Background

My Views on Rod Restoration (Power Point Presentation)

To Restore or not to restore . . .

This is always a difficult question. In antique collection and museum circles the following terms are used to describe options for improving the condition of antiques and collectables:

RESTORATION - return to a former state; (usually fishable,with authentic parts)

CONSERVATION - keep from decaying; (for museum pieces)

REFURBISH - renovate, make as if new; (strip and replace with appropriate parts and finish)

Restoration is the hardest of the three because you are making an effort to retain as much of the original as possible.

In my view the following types of rods should not be restored.

1. Rods that are in fair or better condition which date from the "Antique" pre-1920's era and have great historical interest (Rods like these should probability be in museums). These rods should be conserved.

2.Rods in any condition which are of poor quality. These rods are not worth professional restoration, but do make good practice rods for learning restoration techniques. Of course rods with sentimental value (Grandfather's Rod or Dad's Rod) could be restored to look like they did when Dad and Granddad fished them if one wants to pay the price.

Rods that benefit from restoration are:

1. Rods that are in good to excellent fishable condition and have historical value or are from a famous maker (e.g. Dickerson, Payne, Gillum etc.). Restoration of such a rod can reduce its value. However, replacement of a few badly frayed wraps or missing guides with the appropriate materials is acceptable. The loss of collector value is balanced by the joy of fishing a great rod from the past.

2. The rods that probably benefit the most from restoration are quality rods from good makers (e.g. Heddon, Granger, Edwards, Divine), made in the Golden Age of Bamboo. These rods should be fished. If repairs or restoration are required to make them fishable this should be done, and this is what I enjoy doing.

Rods that should be refurbished are:

1. Any quality rod which is not in the museum category which needs extensive repairs to be fishable. Note: Quality work in this area often means striping finish and waps replacement of parts, regluing delaminations scarfing tips etc. This can be expensive.

2. Lower grade rods, such as high end Horrocs, Ibbitson, Montegue, Abbey and Imbrie which have sound blanks and nice actions. Often parts such as ferrules and reel seats can be upgraded.

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My Restoration Philosophy

There are many approaches to restoration of quality production bamboo fly rods. As John Gierach points out in his book "Fishing Bamboo" there are risks associated with fishing old rods. Rods can have unseen flaws resulting from age or neglect which result in breakage or delamination of the rod at the worst possible moment! One way to prevent this from happening is to completely strip the rod, re-set the ferrules, repair hook digs or small delaminations, refinish and re-wrap. This work should be done in such a way as to restore the rod to mint condition. I believe that if you intend to fish the rod extensively, this should be done. When I do this I try to match any new components (thread wraps, guides, etc.) to the originals. However, if a production quality rod needs minor modifications to be fishable with modern fly lines these modifications (e.g. larger stripping guide etc) are acceptable but should be made unobtrusively.
There is an ethical problem that arises here. Rods in mint to near mint original condition are highly sought after and bring high prices. I try to make the rod look as it originally did, no better or no worse. It would be unethical to sell such a rod as mint or near mint. If one sells a restored it should represented as restored. Some professional restorers mark the rod in some inconspicuous spot as restored by ___ and the date of restoration. My preference is not to mark the rod as restored but to indicate this fact in any sale.
I prefer not to repair or restore rods from famous makers. There are restorers who specialize in working on such rods.

The only employee of W-O'-W Rod Co.- Me

Douglas Easton: Bamboo Rodmaker, Restorer and Collector