Well, with many thanks to Olly and a hint from AC, I finally took delivery of the holy grail. My dad collected it from Olly some time ago but today is the first time any relatives have been heading this way. My brother dropped it off on his way to his seaside holiday.
The rod is generally in pretty good condition although not without its problems.
1. The male ferrule (not attached to the rod) was stuck in the handle section. I wrapped and glued it back in and held my breath. if it didn't work, I'd be stuck with a rod section over 6' long. With a lot of tape wrapped round the exposed part of the ferrule, I attached a pair of mole grips and applied some pressure. It budged a bit then the tape began slipping. A quick re-wrap and a second go got them apart, phew.
2. The female ferrule from the top of the but section was loose, glue setting on that one.
3. The handle was pretty grubby, so cleaned with some gentle rubbing and soapy water.
4. The biggest problem which I knew about when I bought the rod, was an unknown issue with the tip section. This had been badly whipped and disguised an unidentified problem
apologies for the picture quality (the battery died on my camera, so a poor phone shot will have to do.
Stripping off this showed a small split on one face of the tip section. It is about 3/4" long and doesn't cover the whole width of the section. It appears to have been glued better than it was whipped.
Re-whipped and awaiting more varnish.
It needed a bit of heat treatment to straighten it.
However, I have been here before, with a similar problem on an Elasticane Test. The repair looked sound but as soon as pressure was exerted on the section it stayed bent. Only time will tell if this one is going to go the same way.
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