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Leonard Graftek, anyone?
Post 15 Oct 2020, 06:46 • #1 
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A friend of mine recently gave me an 8'-6" 5wt. Leonard Graftek rod. It fishes a lot like fiberglass, but with some backbone. Anyone have fishing experience with this rod, or know anything about its history?



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Post 15 Oct 2020, 08:15 • #2 
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Yo rtro - Graftek was one of the first carbon fibre fly rods, and the material was made by an unusual company - Exxon if I recall correctly. Unlike glass at the time, or now, Grafteks that I casted were very zippy. They were very much a point and shoot instrument, and the downside was the cast ended up exactly where you pointed it. This meant, if my timing was off by just a bit, I would dump the whole line right at my feet. Unlike the Fisher blanked sticks of the era, Graftek provided very little feedback so I could adjust my strokes midcast, what with the effect of winds and just my general lack of form. The biggest problem Grafteks had was a lack of hoop strength, so a surprisingly small fish could snap the rod, halfway up the butt.

tl
les


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Post 15 Oct 2020, 09:06 • #3 
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Welcome rtrout. The Graftek is from right in the early stages of graphite fly rod development and manufacture, and before the so-called "IM" (improved modulus) that led to stiffer and stiffer graphite rods. Good quality, inexpensive graphite blanks of more or less "standard" graphite modulus, are widely available and often overlooked today. Like your Leonard, they will feel more 'glass-like. An 8'6" five weight was an uncommon 'glass or bamboo length configuration at the time, so those early Leonards seemed inviting. I remember using my brother's 4-weight Leonard Graftek--an even more novel configuration for the time--on a fast and furious evening on Oatka creek near Rochester NY in the late 1970s, and it performed well. Like many early graphite rods, including my 8'3 5-weight SA I swapped with my brother to fish that evening, they were vulnerable to breakage--much less so if the ferrule was reinforced. That's a nice rod to have and fish--and as a representative piece in the history of fly-rod tech.

FFR has a great search function (upper right of the frame), and if you try it you'll find a lot more on Graftek. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17441&p=104503&hilit=Graftek+brother#p104496

Looking at yours again--while realizing that color can be hard to judge from digital pics--I wonder if it is a kit build or built on a Graftek blank with user-chosen components. What did your friend tell you about the history of the rod--when and where acquired and such? For a short while after Graftek folded, bargain-buy blanks were on the market.


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Post 15 Oct 2020, 11:31 • #4 
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Thank you for the information and reflections! Regarding the history of this particular rod, I don't know much; however, it did come with factory tube and sleeve.



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Post 15 Oct 2020, 11:51 • #5 
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Location: Holly Springs, NC
Welcome to the Forum!

Are there any markings on the rod? The little bit of rod blank visible doesn't look like a Graftek. It wouldn't be the first time a rod didn't match the tube. Would it be possible to post additional photos?

The photo below shows a Graftek blank. As others have said, they are nice rods with a reputation for brittleness. Exxon also make bike frames at the time, with a reputation for fracturing the seats off the stem... Exxon doesn't make composite products anymore.


Tom



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Post 15 Oct 2020, 13:06 • #6 
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Hello again!
Here are a couple of rod pics. There are no rod markings at all.

Serendipitously, I came across a Leonard ad for Graftek in an "Early Season" 1976 issue of Fly Fisherman I was given by a different friend.



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Post 15 Oct 2020, 14:10 • #7 
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Is the white blank slightly greenish? I always forget that Leonard painted their blanks and didn't leave them as raw graphite. Based on the advertisement and the rod tube, I don't think there is any question you have a Leonard Graftek rod. Pay particular attention to the glue joint between the rod blank and the female ferrule. If there is any looseness or clicking, have the rod serviced.

I'm surprised there are no rod markings. Those are free advertising.

My Graftek was marketed by Exxon and is a 7'6" rod for a 4 weight line. I like the way it casts and didn't think the rod was unresponsive. Especially compared to some of the later really stiff graphite.


Tom


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Post 15 Oct 2020, 19:29 • #8 
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The pale, pale green I remember for sure. It was the red wraps that made me wonder. I'm thinking my brother's was closer to what's shown in the FFM ad, which seems more Leonard-like (traditional), as does the conventional pear-shaped tiptop, as opposed to the ceramic insert type shown in the pics. Definitely, the blank is Leonard Graftek and probably the entire rod in Leonard dress from a year or two later.


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Post 15 Oct 2020, 20:43 • #9 
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I have an 806. It is a very nice rod, but it is clearly labeled Graftek on the blank. I think HL Leonard was also silkscreened on, I will have to check. The reel seat was stamped as Leonard.

A picture of the femaile ferrule would be helpful, since it was a reinforced sleeve. Also, mine is a pale painted green/yellow. Something does look a bit off compared to the other graphtek rods I've seen. But that doesn't mean it isn't authentic.


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Post 15 Oct 2020, 22:47 • #10 
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I meant to include the ferrule!



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Post 16 Oct 2020, 10:18 • #11 
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Welcome rtrout; you'll find--you've found out already--that there's hardly a question about an oddball fly rod that someone on the Forum won't be able to answer.

That's a generous friend, to give you that rod. I never realized those swellings on the female ferrule were there to reinforce it--I've got several early Orvis graphites that exhibit the same swelling. So I've learned something, too.

An Exxon fly rod??!!! What was Leonard thinking!

Gotta say: I like the trout, the autumn foliage, even better in your photo than I do the rod.


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Post 16 Oct 2020, 11:53 • #12 
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It is an external sleeve that IS the female ferrule, the wraps reinforcing the end and the chamfer on to the rod blank. As I recall with the Grafteks, the reputation was that the sleeve split anyway, or the rod shattered elsewhere--in either case because of the particular graphite structure. A double wrap the length of the sleeve was an additional possible prevention any owner could make. No big deal if only the sleeve split, a replacement sleeve being easy to make--and from a more resilient, split resistant scrap of a fiberglass rod. Any old junker of a Shakespeare ugly stick--I used to get them at trash bins near boat ramps--made an indestructible 'glass sleeve ferrule. If the Grafteks were prone to breakage elsewhere, that's separate from the ferrule sleeve.

Problems like this were not uncommon at the beginning of the graphite era. So much so--although I don't know if there was any impetus specifically from the Graftek failures, that T & T fitted one of their early graphite models with a traditional high quality metal ferrule. If a sleeve ferruled rod failed there, it could also be repaired by fitting a standard metal ferrule set. Sleeves aren't unique to the Graftek--from a time when spigots weren't a proven, trusted design yet, especially in graphite, which needs a smaller diameter spigot. If anything, they were a common composite-to-composite ferrule type, best seen in the yellow Fenwick series and in Phillipsons.

A sleeve is slid down over the tip section and snugged to the blank--looking or probing inside, you can see the blank itself, seated such that the male end when inserted will have sufficient engagement with the sleeve and seat close to the end of tip section.

A chamfer on the upper end of the sleeve transitions it to the blank. It is wrapped down this thinned portion for reinforcement and from there on to the blank. In the pics of the Leonard, you can see a thread void where the chamfer meets the blank. This may be a careless wrap, but typically this is a sign that the blank has worked its way up out of the sleeve slightly, taking the wrap with it. Thus, the sleeve may have become seated too tightly on the blank, which may cause a split there. Not to alarm the owner; if the worst thing ever happens in using that rod is a split in the sleeve, it is an easy, easy, easy repair that will be better than new.

Just to see more about sleeve ferrules, easiest to observe in posts about the yellow Fenwicks and various Phillipson models. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=38734&p=280188&hilit=Fenwick+sleeve+ferrule#p280188


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Post 16 Oct 2020, 12:35 • #13 
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Fascinating--thanks so much for explaining what was up with the sleeves, which, in 50 years plus of casting a fly rod, I never once thought about, though several of my rods certainly had them.


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Post 16 Oct 2020, 15:34 • #14 
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Whrlpool, I was thinking about the lack of spigots on the initial graphite rods. I think part of it is that they were so thin and a spigot would have to be extremely thin. I don't know if it was an engineering problem or a perception problem.

Once the Fenwick patent expired everyone moved to tip-over-butt and the problem became moot.

Those early graphite rods are lighter than rods today. Today's rods are 4pc and usually larger diameter. The old rods (especially the Fenwick HMG's and the orvis graphite rods) are thin, light and as good or better as today's rods.


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Post 17 Nov 2020, 18:05 • #15 
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Joined: 08/12/20
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Thanks for all the elucidation about the Graftek rod. I've been fishing a bit and really enjoying catching fish on it.

Here's a recent November catch on some open water.

I'm a bit in awe of the depth of experience of this forum audience. While I've been fishing for over 50 years (YIKES!) I realize there's so much I can still learn about this pastime!



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