Our goal in repairing and restoring vintage cane rods is to perform the work to return the rod as close to as original as possible. These days, with the prices of all cane rods continuing to appreciate rapidly it simply doesn't make sense to have the work done in a haphazard manner. A properly performed restoration, when necessary, will increase the value of a vintage rod. An improperly performed restoration will at best detract from the rod's value, if not destroy its collectible value altogether.
The first step in deciding whether to restore a rod is an honest evaluation of the rods condition, its value and utility in both unrestored and restored conditions. We have no desire to see a customer invest a substantial sum of money in a restoration project for a low grade production rod, the cost of which might never be recouped. Nor do we subscribe to heroic and costly 'rescue efforts' in an attempt to bring a low- grade rod back to fishable condition. Oftentimes, a customer may only wish to preserve a rod due to its sentimental value(with no desire to actually fish it) and we endeavor to perform this work at a reasonable cost. We simply will not do work on a rod that will detract from its value as a collectible.
Each rod submitted to us is quoted a reasonable rate for the work desired. Most often this includes: an inspection and evaluation of the rods condition; stripping of the old varnish while leaving the original writing intact; revarnishing; rewrapping, color preserving and sealing the guide wraps using appropriate silk thread; replacing the guides when necessary; cleaning the grip; and polishing the ferrules and reel seat. Generally, the cost for the above service runs about $275. Any additional work such replacing intermediate wraps or resetting or replacing ferrules will also be quoted a reasonable fee.
We are always happy to evaluate a rod for you, but we can not give you an estimate without actually viewing the rod and issuing you a quote. If you decide not to have us perform the work, all we ask is that you pay for return shipping.
Please contact us first before sending a rod and do not ship a rod with its original aluminum or fiberboard tube serving as a shipping container!
Please phone us at 440-845-4415 or email for more information.
We will no longer provide repair services on any living rodbuilder's work(besides our own, of course.) The reason for this is, if you buy a rod from another maker and you have a problem, contact them! If they've suddenly become unavailable because you have a problem, please don't make it my problem. Sorry.
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An Example Project
This is an example of the type of work that we commonly perform. Not all jobs are this complex, nor do most low-quality rods warrent the expenditure entailed to get this rod back to fishable condition.
This rod is an early 10'6" Leonard. It is somewhat unusual in that this rod was made for export, and bears the marking of a Liverpool agent for Leonard. I'm sure that the folks at Hardy were just thrilled to see Leonards being sold in their backyard!
The first step to this work is to evaluate the rod's condition. This rod has its original bag and cane tube for the tips. The tips were a challenge to remove from the case-we'll see why shortly. Just about everything is wrong with this rod. The grip is badly damaged from years of use as a hook keeper. All metal components are badly tarnished. The ferrules are loose. Both tips have overwraps and in addition, both are down several inches. The finish is shot, some intermediate wraps are missing as are some of the guides.
We started by logging in the rod and marking out on paper the location of every wrap, including the intermediates, signature and guide wraps. In addition, the intermediates are of graduated width, keeping in proportion to the rod diameter. They start out on the butt section 7 wraps wide, then diminish in size towards the tips. The location and proportion of each wrap will be duplicated. At first glance the silk appears to be almost red in color, but removing a few wraps and checking the original color underneath reveals them to be bright orange. The color and size of the silk will be matched as closely as possible, and will also be color-preserved, just like the original.
The above photo shows why it was difficult to remove the tips from the tip case. One of the sections had broken and the tip-top wedged between the sections and case. Both sections show breaks and repair overwraps in the same relative position. The bottom section has actually been overwrapped twice, once professionally and once again with crude thread and workmanship.
You never know what is underneath an overwrapped rod section, so buyer beware! It can be just a minor hook dig or a more serious problem. In this case it's a more serious problem. After the overwraps were removed it is revealed that the sections had both been broken at some point in time and repaired by cutting back the sections and splicing the tips back into place, and then had broken again further up the section. Ouch!
The guides still on the rod are the original reverse-twist snakes, but are badly rusted and channeled from years of use with a silk line. They will need to be replaced with the appropriate originals.
This is a view of the first set of ferrules. The wrap below the female is a crude replacement and also notice that the welt is missing and will need to be replicated. The male ferrule has an apparent split, and as mentioned the ferrules are loose,corroded and will need to be removed, cleaned and remounted on the rod. The ferrules on vintage rods are commonly held in place with pins, and the photo below shows a pin on a male ferrule. These pins must be driven out to remove the ferrule, and then re-pinned with nickel silver wire.
The next photo show the reelseat. Notice the metalwork on this old rod, the fineness of the knurling is extraordinary! Also notice the amount of corrosion!
Well, the rod was logged in and we began this project by removing the reel seat in order to replace the cork grip. Under the metalwork was a wooden core, which also had to be removed and refabricated. The original cork rings were 3/8" wide, a size which is not available for purchase. I needed to make a jig to cut down 1/2" cork rings to 3/8" to form the grip as original. Once the seat was off it could be polished on a buffing wheel. This is what the seat looks like after removing 100 yrs.+ of oxidation.
The rod was completely stripped, and both tips were beyond repair. So, two new tips were fabricated to the original taper. This is how the rod came out afterwards.
The ferrules were beyond repair..once I got the pins knocked out and the ferrules removed, Baily Woods at CSE was able to duplicate the originals for us.
All of the wraps- including the intermediates and signature wrap- were painstakingly replaced. In many cases, rods are 'restored' without this original embellishment but it is not a true restoration without making the rod 'as original'.
On most old rods, the silk was sealed with color preservative(cp). CP is a pain to work with, but without using CP the wraps change color and appear transluscent...again, wraps that were sealed with CP must be redone using CP.
The guides were in pretty bad shape, and several could not be saved. Guides should always be replaced with the closest match possible. Nothing looks worse on a vintage rod then modern, oversized chrome guides. Luckily I have a good supply of very early reverse twist snakes...just like the original.
So here's the before and after pics: