Marco elasticane 'Test'

[James]

Well I leapt before I looked again Not strictly a rod on my to get list, and according to the last writings about this rod i paid a little over the top of it's £40-£60 estimated value, but it has an original bag and both stoppers so i decided it was worth an extra £10 which turned out to be only £8, I don't count the postage and at £10 it seems reasonable.

Next thing is, what are your thoughts on this rod, Sweetcorn Kid had one I think but apart from that has anyone else? I wanted another lightish float rod but don't know what it's capabilities may be, would tench and chub be it's limit or is it lighter and a roach and bream rod. Gentlemen, your thoughts on the 'Test' please :thumb:

lastly, there was a Marco 'Medway' i missed, had a phone call and forgot the listing was ending, doh, which went for less than £30, does anyone know about that one too and what other Marco elasticane rods are there, and are they just 'B' list rods or do they warrant a listing in their own right?

Andrew the Marco 12ft Test was the first Cane rod i used week in week out for a couple of years,i came to really enjoy fishing with split cane with this rod ,although a little heavy i found it a very versatile rod. Grayling and chub long trotting on the River Dove even Tench and Carp on my local Derbyshire Derwent.I found it had a nice progressive action ,unfortunately a poor strike into a tree broke the tip,i will get round to it one day.

[Santiago]

I found the ring spacing on the tip section to be too far apart for safety, and managed to break the tip just by pulling line through from the butt whilst setting up. I now need a new tip section and when I acquire one I will add additional rings!

[AshbyCut]

Thanks for the comments, Gentlemen.

Being a new thread to me I did try it on an old bit of tip section using the "ChromaSeal" (ThreadMaster at first, RoddDancer now, supplied by H & H) that I have used on all my little projects up to now and founds it just a little darker than the untreated thread, and no sign of transparency. Having only been at working on rods for about 8 months now I have no experience of other materials to compare the "ChromaSeal" to, but it seems to do the job for me.

As it's the 10' 6" version I'm (rightly or wrongly) sticking with the three guides on the tip and two on the centre sections as it was when I got it.

I'll be starting anew thread under Marco in a few days, as I've acquired a 12ft "Arun" which is currently winging it's way to me. It will be interesting to compare the two.

[Nobby]

I've often wondered what the differencemight be between a Test and an Arun as they were both offered at 12 feet.......?


Glad to hear the sealer works for you......I guess it's time I tried it again then.


The transparency happening to white was with a bulk spool of Gudebrod I had...an interesting effect just leaving the black there to the eye, but all 'twists' or 'jaspers' seem very prone to darkening as the varnish bleeds in....obviously sealing is an issue with them more than other threads, perhaps because of the way they are made.


Have you actually varnished any yet to see that the sealer is working properly AC ?

First cane rod I had too, the Test...a 12 footer like so many are. A good all-round rod, very well made. I've yet to see one with a set, a split or soft cane. And, of course, the tapers are always perfect due to the milling they used, not every maker you can say that about.

Someday people are going to cotton on to how good these rods are and the price will rocket.


Since the weight difference between an 11 and a 12 foot rod 'feels' so vast, I bet the 10-6 is a lovely rod. I do have one, but it's a 10-2 due to an accident in its distant past, yet it still makes a belting little margin tench rod.

[SeanM]

Nobby, I know it's probably been done elsewhere, but just how much do you have to thin banana oil to get it to penetrate reliably? I've just done a rod in a lovely green/black jasper from Dave Pearce. I used 3 coats of banana oil, but still got some darkening from varnish bleed. I'm doing a Milwards rod at the moment in silver/black and I've gone back to dope as although it darkens the thread a bit I don't get bleed.

[Nobby]

I can't say for certain Sean as every time I use 'jasper' I get a bit of bleed, but then I've yet to see an unrestored Marco that didn't have a little too, so it's not just us!



I know that the Oil loses its thinners quite quickly and probably loses the lot when you open the jar!


From memory I added a centimeter to the jar after only having used it twice before and it literally 'put itself on' from a well loaded brush. Lastt ime I used it , just a week ago, it sat on top of the thread as as though it had never seen the thinners........

But I think it's still worth 'fingering on' the first coat to really push it through the threads.


I expect you'll find the bleed lessens with time though....don't ask me why...it can't still be wet in there can it?


But I've had bleed disappear slowly for as long as a year! On the rod in question, I added 'inters' two, maybe three, years after doing it up....re-varnished the whole rod afterwards and those 'older' whips bled again!





It's enough to make you turrn to drink!

[SeanM]

Hic!

[AshbyCut]

Have you actually varnished any yet to see that the sealer is working properly AC ?

This is the test ... a small one with 2 coats of the Chromaseal followed by 3 thinned coats of Ronseal Exterior varnish. I usually do a finished rod with between 6 and 8 hand brushed, thinned coats.

[Nobby]

Ah ... you're actually seeking a white/black finish, not the yellow/black appearing original then?


My mistake, sorry.


Definitely looks sound, though.


I shall have to try these new sealers you mentioned.

[AshbyCut]

[quote="Nobby"]Ah ... you're actually seeking a white/black finish, not the yellow/black appearing original then?/quote]

Yes, Sir. Having looked under the old yellowed whippings and found they were actually black and white I went for that. It could also have something to do with being a lifelong Newcastle United follower (my parents bought me my first shirt in 1954, and my father went to the same school as the Charltons), or 'masochists' as we are also known !