HELP need advise on possible bambo fly rod with two tips

Mark W. · May 27, 2013

I'm helping my mom sort an estate that was donated to the local senior center. In the pile (and I do mean pile) I found what I believe to be a bamboo fly rod with two different tip sections (different weights) The guy made his own poles that was obvious. I don't know if he made this one or it has just lost its decal.

At any rate I am looking for advise on how to carefully clean the thing and how to judge if it is in good enough condition to use.

Does anyone here travel in such circles or do you know of a good forum to seek advise. The pole is NOT FOR SALE NOR WILL IT BE.

Any help or direction greatly appreciated.

I'll be adding photos to this thread in the morning I want to use natural light.

jbett98 · May 27, 2013

To really figure out what you have, a visit to custom fly fishing shop is more then likely.
There are a lot of custom rods out there. Some are really valuable.
The nicest ones I have seen were always stored in a custom hard case.

Mark W. · May 27, 2013

This one had an aluminum hard case. But the place was a mess Some nephew got in before anyone thought to seal up the place and took what he wanted. This was in a pile on workbench in a back room it all looked like most places my mom does estate sales at a big mess. Many people in their last years tend to not take care of the details.

I have tracked down a reputable fly shop locally and will pack it down there to ask advise.

jbett98 · May 27, 2013

Just as a side note all of the bamboo that is used in the making of the fly rods, comes from a small area in Northern Viet Nam.
During the war, the supply of this special bamboo dried up and very few fly rods were made during this time frame.

Mark W. · May 27, 2013

I think I had heard that once before. My dad had a Spin casting pole made from a Fenwick bamboo blank but I think he did that either in high school or shortly thereafter which would have been late 50's

jbett98 · May 28, 2013

How many segments (splits) does yours have?

nwbobber · May 28, 2013

Maybe this forum would have some answers.classicflyrodforum/

Did he have tools associated with the building of cane rods? I have a friend that is very interested in this as a hobby, I'm sure he would be interested in an estate sale that had such items.

Mark W. · May 28, 2013

jbett98 said:
How many segments (splits) does yours have?

6 sides

Mark W. · May 28, 2013

nwbobber said:
Maybe this forum would have some answers.classicflyrodforum/

Did he have tools associated with the building of cane rods? I have a friend that is very interested in this as a hobby, I'm sure he would be interested in an estate sale that had such items.

There was a simple home made lathe for wrapping and a handful of various threads and a few pieces of cork. It appears that the rod building hobby had become inactive quite some time ago. Everything was a jumbled mess and dirty. It is also obvious that who ever liberated the firearms from then house also made off with a LOT of fishing gear. That I saw there were no tackle boxes no modern reels. So there won't be much of anything at the estate sale accept 4-5 misc bait casting, fiberglass fly poles and a solid surf pole. All in barn condition if you get my meaning.

Mark W. · Jun 1, 2013

Here are some photos of the Rod I took this morning

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jsparks747 · Aug 7, 2017

When my parents bought their vacation house we found 3 or 4 bamboo fly rods in there. I got a cheap small leather strop and some compound to polish all the metal on it and used a 10,000 grit whetstone to clean up the wood. They hadn't been touched since the lady's husband died and he died 20 years ago so there was a lot of grime on them.

Ura-Ki · Aug 7, 2017

Can you get a few more pictures of the reel seat? Any markings, or brand name you can make out? Looks like an early nickle played Strubel, A higher end reel seat may help determine overall value! Always love a good Bamboo skinny rod, they just feel right when casting, a much slower and relaxed experience! Unless the bamboo has really dried out, it should be perfectly capable of casting and even fishing!

pakrat57 · Aug 7, 2017

Can't say as to the quality or value but it's a combo rod. It has a fly tip and a bait casting tip. Also the handle should flip around, if you look at the first two pics you can see a ferule type fit of the rod to handle. There will be a hole in the other end of the handle.