The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I found these at a car boot today and thought I should share them, made from bamboo, I don't know if anyone has seen similar,
there was also some flies from the same period that the moths had missed

It's not the bamboo winders which are of interest, they were commonly made, it is the floats which have cured quill bodies, look to be plugged with a hardwood stem, would like to see a close up photo of the floats.
What a cracking boot sale find.

The floats all appear to be home made, you can see where the stems have been whittled to fit, the ring at the top is interesting it looks like a section of quill that has been stained and with a small bit of whipping to stop it splitting

Yes they are lovely quill caps, before the days of rubber bands, quill caps alone are much sought after.
The whipping was to stop them splitting when pushed on to a float.

That was an interesting find indeed. So much traditional gear there to ponder over.

That looks like a bit of cotton wool pushed up into quill tip to whiten it up.. a nice touch. It's a pity that floats cannot talk, I am sure these would have a tale or two to tell us. My Boot fairs this year have been terrible so far, but well done on a smashing haul

I'd expect those floats to be over 80 years old! Just one might have been cured and re-shaped which was apparently a London thing, otherwise they look like standard quill shapes to me. The whipped quill caps look very French, as in the hoard found by John Andrews the year before last, but who knows...good ideas get copied.

I'll ask Jeff Della Mura to look at the thread.

I had another look and yes it does look like cotton wool in the tip, the guy I bought this from said there was other items but this was all that was left,

It might be worth contacting John Andrews (of Arcadia) to see if he still has this - or at least, can remember the date:

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OjfNybtIEHk/ ... box11.jpeg

Some of the floats look very similar to those on the winders.

Edit - to put it in context, it's the twelfth picture down in his Tuesday, 8th March 2016 post in his blog, "The Contents of a Box", here:

http://www.andrewsofarcadiascrapbook.blogspot.co.uk/

Any idea of the wood used to splice into the quills ?