Start with @Barbelseeker, i intend to leave the cork handle alone, i have given it a gentle wash/scrub with warm soapy water and a nail brush then a buffing with a soft cloth.
I think going too clean would look wrong.
With the power of youtube i found that various kitchen cleaning pads work well and if needed it should go back to it's natural finish with some elbow grease.
The varnish drama.
I finger printed the soft varnish last night, so added more and left the rod with ferrule pointing down, i did move it later and left it ferrule pointing up.
The varnish has sagged over night and made a run across the whipping. A slight mess that i don't intend to touch until it's fully cured but i think i can diamond stone it back and then just gloss over the whipping again. The actual blued brass ferrule has sorted it self with gravity and looks smart.
It will be easier to attempt to fix the run than strip back the ferrule and try again.
I went off on a tangent last night and maybe i should have started this thread in resto-projects if a Mod-Admin feel that is correct and wish to move me then that is fine, kind of lurking in Fly Fishing because fly rod and wasn't going for a full resto....
The tangent then.
I noticed from geeking out on the old Milward catalogues that the rods with 2 tips came with a wooden tip-carrier-protector, but no images.
I started searching and not really anything to match that came up.
I did go down the rabbit hole of Cane landing rod handles..... that also carry a spare tip..... and got thinking.
I have a pile of garden cane removed from father in laws garden bamboo forest.
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I wonder is there a bit straight enough, long enough and of a large enough diameter to take 2 tips.
I did some checking and have some PVC plumbing pipe, i think it was 18mm internal diameter and 20mm external diameter.
The 2 tip sections quite happily sit together inside an 18mm pipe.
This is now worth an experiment. I selected a bit that looks about right, cut it down so it's as straight as possible to start with, then attacked the growth rings and planed them down.
So far so good.
I now have a length around 35" and can i bore it out with what i have to hand.
So far i have managed to bore it through and just keep nibbling away at the bore.
Once i can see daylight, then i can start trying to steam the cane and chase out some of the bends, then rebore and nibble a bit more away and steam again.
Getting to the point of being able to try and fit 2 tips, just a process of rebore with a waggling flat bit wood drill bit on an extension bar and keep chasing straightness.
May or may not work but so far promising.
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All this kettle boiling and time for a mug of tea and have a few more goes at it.
Now thinking i could make a cane priest as well