Recently while cleaning out our family hunting camp in upstate NY, we came upon two very old rods that belonged to my great (or maybe great great?) grandfather. Being an avid custom rod builder I of course would like to restore them to as close to original condtion as possible.

The 1st by all appearances is a 6' cane (?) two handed surf casting rod (don't ask me what a surf casting rod was doing in a hunting camp in the Tug Hill region of NY. However grandpa was sometimes described as a little "strange"). It has a brass slide ring real seat and turned wood grips. Under the 2 guides (held on by electricians tape) you can see what looks like securing pins inserted in the blank. There very definite joints where the blank was glued. Without whittling I cannot tell if the material is cane or some other type of hardwood. After an extensive cleaning and polishing operation, I was able to see an engraved inscription on the real seat. It says the rod was built by "Horrock Bros., Utica, NY. The rod is in excellent condition and workmanship is excellent.

The 2nd is a steel 8' telescoping flyrod. The inscription on the real seat says it is a 'XPert" . The outside finish is a brown paint of some sort, and his highly pitted with visble rust. Any ideas on how to restore this? A small brass fly reel was attached and looks godd as the day it was made.
Any help the good folks on this board can give me would be greatly appreciated by me and probably gramps if he was around.

The first rod is probably hickory if it is a round rod. It is hexagonal or segmented in shape then it is probably split bamboo. Lots of them are still around. They make nice keepsakes although I still some that are fished with. The shorter boat type rods are more plentiful but on occasion I see a surf model.

The telescoping rod is something else I have seen but not that very one. If it's painted I don't see why you couldn't strip it and refinish and paint it. It could be anodized, but I know little about the history of those so don't take my word for it.

Thanks William for your post. The rod is hexagonal, and It sure looks like split cane. Question, on heavier rods such as this, were under raps utilized? The guides that were taped on the rod are 10mm, don't you think a larger guide in the 14-16mm range be more appropriate?