Marco Medway re-furbishment
Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2013 12:11 pm
Some weeks ago, I posted a ‘Help!’ topic on here about the Modern Arms Co. ‘Medway’ rod in ‘Elasticane’. Over fifty years ago, my parents had nearly bought me an ‘Elasticane’ rod as my first ‘proper’ rod, but I ended up with a J.B.Walker Avon kit instead.
Anyhow, I took a punt on this one on E-bay and got it, delivered, for just under £50 - not dirt-cheap, but not silly. When it arrived and was assembled, the cane was in good condition with only the tiniest set in the tip. However, the rod had clearly been re-ringed and re-varnished (badly). A full set of Agatine-lined bridge rings, a thick coat of treacly-brown varnish with tears and streaks all over the place. Even the cork handle was varnished. A complete refurbishment was indicated - hence my TFF post. Unfortunately, this was only partially successful – several members owned the ‘Test’ or the ‘Arun’, but not the ‘Medway! Ho, hum. . .
I decided to go for High Bells Life rings, and won a few sets on E-bay. While waiting for delivery, I began by removing all the rings and intermediate tyings and making a note of the spacings. The varnish was scraped off back to the cane, using the back of the blade of a craft-knife (an easy job, since the varnish was very brittle and flaked off with little effort). Only the area around the decals was tricky – had to work very carefully around them with the back of a Swann-Morton scalpel. The varnish on the cork handle was gently sanded off, and the metalwork cleaned. By, now, the rod looked as if it would fly!
The male ferrule on the middle joint was loose, and was re-glued. Then, the whole blank was given two coats of French Polish (a Ted Oliver tip) and a single coat of yacht varnish (I do this to ensure that there is always varnish under the rings). Also from Ted came some matching green silk. When the rings arrived, I assembled from them a nicely graduated set with Agatine tip and butt.
I’ve never been keen on intermediate tyings – no useful purpose these days, just cosmetic – but, since the original rod had them, back they’d have to go. This came first, before the rings were whipped on. After a couple of fumblings, I developed a fool-proof (well, nearly) technique and accomplished the job quickly and without any bad language! The rings took longer but, eventually, all was complete and ready for the final two coats of varnish.
A couple of asides from the last paragraph. First, the tip ring. Of the three I’d bought, one had lost its lining, and one was too low to match the intermediate rings. The one remaining was one of those abominations without a tube for the rod tip – just two arms. Whipping this on was a real bother – not only did I have to scrape two flats to accommodate the arms, I also needed three hands to whip it on! After three abortive attempts, I roughly whipped the top of the ring in place, then whipped up over the end of the legs, removing the holding whipping en route. The top joint had, of course, been rotated a half-turn so that the set was upwards.
The second aside was that I used Banana Oil for the first time, since it is praised on the Forum. It gave a good even finish – not as glossy as nail-varnish – and much cheaper! Ten times the amount for the same price. I shall now eschew nail-varnish.
As for the original rings, they will be dedicated to a bespoke cane heavy pike/salmon spinning rod (oh – all right, a carp stalker as well!). Judging by the prices Hopkins & Holloway are charging, these rings alone are worth more than twice what I paid for the rod!
Here are a few pics of the finished rod:
Before
After
And the spare rings:
For some reason, TinyPic through a wobbler when I tried to upload the decal images. Never mind!
Anyhow, I took a punt on this one on E-bay and got it, delivered, for just under £50 - not dirt-cheap, but not silly. When it arrived and was assembled, the cane was in good condition with only the tiniest set in the tip. However, the rod had clearly been re-ringed and re-varnished (badly). A full set of Agatine-lined bridge rings, a thick coat of treacly-brown varnish with tears and streaks all over the place. Even the cork handle was varnished. A complete refurbishment was indicated - hence my TFF post. Unfortunately, this was only partially successful – several members owned the ‘Test’ or the ‘Arun’, but not the ‘Medway! Ho, hum. . .
I decided to go for High Bells Life rings, and won a few sets on E-bay. While waiting for delivery, I began by removing all the rings and intermediate tyings and making a note of the spacings. The varnish was scraped off back to the cane, using the back of the blade of a craft-knife (an easy job, since the varnish was very brittle and flaked off with little effort). Only the area around the decals was tricky – had to work very carefully around them with the back of a Swann-Morton scalpel. The varnish on the cork handle was gently sanded off, and the metalwork cleaned. By, now, the rod looked as if it would fly!
The male ferrule on the middle joint was loose, and was re-glued. Then, the whole blank was given two coats of French Polish (a Ted Oliver tip) and a single coat of yacht varnish (I do this to ensure that there is always varnish under the rings). Also from Ted came some matching green silk. When the rings arrived, I assembled from them a nicely graduated set with Agatine tip and butt.
I’ve never been keen on intermediate tyings – no useful purpose these days, just cosmetic – but, since the original rod had them, back they’d have to go. This came first, before the rings were whipped on. After a couple of fumblings, I developed a fool-proof (well, nearly) technique and accomplished the job quickly and without any bad language! The rings took longer but, eventually, all was complete and ready for the final two coats of varnish.
A couple of asides from the last paragraph. First, the tip ring. Of the three I’d bought, one had lost its lining, and one was too low to match the intermediate rings. The one remaining was one of those abominations without a tube for the rod tip – just two arms. Whipping this on was a real bother – not only did I have to scrape two flats to accommodate the arms, I also needed three hands to whip it on! After three abortive attempts, I roughly whipped the top of the ring in place, then whipped up over the end of the legs, removing the holding whipping en route. The top joint had, of course, been rotated a half-turn so that the set was upwards.
The second aside was that I used Banana Oil for the first time, since it is praised on the Forum. It gave a good even finish – not as glossy as nail-varnish – and much cheaper! Ten times the amount for the same price. I shall now eschew nail-varnish.
As for the original rings, they will be dedicated to a bespoke cane heavy pike/salmon spinning rod (oh – all right, a carp stalker as well!). Judging by the prices Hopkins & Holloway are charging, these rings alone are worth more than twice what I paid for the rod!
Here are a few pics of the finished rod:
Before After And the spare rings:
For some reason, TinyPic through a wobbler when I tried to upload the decal images. Never mind!
