Vintage bamboo rod ID help "trade mark K" Japan

[JasonGotaProblem]

You guys ever see one of these before? Got on auction site for fairly cheap because the listing was horrible so it probably got overlooked. it's a 3 piece roughly 8' long with an additional piece seemingly set up to be used as a shorter boat rod. Seems these early Japanese rod makers were big on giving people options.

[Swami805]

I've seen some before that came in a hard wooden box. Some had several pieces that can combine to make rods of different lengths and actions. Nice looking setup

[oc1]

The ones in the wooden boxes were Japanese made after the war.  There were a zillion brand names but they all seemed to source their components from the same supplier.  https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=31496.0

[oldmanjoe]

That looks to be a nice stick ...  Show it some love with a little cleaning with a toothbrush on the thread work . Water based polyurethane the thread work , than go back and do a clean up on the stick itself with a light scraping to remove the old varnish . Than coat it with 2 coats again .   I like water waterbase for the clear look , oil based will yellow after time .

[JasonGotaProblem]

Has anyone ever heard of that particular one? Theres a large and growing part of me that wants to strip it down and give it modern hardware and fish with it. That's kinda my thing. But not if it's a particularly valuable specimen. It's in excellent condition the guides are nearly pristine. Which makes me obviously hesitant to rip it apart.

[oldmanjoe]

Has anyone ever heard of that particular one? Theres a large and growing part of me that wants to strip it down and give it modern hardware and fish with it. That's kinda my thing. But not if it's a particularly valuable specimen. It's in excellent condition the guides are nearly pristine. Which makes me obviously hesitant to rip it apart.

They were common in the sixties .    I would clean it up and tie intermediates bands to dress it up . The guides and thread look good to me ..

[oc1]

Go for it Jason.  Just don't test it by lifting something heavy beforehand.  If or when you break it, you want it to be on a fish.  More exciting that way.

They used to strengthen bamboo rods by impregnating them with resin under pressure.  I wonder if you could use pressure to force the natural oils beck into the fiber?

[Jim Fujitani]

In 1974 I reconditioned a post-war combo rod, in a wooden box, that one of my uncles brought back from Japan and gifted to my Dad.  It was painted with black lacquer.  I don't recall a "brand name".  Larry Simpson (owner of Time Flies in Arcata at the time) thought that the rod could be converted to a fly rod.

I stripped off the paint, varnished the blank, replaced the ferrules with Feather-weights, replaced the guides with Aetna foul proofs, replaced the reel seat and recorked the handle.  When completed, Larry thought the 3-piece rod could pass for a 7 weight.  I bought a Pflueger 1495 to go with it.

The first fish I landed was a 7 pound fall steelhead from the Trinity River just at Weitchpec.  The rod caught other less significant fish, but the first on that rod will stick in my memory.

[Cuttyhunker]

Picked up one, and started a thread on it here a few years ago, mine is a  post war bamboo boat rod, about as stiff as a stand up 80 these days, no box, Mayflower brand decal. The black/gold combo thread was pretty much toast and unobtainum, but like yours the wood (grass?) strips and hardware were okay.  A full strip job, candy apple red re wrap then into the rodholder sporting a pre war 49.  Took big bluefish without breaking a sweat.  Not a staple on the boat, and now lives in various corners of the house for antique braggin rights until mama occasionally chases it away.  Good tackle.