hey guys im brand new to rod building(starting on my second fly rod) and i had a couple of questions. my local hardware store had 2 boxes of fly guides just sitting on the shelf, so i asked if i could buy them all. i ended up with 472 black and 210 stainless? guides. one box i believe was mislabeled as perfection tip tops and the other box(with the black guides in it) was labeled Allan. i might be interested in selling or maybe even trading these guides(doubt ill ever use that many), if so i'll post them in the appropriate section of this site. so i guess my question to you guys is have you ever heard of this company? i can email pics if you think you could help me identify the guides. one other thing, how in the world do you go about sizing this many guides? after a while they all look relatively the same. btw i do have a digital caliper if that helps. any info is appreciated.

Great find, Bobby! Allan Mfg. Co. made a wide range of quality guides from the 30's to the 60's; they were original equipment on many factory rods of all kinds in that time frame. Guides which have solid rings are measured by the inside diameter of the ring. Snake guides (the ones that look like twisted bits of wire with flattened ends) are sized differently and are a little more difficult to measure. I suggest that you group the guides by type and style, and then sort by size. Pictures of the various styles will be necessary to help folks understand what you have.

To the best of my knowledge, Perfection Tip is still in business. They make guides and tip tops.

Bobby, If you cant confirm the sizes of those guides please include a recognizable item in the photo such as a coin, pencil, or even a BAYER aspirin.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Dean, I have sent you a guide size chart via email



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2011 11:44PM by Phil Erickson.

hi guys sorry i was away at a birthday jam. btw thank you guys for your fast and informative responses. the stainless? guides were in the Perfection Tip Fly Rod Top Assortment box. the sizes printed on the inside say 1/0,1,2,3. and best i can tell there are 4 different sizes. as for the black guides they were in a box that said Allan Fly Rod Assortment. the sizes were 2/0, 1/0, 1,and 2. i do have pictures, should i just email them to individuals who want to buy or trade. or should i upload the pics to a hosting site and add a link 2 my listing? thanx in advance