I have a 6ft Hardy Palakona, 5#, dating from around 1975. It is as new other than the fact it has lost the top 3" of the tip.
I am going to shorten it to somewhere between 5' 7" to 5' 9" as I think it should still be very usable at this length.
I am just looking for some advise on what the best length would be. The spacing between the guides is:
Bottom to 2nd - 13 1/2"
2nd to 3rd - 10"
3rd to 4th - 9"
4th to 5th - 7"

What I am planning to do is to remove the 5th guide and place the new tip guide somewhere between 6 - 8" from the 4th guide.

This is the fisrt time I have worked on a cane rod so any advise would be welcome.

Thanks..........John

John,

This is a Hardy?! You want to cut and trim a Hardy bamboo rod? If you have it in mind to make yourself a short bamboo rod, I have a bunch of old pieces you could play with and just have the Hardy repaired properly. JMHO

Dan Craft
Dan Craft Enterprises

I can scarf the tip for you so that you will have a full length section to match the others. (without repair wrap) Don't ruin the Hardy by trying to shorten it..
You can email me directly at : mrparramoure@yahoo.com

Tight lines ~ ~

I am sorry, but I need to add to the above, the Hardy #5 , 6 foot rod in very good shape is worth in the neighborhood of $600.00 , I don't think you want to mess it up.

Don't know if you knew the value ??

Art,

Rods tend not to be worth high prices even Hardy's unless they are absolutaly mint. With original bag, price ticket and sales receipt. That's what collectors demand. One that is broken probably has very little value. Renovation seriously devalues a rods potential value. I personally would not want to fish a 30 year old cane rod. It probably has gone soft a tad and is unlikealy to be as striaght as it once was. Continued use will kill off any residual value if that is important to John.

Cheers

Mike

I have to disagree, market values have almost doubled in the past 3 years on bamboo rod in all conditions, some cases tripled from book value.

True, collectors will be looking for all that they can get, including the sales receipt.

I restore rods on a daily basis for serious collectors. There is a BIG difference between refinishing and restoring. One should not be able to tell that a rod has been restored. Most often one can tell that a rod has been refinished.

There is a lot of business in the area of making new tip sections to match the one that was missing on a 3/2 or 2/2 rod. A big business in the supplies to do the job correctly also, as in ferrules, NOS thread, etc. When was the last time you bought a spool of silk for $74.00 ?? (just to match a wrap on a rod) A far cry from the $1.85 spool from Gudebrod.

I agree with your thought that a rod in the original condition is more valuable than that of one that has been refinished or restored, but only if that original condition is "GOOD" or "EXECELLENT", I have given rods to grandkids that are in better shape than some rods I see advertised as "MINT" so I guess it is in the eyes of the fisherman, collector, buyer and / or seller.

Art,

I am happy to be corrected and re-educated. Yes a whole world of difference between restored and refinished. makes me shudder just to think about it. At $70 plus dollars for the silk I will pass. But there again I don't do your kind of highly skilled work so don't need it.

Art

Purely out of interest can you do a scarf joint so near to the tip and the rod if it were to be cast ever again would it actually function a Ok? @#$%& of a tricky job for most of us to do that kind of high accuracy work. I take my hat off to you.

Regards

Mike O.

With modern glues and good scarfing technique, the tip can be scarfed so it bis not noticeable without magnification. The scarfed tip will be just as strong as the original. I do it all the time.

John. As Art and Steve have said, scarfing a quality tip to replace the original is the way to go. Or have a new tip built. If you don't want to spend the money I am sure you could work a trade of the Hardy as is for a lesser model in good shape. An unfortunate consequence of the rise in quality used bamboo rods is that everyone assumes an old bamboo rod is worth a lot of money. The vast majority fall into the category described by Mike and aren't worth restoring or refinishing. The Hardy is one of the exceptions.

As Steve mentioned above & he does do a ton of scarfs I might add, with the glue we have today, you don't even need the repair wrap. And you would be lucky to even find the joint. (there are tricks to that also, in the placement of the scarf which will make it even more difficult to detect)

I have not ever had a customer complain that there was a difference in action, or that it didn't feel right. As a matter of fact, I got an email this past week from one that took a Phillipson that I scarfed for him on a weekend fishing trip,,, fished fantastic and caught a ton of fish.. and to tell you the truth, he asked me before he took it if it was safe to fish or should he put it away .. I told him to give it @#$%& !! ( I received another Phillipson from him today for repair! )

I am not saying that the average production rod from South Bend should be scarfed or a new tip made, unless of course it has the ol' "sentimental value".
They simply aren't worth it.
But if it was grampa's favorite and he gave it you you just before he died, and you broke it ,, well that may be a different story , I get those too. And I try to tell the people that the rod just is not the quality rod to invest any money into, but 9 out of 10 times, they want it done because of the "SV".

It is really a judgement call on the part of the one who owns it.

Now you have a couple guys to choose from if you deside to scarf it. Another one would be Gary M. should he happen to find this thread,, he too is an execellent fellow to scarf your tip.

Tight lines to all ~ ~