Hardy Allround

[Swythyn Troutbeck]

Pafpuf, you've just answered my question before I asked it! I have an FKW Wallis Allround and was wondering about its age...it's unrestored and has a lovely patina.

Troutbeck

[Chavender]

well ,I nearly bid on that myself to go with my wallis rod ,but it being a later one I didn't .it looks a good rod though and with its taper 2" off the top shouldn''t make a big difference .I took my wallis rod to the royalty visit last year and spent a pleasant afternoon plucking dace and others out by the carpark .

the allrounder will be a lovely rod .good catch getting it .it should be a perfect small species rod. and a affordable hardy's rod .hardy prices can get ridicules .you done well.

[AshbyCut]

The rod has just arrived, and I'm delighted to say that my concerns about a shortened tip section were unfounded !!! It's full length.

The Number is actually G32422 ... which I understand specifies a 'composite' rod (ie. both whole cane and split cane) ... and what I thought from the original shaky photograph was a number 2 above the name Allround is, in fact, the first of a pair of quotation marks.

Generally it's in very good condition ... with just a few places where the varnish has degraded on the whippings. The guides are all good, the ferrules are tight, and the rod is perfectly straight. A bit of a clean up of the handle and a coat of varnish on the cane will see it ready for the bank.

I'm a very Happy Chappy !

[LuckyLuca]

Good news!

Look forward to seeing it snatching tiddlers!

[Paul F]

Very nice Mal, you will love it for your fishing

[Greentura]

A nice rod indeed, I now only have one Hardy rod having sold my other Perfection Roach. I nearly bought a restored Allrounder a few years ago but at the time had too many other commitments, Mr Lythe and the search for a Craftversa to measure or buy. Look forward to seeing it all restored Mal

[MaggotDrowner]

I had a feeling it would be the correct length. Like I said the rings at the end of my Sealey Floatcasters are very close together, which makes it look like it is short. The Allround looks like similar rod the the floatcaster.

[AshbyCut]

The Allround looks like similar rod the the floatcaster.

Looks can be deceptive, Sir. Though it's 11ft. 1in. in length it's a very light rod indeed. It weighs in at a mere 9.75 oz. (276 gr.) ... even lighter than my 10ft. 6in. Precision Rods "R. Sealey's Tudor Rose" which 9.90 oz. (280 gr.).

[MaggotDrowner]

The Allround looks like similar rod the the floatcaster.

Looks can be deceptive, Sir. Though it's 11ft. 1in. in length it's a very light rod indeed. It weighs in at a mere 9.75 oz. (276 gr.) ... even lighter than my 10ft. 6in. Precision Rods "R. Sealey's Tudor Rose" which 9.90 oz. (280 gr.).

I've just weighed my 11ft floatcaster which is 286 g (about 10 oz). Not surprising as they are both similar in length and construction with both rods being 11ft or so and of whole cane / split cane / split cane construction. That's a difference of only 10 g or 0.35 oz.

It would be interesting to have them alongside each other to compare them.

Let us all know when you are up and running with it and what you catch! I bet it is lovely. All the Hardy rods I have ever seen have been.

[Nobby]

I no longer have the Photostat of the Hardy catalogue from the Thirties someone once gave me....PC crash....grrr. From memory the only difference between a number one and number two was the aluminium tube and the extra rod bag for it. I am sure the actual rod was identical. The number three, however, wasn't even the same rod..it was all whole cane but with a split cane tip.


A lot of Hardy coarse rods appear to be short in the tip section because they had a habit of putting the rings somewhat forward towards the tip, so that the distance between the last intermediate ring and the tip ring looked too short to the eye. This makes them look like they've had a break repaired when they actually haven't.


Very light rods, with a very soft action and a rather short handle if you want the reel forward in the modern style....a butt extension can help here. I think your rod has been refurbished with new rings as it originally had little 45 degree low bells that are impossible to source now...though an old Marco rod will provide all bar the smallest two on the tip section. It would have had agate lined tip and butt rings once too.


This is an Avon, so it's red whipped but you can just make out the rings:





I've used Tinypic so you should be able to zoom in.

This rod is a number one, hence the tube and two bags. It also has a short tip section, repaired for ledger use and a new tip section made, hence both tip sections have a new tip rings on with red agate liners, whereas the butt ring is grey agate. If you look at the replacement tip section, whose ring positions exactly copied the damaged Hardy tip you can see that the last intermediate looks a bit close to the tip section, yet it is exactly the right length.

Sadly, I was only looking after this rod for a few months before it went abroad.....and I never fished with it.