Hi All

I'm about to start a restoration of a Wallis Wizard and could do with some advice/discussion of issues before I start. I'm a competent rod builder and reasonably experienced in cane (this will be my fourth cane restoration) so I'm confident I can do the rod justice.

The rod is an early Wizard with blued brass fittings and spiggoted ferrules. The butt section looks to be entirely original with a nickle silver agate lined butt ring, unmarked label and hook retainer. The middle and tip sections still appear to have the original varnish and intermediate whips, but the rings are chrome high bells with whippings that don't match the rod. The male ferrules on the middle and tip have a slight knock and will need re-setting. The rod measures 11ft 1inch from button to tip and looks to be about an inch short in the tip which has been butchered to fit a threaded tip ring. The butt and middle are almost the same length with the middle being about 1/4inch shorter - looks about right to me.

So to my questions:

The current ring spacing isn't right (there are 8 rings including the butt and tip rings)so, rather than me guessing, does anyone have the correct spacings?

The oval label and the hook keeper ring are on opposite sides of the butt with the label being on the same side as the butt ring - is this correct?

The handle is in really good condition, but obviously the bluing has worn off. can I blue the brass bits in situ? I don't want to risk removing them so I'll leave them as is if this is too risky.

My intention is to strip the blank back to bare cane (leaving the label of course!) and re-finish in red silk. The middle and tip sections have a slight droop when assembled, but not an obvious set when apart, so I'm just going to reverse the rings on the blank.

Thanks

Sean

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Quot homines, tot sententiae. My Blog

Sean,
I've the same or similar model, I'll take some measurements tonight and let you have them. Mine too has been fitted with a threaded tip ring, this may have been standard?

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Duncan

Hi Sean

I'm no expert on these rods but I bought a pretty beat up rod a few years back and made a note of the measurements before touching it.

The eight rings, tip and seven intermediates, is the original ring pattern I believe or it was on my rod. My tip section was roughly an inch shorter than the mid section and I thought perhaps the tip had snapped off at sometime but when assembled the rod measured 11 foot exactly.

The tip section had three intermediate rings.
Measuring from the tip ring:

9 1/8" to centre of first ring.
10 15/16" from first to the second ring.
12/ 11/16" from second to the third ring.

Mid section had three rings:

4 1/8" from top of ferrule to centre of first ring.
11 9/16" from first to second ring.
16 1/8" from second to third ring.

Butt section
8 1/16" from top of ferrule to middle of butt ring.

How does that compare to yours?

You may well know that a lot of people add a couple of more intermediate rings. Even then it's only 9 rings over an 11 foot rod.

Label was on top opposite side to butt ring.

Pete

Thanks Pete and Duncan. I'm away at the moment (Upper Gt Ouse!) so I'll measure up when I get back. The threaded tip ring definitely isn't original Duncan - they didn't exist in the 1940s. A lot of them were used as leger rods in the 70's and 80's and it was pretty common for people to fit a theaded ring then.

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Quot homines, tot sententiae. My Blog

Total of 8 rings.
1 butt section agate lined
3 middle section
4 top section tip ring also agate lined and is screw fitted -

45" butt section whole cane
45" middle section split cane
44" top section split cane

Spacings for rings is as Pete's rod or there abouts, not too sure where to measure from.

The only markings are 'Allcocks Wizzard' on the butt section.

I bought it from this forum some years ago, it's in very good condition, so I'm not sure if it's been restored.

(Don't half bend when you hook up to a big tench!)

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Duncan

I'm no expert but there are plenty of cane authorities on here:

PurePiscator

Regards,
Dave.

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http://derbyangler.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the link Dave. I thought that forum had shut down.

Pete

richard

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Who resides on the right bank of the Derbyshire Wye and is lulled to sleep each night by the mutterings of a weir, dreaming that "When the rivers and their inhabitants come first, we ALL win..."

I take it you know how to modify a pipe cutting tool to take the knock out of the ferrules by very gently re compressing the female don't you?

You just replace the blade in a small pipe cutter with a bearing, fit it over the female ( male not fitted ) and roll it around tightening gently, keep test fitting and adjusting. It only takes a few minutes and does a great job and keeps the ferules as original.

Sorry if this is telling you how to suck eggs...

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"Anonymous presence grant that, when I come questioning, it is not with the dictionary in one hand, the microscope in the other."
R. S. Thomas

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´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((((º>

Great photos RW, seems so long ago now, hope you'll be joing me again on the glorious 16th.....!

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Duncan