Fishing rod ID

Started by Sharkb8, January 06, 2020, 10:12:20 AM

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Sharkb8

Can someone help ID this fishing rod or and info on it like year, brand etc.It did have a picture of a sea horse with a top hat on it and it's a 50lb rod Allan rollers guides Varmac reel seat and roller tip .Thanks for any info.

Kim

54bullseye

Kim
I would say you have a Sila Flex rod made in Costa Mesa, California . I think they originally started in the late 1940s but not 100% on that I am sure they were around in 50s and 60s. I know Browning bought into them but not sure of a date. I think yours would be a late 50s or 60s rod. They were known for there nice rootbeer colored glass rods that you could see fiberglass mesh through the finish. You will see a lot of Nep-Tuna cradles with Sila Flex rods and I know there were some rod builders on Balboa Island that used them a lot.

Should be some California guys to chime in who know more than I do  maybe Randy Pauly or Sheridan.
Hope this helps !!       John Taylor


Sharkb8

Thanks John and SoCal for that info it's a lot older than I thought? I been fishing with it for about 20yrs still work great, thanks again.

Kim

oc1

#4
The fore grip is interesting.  The rod pre-dates Eva foam so it must be some sort of denser rubber material like the marshmallow grips on Harnell rods of that era.  I didn't know that Sila Flex used anything like that.

If (by chance) that is the case, it will clean up nicely with some Clorox.

Nice Varmac reel seat too, but Sila Flex was know for using the best materials
-steve

54bullseye

#5
Quote from: oc1 on January 07, 2020, 10:08:34 AM
The fore grip is interesting.  The rod pre-dates Eva foam so it must be some sort of denser rubber material like the marshmallow grips on Harnell rods of that era.  I didn't know that Sila Flex used anything like that.

If (by chance) that is the case, it will clean up nicely with some Clorox.

Nice Varmac reel seat too, but Sila Flex was know for using the best materials
-steve

Steve I think the fore grip is made of that particle board type stuff like small wood particles almost sawdust mixed with some sort of resin and then turned on a lathe for final shaping. I have a few rods that have a grip similar to it. I actually was redoing a rod with that type grip and while cutting it off it kinda crumbled into bits and that is what it looked like to me. It might even be crumbled up cork with resin because it seems a bit softer than wood not sure.  That's my two cents and I could be wrong !!! Lol !!
John Taylor

Swami805

I have a few harnells with those partical board handles, I think they came as a kit
Any other marks or labels on it?
Do what you can with that you have where you are

54bullseye

Quote from: Swami805 on January 07, 2020, 01:23:19 PM
I have a few harnells with those partical board handles, I think they came as a kit
Any other marks or labels on it?
Sheridan
He said it had a Seahorse with a hat on decal That's why I figured Sila-Flex.    John

Swami805

Yes I was thinking it might have something additional like the builders mark or labels. It doesn't look to be a factory rod to me anyway, be interesting to see where it came from
Do what you can with that you have where you are

Sharkb8

The handle looks like that partical board type stuff. The rod looks like a factory built rod it has the seahorses sticker and a sticker which has custom deluxe, model 50LB

Kim

xjchad

I know nothing about it, but it sure is a cool looking rod!
Husband, Father, Fisherman

Ron Jones

My grandfather loved Sila-Flex rods. His surf rod was your rods cousin. This era of Sila-Flex rod is actually very important to rod manufacture today. The tapered fiberglass rods were off-shoots of WWII antennae development. I can never remember the way it went, but Sila-flex was either responsible for weaving over a mandrel or vacuum bagging and Harnell was responsible for the other, both came from Boeing engineers IIRC.
These early rods are interesting because you see very few transition rods, which is not the same in other industries like firearms, as soon as someone figured something out everyone went with it. It seems to have worked out well for most, pity other industries can't figure that out.
The Man
Ronald Jones
To those who have gone to sea and returned and to those who have gone to sea and will never return
"

oc1

#12
Thank you very much for that Ron.  I'm pretty sure Sila Flex wrapped Hexcell fiberglass cloth that had been pre-impregnated with phenolic resin over a metal mandrel and then baked it.  The fumes from the baking process eventually led to the demise of the process.  You can actually cut a section of rod and dissolve the resin with acetone (over days or weeks) and then unroll the fiberglass.  Phenolic resin resists just about every solvent except acetone.

That means Harnell was vacuum bagging.  This kinda makes sense because Harnell was always the outlier and looked different from everyone else.  They had the thick black "skin" over the fiberglass cloth.  I think Harnells were also made with phenolic resin but the skin was died black while the others had the natural brown resin color.  Hence the name "tobacco rod".  

The process of baking the fiberglass cloth pre-impregnated with phenolic resin was a lot like making bakelite sideplates.  They both rely on the reaction of phenol with formaldehyde.  Bakelite is reinforced with wood flour while the rods were reinforced with fiberglass cloth.

-steve