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.
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
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 (https://alantani.com/index.php?topic=31496.0)
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 .
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.
Quote from: JasonGotaProblem on July 11, 2025, 02:20:23 AMHas 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 ..
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?
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.
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.