't explode and the ferrule joints didn't separate or drift apart.
First go with a cane rod, quite likely line a bit heavy, but not as slow an action as i was expecting, maybe my modern rods are a bit slow as aimed at a beginner and using WF lines. Will be trying #7wt next, might have #6wt as well which from what i can tell seems to be a good starting point as the the Flycraft is not marked with a line rating.
Need some varnish next and found some old green silk thread to try and repair/redo some whipping over the weekend.
Then wait for the river to slow down and levels drop and have a go on the water.
The top eye whipping has cleaned up nicely and is in good order. The middle and lower guides have cleaned up but going to try and rewhip them next, will do an after photo after my attempts are done.
I was going to use beeswax as a general final clean up and polish. So far this is coming in cheaper than the xxxbon rod i was thinking about, much more engaging and keeping an old one going.
Have put a post up with lots of photos in the Milward sub forum about trying to date and gain information on the Milwards Flycraft 9' i bought.
Have done some cleaning. The reel seat has come up nicely but no hiding serial numbers or other markings found.
The red rubber bung rotates but not undo, i assume it's a push fit. Been cleaning the guide eyes and they all match, some are a little worse for wear but i think on the cusp of useable will need replacing at some point.
Rod has been revarnished, and either varnish or shellac has been used on some of the whippings which are a nice green with black edges, done some fine scraping and dry brushing and aim to clear varnish over several whippings and repair/redo a couple.
The ferrule sockets on the butt and mid section are brass. What appeared to be rust pitting is layers of various varnish/shellac that have been chipped away over time, had a good clean up of 3/4 of the ferrule length, which being brass should dull over time.
Got excited and decided to have a flick about in the garden and a little try out with just line and no reel fitted.
I have a cut in half old double taper sinking line handy.
I tried first with the taper end and was able to hold up several meters of line with ease and was able to whip off the flowers on the magnolia tree.
I then reversed the line so sort of like a crude shooting head or WF with the bulk of the line weight being up. This didn't work so well but after several attempts i was able to bag a few more magnolia flowers and had to slow down my action and let the line load the rod and all catch up with itself.
Line is #8wt and rod didn't explode and the ferrule joints didn't separate or drift apart.
First go with a cane rod, quite likely line a bit heavy, but not as slow an action as i was expecting, maybe my modern rods are a bit slow as aimed at a beginner and using WF lines. Will be trying #7wt next, might have #6wt as well which from what i can tell seems to be a good starting point as the the Flycraft is not marked with a line rating.
Need some varnish next and found some old green silk thread to try and repair/redo some whipping over the weekend.
Then wait for the river to slow down and levels drop and have a go on the water.
The top eye whipping has cleaned up nicely and is in good order. The middle and lower guides have cleaned up but going to try and rewhip them next, will do an after photo after my attempts are done.
I was going to use beeswax as a general final clean up and polish. So far this is coming in cheaper than the xxxbon rod i was thinking about, much more engaging and keeping an old one going.